Sleater-Kinney’s, Portlandia‘s, Transparent‘s and now the institution of marriage’s Carrie Brownstein made the news yesterday for more than just her current book tour for her memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl. While at a stop along said tour in Pasadena, California, one audience member asked Carrie Brownstein to marry her and her moments-later-wife.
Conveniently, the particular space in which Brownstein was doing her Q&A surrounding her memoir was the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and more crucially, Brownstein does happen to be an ordained minister. (She’d gotten credentialed so she could marry her friends.) The woman who’d made the request allegedly knew that Brownstein was officially qualified, and had prepared by bringing a marriage license so that it could all go down on the spot, which it did. Amy Poehler also happened to be present, as Brownstein’s guest mediator for the Q&A.
A source told US Weekly, “Amy was visibly excited and shocked, and turned to Carrie [and said] ‘You gotta do it!’ The crowd cheered and applauded wildly.”
Poehler supposedly proceeded, after the Q&A, to pluck flowers from arrangements in the church while Brownstein prepared an impromptu (but according to the same source, “sincere, thoughtful, and impressive”) speech. The two women — Kendall Oshiro and Genevieve Hernandez — hopped onstage with Brownstein, and Poehler sat down at a piano and announced that she only knew how to play “Greensleeves.” It all lasted for around 10 minutes, by the end of which a couple had been joined by the coolest minister/wedding pianist ever.
Here’s a clip of the ceremony: