In the early 2000’s Todd and Cori were both passionately involved in the local independent music scene. They became friends but didn’t start dating until Todd traded in the glamour of tour buses for safety goggles and a lab coat as he pursued a career in Chemistry and made time for dates on the ice skating rink.
There’s is a story of balance, of equals–a love that is supposed to happen. Ask any nerd and they’ll verify, that when it comes to chemistry, the secret to success is in balancing equations. So of course, it made perfect sense that Cori and Todd chose to use an elaborate chemical reaction as their unity ritual to demonstrate the transformation of their relationship in their wedding ceremony.
After they said “I do” and exchanged rings, they each added vessels filled with dry ice, a solid form of carbon dioxide, into an Erlenmeyer flask containing a purple solution (Todd’s secret formula). The solution began to bubble and by the time they had sealed their vows with a kiss, the solution had changed into many different colors.
As I watched the flask magically change from one bright color to the next, I couldn’t help but think of how perfectly the Law of Conservation speaks to so many of our hopes and dreams around the marital relationship. The Law of Conservation states that basically in a closed system (like a marriage), mass can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can (through balancing complex equations involving energy transfers, state changes etc.) be rearranged and re-purposed. Or in layman’s terms: you get what you came in with, better like the essence of yourself, your partner and be able to adapt.
There’s that old saying that, “the only thing constant in life is change.” Unlike a typical one-phase unity ritual, this particular chemical reaction celebrated, beautifully, the ongoing ways that this couple will continue to be transformed under Love’s influence. Congratulations to Cori and Todd as they start their married life together!
A special thanks to Bob Sanchuk and Chad Sebring over at Two Sticks Studios for capturing these amazing moments and for sharing them here.
