Big Gay Wedding

Big Gay Wedding is a story that was so much more than I expected with its humour, heart, issues and memorable characters. Based solely on its title you'd expect it to be about ... well, a big gay wedding. But the wedding is simply the backdrop for this story about Chrissy, a woman who owns a small farm in Louisiana and adores her only child but doesn't want to admit that her son is gay and that he won't be leaving the big city to take over the farm. 

Chrissy's love for Barnett is clear but comes with conditions making her journey to accepting her gay son a bumpy ride. I appreciated that Lane doesn't shy away from describing the religious-fueled homophobia in the small, rural Louisiana town and the authenticity that was given to Chrissy's journey to learn to unconditionally love her son. Caution: this story could be triggering for some readers.

There is a gaggle of secondary characters - human and beast - who add to the story in many ways. Some characters (Ezra's family) are kind of annoying and cliched, but I adored Barnett's hilarious and sassy Paw-Paw! Fans of 1980's/90's sitcoms will enjoy the names of the farm animals and may become emotionally attached to Elaine, the elderly sheep. 

With its quirky feel (like Lane's husband Steven Rowley's book Guncle) and an obvious nod to Canada's Schitt's Creek with their 'fish out of water' characters, this is a heartwarming, humorous and heartbreaking story. Lane balances the struggles LGBTQ+ people experience when coming out within a story that has comedic bits and centres around the love of a cute couple, a tight mother-son bond and a mother's journey to accepting, advocating to unconditionally loving her son.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Author: Byron Lane

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQ+

Type and Source: Hardcover from public library

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.

First Published: May 30, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: An unashamedly proud, loud, and hilarious novel about a small town that’s forever changed by a big gay wedding.

Two grooms. One mother of a problem.

Barnett Durang has a secret. No, not THAT secret. His widowed mother has long known he’s gay. The secret is Barnett is getting married. At his mother’s farm. In their small Louisiana town. She just doesn’t know it yet.

It’ll be an intimate affair. Just two hundred or so of the most fabulous folks Barnett is shipping in from the “heathen coasts,” as Mom likes to call them, turning her quiet rescue farm for misfit animals into a most unlikely wedding venue.

But there are forces, both within this modern new family and in the town itself, that really don’t want to see this handsome couple march down the aisle. It’ll be the biggest, gayest event in the town’s history if they can pull it off, and after a glitter-filled week, nothing will ever be the same.