The modern hipster’s views on marriage and family

Mr. Hipster:

My friends are getting married this summer and I have a sneaking suspicion they will be throwing one of those “hipster weddings” that I’ve been hearing so much about. I would have thought hipsters as a group would be more anti-marriage. Either way, how should I comport myself at a hipster wedding?

— Ben

You might expect hipsters to eschew traditions of monogamy, being countercultural figures in their way, but many hipster couples put great stock in fidelity and marriage, even going so far as to exaggerate conventional relationship models. Manly men, ladylike women; the third-wave ideology of ironically reenvisioning the social structures that older generations found oppressive.

Picture Miranda July, living the dream of the nuclear family and writing self-referential stories about adventurous post-punk lesbian edginess, and you’ll get the picture of the modern hipster’s views on marriage and family.

Hipsters are getting unconventionally married everywhere, from vintage-inspired pop-ups (see the Reader cover story), to barns, and every non-church venue in between. The only constant is the organic cocktails in Mason jars. Treat a hipster wedding just as you would a more conventional affair, but don’t expect everybody to get up and eagerly dance to “Footloose.”