PROVINCETOWN — Shawn Fiedler and Joshua Butts hopped on the morning ferry from Provincetown to Boston last weekend to elope. They were married at Old South Church next to Copley Square on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
The couple met in Boston. “We had a drink and that turned into a dinner,” Shawn says. Over the years that followed, they became best friends. “There comes a time when you feel so comfortable and confident with each other,” Shawn says. “After eight years we realized it was finally time to get married.”
They kept their plans quiet and low key, says Shawn, because 10 years as a minister in the United Church of Christ had left him unconvinced about big weddings. “They can be fraught with family dynamics, travel stress, costs — gosh, the costs,” he says. “So much can distract from the actual marriage. The idea of eloping was just fine with Josh, although our moms were a little disappointed.”
The moms will have plenty of chances to party, though. The couple plans to celebrate with community and family later, in Shawn’s hometown, Chicago, in June; in Baltimore, where Josh is from, in September; and finally in Provincetown in October.
The Rev. Nancy Taylor, who was Old South’s 20th senior minister when Shawn was associate minister there, presided. “It was wonderful to be connected with the church’s 350-year progressive history in that moment,” Shawn says. “They were so supportive of our marriage.”
Readings during the ceremony included a section from former Chief Justice of the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Margaret Marshall’s landmark equal marriage decision; a poem about driving home to Provincetown, “Coming Home” by Mary Oliver; and selected verses from the Hebrew text of the Song of Songs.
Shawn and Josh both work in fundraising — Josh for Harvard and Shawn for Chicago Lights, a youth empowerment organization. They’ve found a cause they want their wedding to boost in town: they’re asking friends inclined to give wedding gifts to make donations to Summer of Sass instead.
On Saturday, after a stop at Pop + Dutch, where they each ordered the classic egg sandwich on a biscuit, Shawn and Josh and their neighbors Patrick Nolan and Clement Gaujal headed to the pier together. Two Boston friends, Bank Chantaruchirakorn and Mark Mancini, waited at the church to witness their vows.
It may have been raining. “We didn’t notice,” Shawn says. “We already had tears in our eyes anyway.” They took the ferry home on Sunday.
