When The Perfect Wedding premiered at the Sarasota Film Festival three years ago, a same-sex wedding in Florida remained in the realm of fantasy. Now the film will be screened again in Sarasota, this time in conjunction with an actual, legally recognized marriage ceremony for a gay activist and his long-time partner.

Ken Shelin, a board member for Equality Florida, will marry Steve Stockwell, his partner of 38 years, on Feb. 12 atop the Palm Avenue Garage in Downtown Sarasota. Shelin, a former Sarasota City Commissioner, has spent much of the past two years lobbying local jurisdictions to create domestic partnership registries and human rights ordinances, and said court decisions that made same-sex marriage legal in Florida as of January provided a surprising but welcome development. “It’s a liberating experience,” Shelin said. “Now we talk and share our lives. It feels pretty good.”

The ceremony will be followed by a screening of The Perfect Wedding, hosted by SFF and Equality Florida. The film was written by New York Times bestselling writer Suzanne Brockman, produced by her husband Ed Gaffney and shot entirely in Sarasota County, and many of the filmmakers will be at the screening. “The fact the federal courts have declared that same-sex marriages are constitutional and allowed, to me, is a demonstration in part of the power of film,” said Charlie Ann Syprett, SFF development director. “I wanted to bring the film in celebration of the change, and feel in some way the festival plated a small part in that change.”

Tickets to the event can be purchased at SFF website. General admission costs $45 and VIP admission runs $100 with proceeds going to SFF and Equality Florida.