Alix + Tahl || Pt 2: A dark, mythical marriage at The Fire Garden

Disclaimer: This post, the photos inside, and the links inside, are NSFW. There’s nudity and there are curse words and now that you’re probably hooked, come on in.

After all the ethereal beauty of their daytime ceremony, family members and kids headed home, and Alix and Tahl got to enjoy a little downtime between events. Friends from their community began arriving and setting up tents in the campsite area of the Fire Garden. It was during this time that we had a conversation about the second ceremony of the day. After some discussion, Tahl and Alix had decided they did not want their second ceremony photographed, and asked me to resume photography for the reception that followed.

Out of respect for the sacred nature of the ceremony they created to honor each other, I won’t describe it in great detail, but you can see some photos from their altar, and I will tell you it was otherworldly and involved fire dancers and an incredible epic poem the couple recited to each other.

So, the whole evening’s events kicked off with a reading of a poem by Jeremy Radin called “In the Book About The British Spy Who is Also a Werewolf the Spy & a Lady Werewolf from the Pack Make Love & in the Middle of the Lovemaking They Turn Into Wolves & The Lovemaking Turns Into Fucking & Then They Are Two Wolves Fucking in the River” (you can watch a video of him reading it here). This poem is a metaphor for this wedding.

It’s tempting to misunderstand things at first glance. It’s tempting to try to reduce it to something that’s easy to make sense of or to make a joke of the parts we don’t understand (as I want to when I see the title of that poem). But then, if you listen to it, if you watch Radin read it if you have faith that it’s going somewhere if you’re willing to quiet your discomfort and sit with the experience, it’s sublime. The parts that make you giggle are the parts that make you love it.

A Mystic Polyamourous Burning Man inspired Wedding

At first glance, a wedding for a polyamorous couple, for a Burning Man crowd, a Dionysian mythical masquerade ball, might sound really out there. It might sound foreign and outside the realms of your experience. It might look different than what you’re into.

Tahl and Alix helped prep their guests by sharing some basic guidelines in advance:
Doing it Better, A guide to Consent and Communication in Sex-Positive Spaces
The 10 Principles of Burning Man

Celebrating A Unique, Polyamorous Wedding

I want you to take a look at those before you view their photos if you’re feeling titillated and giggly if you’re not ready to really open your mind up to their experience. Try to ready yourself so you don’t let a wonderful opportunity to understand something new pass you by. More importantly, I want you to ready yourself so you can see what this really is: this is a celebration of two people who found a way to live their truths out in the open and in cooperation with each other.

Wedding Photos Should Showcase Each Couples’ Authenticity

They cultivated a community that supports them THOROUGHLY. Can you imagine not just living out your fantasies, but doing it surrounded by your friends with no fear of being judged? Incredible. Resist any urge to lessen or invalidate this experience, and allow yourself to enjoy how beautiful that is!