Carrie Brownstein and Amy Poehler turned a book tour event in Pasadena, California into a makeshift wedding on Tuesday, November 3, when they agreed to two audience members’ surprising wedding ceremony request.
As reported by Us Weekly, Brownstein and Poehler were hosting a reading and discussion of Brownstein’s latest book, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church when they received a request for an impromptu wedding from a female audience member during the Q&A session.
“The couple told Carrie they’d heard from a friend that she was an ordained minister,” an audience member told Us Weekly. “They asked if they could get married on the spot, as they’d come prepared with their marriage license.”
“Amy was visibly excited and shocked, and turned to Carrie [and said] ‘You gotta do it!'” the source recalled. “The crowd cheered and applauded wildly.”
Conveniently, Brownstein was to marry some of her friends in a couple weeks, and she happened to have her ministry credentials on her, as she explained to the same-sex couple and the crowd. Not wanting to show up the real reason the audience was attending, Brownstein agreed to marry them, but only after the book Q&A event was finished.
Kendall Oshiro and Genevieve Hernandez got the wedding they requested on a whim, hopping on stage with the former SNL star and Inside Out funny girl Poehler, who “stole” bouquets of flowers for the pair from a larger arrangement in the church according to Us Weekly and several #AmyPoehler Instgrammers. Oshiro and Hernandez, dressed in their wedding attire of jeans and sweatshirts, stood in front of the former Sleater-Kinney rockstar Brownstein and prepared to get married!
While Brownstein took a moment to prepare her spontaneous officiating speech, Poehler rushed over and sat at the piano on stage. “I only know the first part of ‘Greensleeves,'” she announced. The crowd cracked up and Poehler tried her best to tickle the ivories, buying her buddy some time.
When Brownstein returned, she was all (adorable) business, marrying the ladies on stage in front of the hundreds in attendance.
An expert writer having written, co-developed and acted in the Portlandia comedy skit show alongside Fred Armisen, Brownstein spun a touching wedding ceremony full of love and laughter, seemingly out of thin air.
“All of us here are rooting for you,” she said, instigating cheers and claps from the crowd. “We root for you to never feel small, partial, less-than. We root for the two of you to make each other feel the biggest, strongest, most special you’ve ever felt…and that starts here.”
During the roughly 10 minute ceremony, Poehler stayed seated at the piano, melting into her arms and every once in awhile lovingly cooing over the girls. Oshiro and Hernandez exchanged thoughtful vows between tears, and Brownstein declared the couple married! Poehler topped the ceremony off by playing the piano as they shared their first kiss as newlyweds.
Thanks to Youtuber Dana Cox, you can take a peek at the entire surprise ceremony, filmed from the audience, below!
