From Playa to Pantheon: Look Inside the Goddess-Themed Wedding That Lit Up Burning Man
Not even teeming rain could extinguish the love in the air at Fez and Asal Rismani's epic 2023 Burn.
The newlyweds are currently decompressing after marrying at this year's Burning Man, where they tied the knot at a quixotic ceremony deep in the heart of the Black Rock City metropolis.
On a macro level, the event was marred by a heavy rainstorm, which ravaged the playa and left thousands stranded in the Nevada desert. But the Rismanis' goddess-themed wedding painted a different picture, one crafted with the grace and allure of Aphrodite herself.
"For nine consecutive years, I've been drawn to Burning Man, not just as an event, but as a place that genuinely feels like home," Fez Rismani tells EDM.com. "Each year, it's the deep and intimate connections I've made, the genuine spirit of the community and humanity and our shared commitment to the ten principles that pull me back."
If there's anyone to capture the magic of a Burning Man wedding, its Jamen Percy. The famed photographer also snapped the couple's engagement when Fez proposed on the playa in 2022, calling the experience "a tremendous gift" at the time.
A year later, dust turned to divinity through Percy's lens, which has long been revered for crystallizing the ineffable ethos of Black Rock City.
"I've always leaned away from conventional ceremonies, seeking something more genuine," Fez continues. "So, when I asked Asal to be the Bonnie to my Clyde on the vast stretches of Deep Playa last year, and by pure chance, came across the legendary Burning Man photographer Jamen Percy, it felt like the universe was nudging us. Marrying on the playa was an extension of that magic; a way to celebrate our love amidst the sacred land and community that had given us so much."
They say that love conquers all, but it doesn't come with a manual for surviving the chaos of planning a wedding. If stress burns calories, brides would be the fittest people on the planet.
But in the contrarian spirit of Burning Man, Asal and Fez say they abandoned the rigmarole of tedious flower arrangements, seating charts from hell and the other vexing cogs in the wheel of a conventional wedding.
"Ironically, choosing Burning Man was our way of sidestepping the overwhelming stress of conventional weddings," Fez explains. "The Playa has a saying, 'Playa provides,' and true to that mantra, everything fell seamlessly into place. We renounced the traditional burdens of venue reservations, meticulous dinner seating and formal wedding planners. Instead, we entrusted the universe and the spontaneity of life."
"It was less about obligatory invites and more about sharing our day with the people who truly matter to us," he added.
Roughly 100 people attended the wedding in the transformative pyramid of the PlayAlchemist camp, which Fez called "one of the most spiritual structures on the playa." Awash in the edifice's gleaming gold and white hues, a live pianist provided the soundtrack to the spiritualistic ceremony.
Once officially hitched, the Rismanis hosted a radiant, deliriously happy sunrise afterparty at 6am. Needless to say, their tribe left it all out on the playa.
