Gay Wedding Planner David Tutera Wants to Fix Your Problems

 On My Fair Wedding, gay celebrity event planner David Tutera transforms women’s wedding visions into stunning reality. Now entering it’s fifth season on WE TV, My Fair Wedding is getting a bit of an overhaul, with Tutera going beyond the pleasures and pain of wedding planning (think goth ceremonies and dragonfly décor) to dealing with the women behind the gown — including one whose son got the Make-A-Wish Foundation involved. While waiting for the show’s Sunday Nov. 13 premier (at 9 p.m. ET/PT), Tutera — who has authored seven books, has his own dress collection (David Tutera for Mon Cheri), and worked with celebs like Susan Lucci and Elton John — talked to Advocate.com about the new season, his own same-sex wedding, and why he’s not a fan of Monopoly.

This is your fifth season. What's most surprised you about doing this show?


How we were able to completely change the format and formula of the show, which was important to me. Season five is more about the struggle in the girls' lives than it is about the weddings. Of course, the weddings are the reason I'm there, but I come to find out that there are more important things in their lives that need to be addressed to make the wedding truly life changing.

What can we expect this season that we haven't seen before?
We're seeing a lot of personal struggles, from a Make-A-Wish boy wanting his wish to be for his mom to have a dream wedding on my show; to a girl having severe struggle with anorexia; to a girl's mother who was murdered at a very young age that was striving just to find the simplicities of home; to a bride that was 160 pounds overweight and suffered two strokes until she realized she had to lose that weight to be alive and yet once she did, she still saw herself as that heavy girl until I arrived. Those are really strong stories. It's not just about me knocking on their door and giving them a great wedding because they have bad direction anymore. Now it's about that how I can help a bride take a good look at her life and how to live it better. The wedding is the catalyst to begin that.


You've planned weddings and events for celebrities like Elton John and Jennifer Lopez as well as every day Americans. Which is harder?
Honestly, it makes no difference. Some people think that planning an event for a major celebrity would be more difficult, but it's the personality of the person, not where they are in their lives that dictates the challenge.


Do you think the size of the wedding has any impact on the success of the marriage?
Absolutely not. It clearly didn't work for Kim Kardashian, right?

When you and your husband Ryan married, did you get your own dream wedding?
Of course! We surrounded ourselves with 120 people that we truly cared about. We invited our family and friends for a three-day celebration in Vermont. And we planned our wedding together, it wasn't me planning it for us — together, we planned it for us.

What's the wackiest theme you've encountered?
I think it's a tie between the Day of the Dead, Monopoly, and goth. I had a hard time with all three of those. They just didn't make sense to me as a theme for your wedding.