The Wedding Project
2002 - ongoing
Cascade Canyon, Colorado
Bisti Badlands, New Mexico
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado
Rifle Waterfalls, Colorado
Animas Forks, Colorado
Black Canyon City, Arizona
Las Vegas, Nevada
Greenmount Cemetery, Colorado
Cordova Beach, North Carolina
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Copperfall Farm, Pennsylvania

Like many couples, Alex Oliszewski and I sought for genuine and personal motivation to marry. We found, after deep personal introspection and deconstruction of the social systems relating to marriage, we ultimately felt manipulated by the forces of culture, government, religion, and social expectations. ‘Getting married’ became a submission to influence, and ‘not getting married’ was a rejection of that ideology. But deciding to live in rejection of the status-quo was not our intent. We decided that our solution for translating the social forces at work was to discuss, deconstruct and challenge the social and cultural institution of marriage through recognizing and recommitting our relationship through, not just one, but many ceremonies.

Thus in 2002 began The Wedding Project, a series of weddings that will continue to take place throughout our marriage. Each of our ritual performances add to the foundation of our marriage, reaffirming our individual intentions to be together. The Wedding Project speaks directly in opposition to the legal, economic, political, and religious entities that intend to define our personal union. Through reevaluating the custom of a singular event, omitting the signage of contracts, reclaiming secondhand wedding attire, not involving an officiant, and not including any specific god we begin to uniquely define our weddings. We prioritize the personal, sacred, and performative components of our ceremonies through selecting locations that hold intimate value, developing a contemporary compilation of spiritual rituals, spontaneously presenting the ceremony to the public, and photographically documenting the event.    

Our intent in presenting this series of ritual performances is to encourage you to ask yourself: What are the reasons one gets married? What would one wear at their wedding? Do you think weddings should be legal or religious? And finally, why not get married to the same person more than once?