Barney Frank Sounds Like a Great Wedding Planner

If you didn't get invited to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's wedding earlier this month, you missed a fun-sounding party, which the congressman and his husband Jim Ready planned themselves, Frank said in a NewsBeast video Wednesday.

If you didn't get invited to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's wedding earlier this month, you missed a fun-sounding party, which the congressman and his husband Jim Ready planned themselves. Frank said as much in an "Ask Me Anything" NewsBeast video Wednesday. The retiring congressman relied on his family, not a wedding planner, and kept his guests in mind, with a short ceremony and lots of chances to meet one another before the big event. As he said in the video:

We did it well. We had a lot of family help planning it. We didn't have a wedding planner, we did it ourselves. But it was a wonderful party. It sounds, I suppose, self-serving, but I think most people thought it was the most fun wedding they had.

The party report from The New York Times' Michael Grynbaum describes a room full of Democrats in good spirits, in a Marriott situated at "a busy, honking intersection of two major highways. (Mr. Frank said he liked the convenience for out-of-town guests.)" And the menu included vegan and non-vegan food, more evidence of the hosts' consideration. With gay wedding burnout already a thing, at least according to The Times' Brooks Barnes, this past weekend, it's a good thing Frank and Ready were so considerate. But Frank's was the first same-sex marriage of a congressman, so his wedding would have been a fascinating event regardless of how it went off. Having Nancy Pelosi dance to ZZ Top was just (vegan) gravy:

Update from Connor Simpson: We wrote this post congratulating Frank and Ready when news of the wedding broke, and a few days later a member of Frank's communication team sent us these nice photos from the ceremony. We didn't have anywhere to put them at the time, so we kept them in our inbox for a rainy day.

Here's a taste of Frank's decorating. We like the minimalist use of streamers, and the blue, purple, orange, and yellow color scheme.

The happy couple marching down the aisle! The matching bow ties!!

Frank and Ready lead the room in song. Let's play the "which Washington regulars can you spot in the crowd?" game. We are really bad at that game, so you will win.