Karen M. Dunak
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814737811
- eISBN:
- 9780814764763
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814737811.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter examines the emergence of hippie weddings as an alternative to white weddings during the 1960s and 1970s, a period when observers believed the white wedding might fade from prominence as ...
More
This chapter examines the emergence of hippie weddings as an alternative to white weddings during the 1960s and 1970s, a period when observers believed the white wedding might fade from prominence as brides and grooms used the occasion to express alternative views of life and love. Citing the 1971 wedding of Laura Jones and Carl Cummings, it traces the rise of hippie weddings that reflected a direct connection with the alternative lifestyle of “hippies.” It considers how beliefs in individualism, the emergent counterculture, and the politics of liberation influenced new approaches to weddings and marriage. In particular, it explores how alternative weddings blended 1960s political activism with the lifestyle focus of the early hippies. It argues that the wedding form changed as a result of couples' attempt to make marriage relevant to contemporary social circumstances and political beliefs.Less
This chapter examines the emergence of hippie weddings as an alternative to white weddings during the 1960s and 1970s, a period when observers believed the white wedding might fade from prominence as brides and grooms used the occasion to express alternative views of life and love. Citing the 1971 wedding of Laura Jones and Carl Cummings, it traces the rise of hippie weddings that reflected a direct connection with the alternative lifestyle of “hippies.” It considers how beliefs in individualism, the emergent counterculture, and the politics of liberation influenced new approaches to weddings and marriage. In particular, it explores how alternative weddings blended 1960s political activism with the lifestyle focus of the early hippies. It argues that the wedding form changed as a result of couples' attempt to make marriage relevant to contemporary social circumstances and political beliefs.
