At Last!

After courthouse wedding, couple celebrates with big fat Greek and Lebanese dance party

As the first few notes of Etta James’ "At Last" played for John Dascoulias and Clifford Pugh’s first dance, knowing nods, hugs and smiles broke out among the wedding reception guests. It was a moment more than two decades in the making, perfectly encapsulating their love story in song.

The start of many “how we met” stories often involves mutual friends, a party and an immediate spark. Such was the case for Dascoulias & Pugh, who met at party in the mid-'90s and just clicked. At the time, Pugh was a features writer at the Houston Post and the relationship prompted Dascoulias to avoid a certain section of the paper.

“I knew I liked him, so I stopped reading his stories in the paper so I wouldn’t have a bias,” Dascoulias said. “It was important to me at the time.”

That sort of principled thinking guided the couple through the years. Fiercely committed, completely connected, they appreciated their backgrounds and cultures. Dascoulias is Greek and Pugh, who is editor-in-chief of CultureMap Houston, is part Lebanese and the two wove elements from each other’s heritage into their relationship.

Accident-al plans

It was Dascoulias who introduced the idea of the couple getting married, especially once the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in June 2015, but still Pugh resisted. After all, they were committed to each other and no piece of paper would change that. But the decision became much more pragmatic after Pugh was in a serious motorcycle accident in April. The wedding license became more than a symbol — it was about security.

“There are some real concerns we were dealing with like health benefits and Social Security,” Dascoulias said. “There wouldn’t be a question if we were legally married.”

So, after a 22-year relationship, Dascoulias and Pugh decided to make it official in a no-frills courthouse ceremony at a Harris County Courthouse Annex on Chimney Rock in May. But, as natural-born dancers and all-around fun guys, they also wanted to celebrate their special moment with the people they loved, doing what they loved.

“We wanted to dance!,” Pugh said. “We wanted to dance with our family and friends and have a great time.” The one hitch? Pugh was still recovering from a broken leg suffered in the accident and was maneuvering around on a walker, so the couple pinpointed November 5 as the wedding reception date and started planning.

Change of venue

Gallery owner Deborah Colton graciously offered her spacious venue for the reception, and the couple planned to tent the elegant backyard for an outdoor reception. But when the couple discovered 10 days before the reception that the city of Houston would not issue a noise permit past 10 pm, they scrambled to find an indoor location and moved the celebration to the plush new luxury event space, LifeHTX.

The couple worked with event planner Deborah Elias of Elias Events to create an elegant homage to Dascoulias’ Greek heritage with tables decorated with blue-and-white tableclothes, evil eyes peeking out from floral sculptures, and a white wedding cake trimmed in blue. Meaningful details like homemade baklava by Dascoulias’ mother and Greek pastries made by his aunt from Ohio were additional nods to his Greek culture.

As promised, music and dancing took center stage at the reception. After the sweet first dance, Pugh and Dascoulias encouraged guests to join them on the dance floor. Houston’s favorite good-time singer Bubba McNeely of the Bubba and Greg Duo entertained party guests during dinner and then amped up the party atmosphere afterwards, followed by DJ Chris Thomas.

The LifeHTX walls served as vibrant digital backdrops to the dancing of the Kalamatianos, a traditional Greek wedding dance. Guests held hands and began creating concentric circles around the couple and showered Pugh and Dascoulias with money, another traditional way of blessing the couple with prosperity and good luck. They also honored Pugh’s heritage, incorporating traditional Lebanese dancing — know as the dabke —to the party, with his Alabama cousin leading the way and Elias, who is of Syrian descent, offering high-pitched trills in celebration.

It was the perfect ending to a new beginning, and one Pugh is thankful for. "I wanted to wait until I could dance to really celebrate our marriage," Pugh said. "It was definitely worth the wait."

• Reception Venue: LifeHTX
• Reception Planner: Elias Events
• Food: Aladdin Mediterranean Cuisine
• Florist: Rexberry Events
• Cake: For Heaven's Cake
• Grooms' Tuxes: Zegna from Neiman Marcus
• Band: Bubba and Greg Duo
• DJ: Chris Thomas, Bradley David Entertainment
• Photographer: Daniel Ortiz Photography
• Invitations: Bering's
• Rental: Aztec Events and Tents

John Dascoulias and Clifford Pugh celebrated their marriage with a champagne toast.

Daniel Ortiz Photography

John Dascoulias and Clifford Pugh celebrated their marriage with a champagne toast.

weddings

freedom plane tour

Houston museum showcases founding American documents at limited-time exhibit

A photo of the founding documents Freedom Plane exhibit at the housotn Musuem of Natural Science

Photo by Michael Rathke

A rare engraving of the Declaration of Independence is one of the documents on display.

As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, Houstonians have a chance to see rare documents from the founding of the nation. Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation, presented by the National Archives Foundation, will be on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Monday, May 25.

Admission is free to the public, but is not part of general admission to the museum. Space is limited, and passes are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Non-members should expect long waits or the possibility that the day's passes are sold out. Only museum members can reserve passes for specific times. Flash photography is prohibited due to the fragile nature of the documents.

The collection includes a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence; official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton; one of the drafts of the Bill of Rights; Treaty of Paris, the documented that recognized America's independence from Great Britain; and the tally of votes approving the Constitution.

The national Archives specifically chose Houston as one of only eight cities in the country to host the exhibit as a means to help the documents reach a wider audience outside of the main hub of semiquincentennial events in New England and the Washington D.C. area.

"One of the things we decided when we put the tour together because we wanted to be off the East Coast," said Patrick Madden, CEO of the National Archives Foundation, who was on-site for the exhibit's opening in Houston. "There's a lot of 250th celebration stuff happening in the original 13 colonies. How do we get it to major markets where larger numbers of people can see it? So in the case of Houston, obviously, major market in this part of the country, but also we've partnered with the museum twice before with National Archives exhibits, so we knew that they would be up to the task of handling the exhibit and the crowds."

The prize of the collection is a rare engraving of the original Declaration of Independence. Secretary of State and future president John Quincy Adams commissioned 200 exact replicas of the document from engraver William J. Stone in 1823. Less than 50 now remain. Madden joyfully pointed out that there are errors in this document, a potent reminder that the men who forged a nation made mistakes.

"There's a couple of typos in it where they had to make corrections," said Madden. "So even the founders, you know, they're all human. That resonates because here these people are making this move against the most powerful nation empire in the world and putting their lives on the line for a country based on ideas."

Other impressive parts of the collection include official Oaths of Allegiance signed by George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton and one of the drafts of the Bill of Rights. Many states would not ratify the constitution until certain rights were included in the document, leading to Washington going on a national tour assuring state leaders enshrining protections was first on the list. The draft copy on display specifically shows the First Amendment in progress.

Houston is the fourth stop on the exhibition's tour, which will take the documents to Denver, Miami, Dearborn, and Seattle through the summer once they leave the city. Freedom Plane is just one part of a larger patriotic celebration at the HMNS, which includes a film series celebrating American science and culture and general Americana decoration throughout the main hall.

museums houston museum of natural science