Aaron Lucero and his fiance, Jeff Cannon, were driving home a few weekends ago from a same-sex marriage ceremony at a Dallas church "on a high" from the celebration, Lucero said. Then, his husband-to-be got an email that devastated them.

The Dallas couple were told Jan. 19 that they wouldn't be welcome to get married at the Venue at Waterstone in Celina, because the venue doesn't host gay weddings. Lucero and Cannon had been set to tour the venue, about an hour north of Dallas, the next day.

Jeff Cannon (left) and Aaron Lucero of Dallas were turned away from a Celina wedding venue, which says it does not host gay weddings. (Aaron Lucero)

“The instant reaction was disbelief. Like, seriously? It's 2019,” Lucero said. “The Supreme Court has already said that gay marriage is legal. What is the issue?”

The email to Cannon, signed by venue owner Lyle Wise, said the facility holds to a definition of marriage that is a “bride of Christ joined to the Groom.”

“Given His plan and design for marriage, we dare not veer from His instruction lest we be guilty of altering what He has set forth,” the email read.

Wise said in a statement to KXAS-TV (NBC 5) that he and his family "cannot violate the convictions God has placed within us."

It is legal in Texas to fire, evict or refuse service to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The denial hurt, Lucero said, especially in contrast with the "awesome experience" they witnessed at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration that day. Lucero sang at the service, in which 15 same-sex couples renewed their vows.

Here’s the response from The Venue at Waterstone who denied us yesterday. pic.twitter.com/ugDqTgb14Q — Aaron Lucero (@locolucero) January 21, 2019

“It was just a cool experience to be there and to celebrate that joyous occasion, and then completely 180 is this email that we got on the way home,” he said.

Lucero, a 29-year-old choir director in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, and Cannon, a 48-year-old real estate investor, got engaged last June and plan to wed in November.

“When people are planning their wedding, it should be a happy time full of love and excitement,” Lucero said. “And our journey into wedding planning was quite the opposite.”

Lucero said he and his fiance have been inundated with messages of support since the venue's denial made national news. Some people have even offered to officiate their wedding, and other venues have contacted the couple and encouraged them to take a tour.

The Knot, a major wedding planning platform, has removed the Venue at Waterstone from its website.

"Our company supports everyone's right to marry the person they love and prohibits any vendor on our site from discriminating against a couple based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.," a spokesperson from the company that owns The Knot said in a statement to Out magazine.