GET HUBBIED

I had butterflies in my stomach on this one. They, the butterflies, had something to do with how much I appreciated the time and thought they, Jon and Liz, put into their application. I may have to plagiarize them in all future writings about the project. I'll just excerpt a part of it, though it is all as quotable:

A basic challenge in having a wedding is that while there is something truly meaningful about the intentions and motivations, the standard form of the ceremony is often stale, rote, even problematic. We believe that one possible solution that would allow us to affirm the essence while challenging the form is through “play.”

An essential element of the ceremony must involve explicitly challenging the institution of marriage before affirming it. We hope to take seriously some of the objections to marriage, including its traditional role in the subjugation of women and queers; its relation to the state and property rights; and the problematic expectation of marriage as normative.

We aspire to a ceremony that incorporates elements of the performative and interactive; one that is fun and funny while still being earnest; one that constructs a narrative and takes the guests on a journey; one that is as much commentary on the ceremony as it is ceremony itself. This will require striking a delicate balance: between the traditional and the non-traditional; between earnestness and silliness; between play and our own preachy didacticism."

Jon is a research director at an L.A.-based non-profit advocacy organization that focuses on improving jobs and the environment. Liz is has been an editor in the publications department at MOCA for ten years.

*Their last names have been taken out to protect their identities, as requested, since I ended up working with another couple in the end, and as a new beginning.