Groom Defends Decision To Swap Wedding Cake for Weed and Smoke Blunt Instead - Newsweek

A groom who went viral after sharing a video of him and his bride smoking weed on their wedding day has defended their decision to enjoy a blunt together.

Orunmila "JC" Cartier posted the clip to Twitter under the handle IAM1440 where it quickly gained traction. At the time of writing, the video has been viewed 3.1 million times, earning over 50,000 retweets and more than 150,000 likes in the process.

The footage centers on Orunmila and his new bride, Sasha Cartier, sitting outside together underneath a floral arrangement, sharing their first smoke together as husband and wife.

Orunmila can be seen lighting the blunt at the beginning of the clip before blowing smoke into Sasha's mouth, with his bride only too happy to accept.

The couple share a warm embrace before stopping to exhale the smoke. Sasha then takes a turn on the blunt, blowing smoke towards her new husband as the footage switches from color to black and white.

Orunmila posted the clip to Twitter alongside the caption: "Some people eat wedding cake, we smoke it!"

The video proved surprisingly divisive.

Some were enamored by the happy couple. "Aww, y'all are so darn cute," FinesseEnesss wrote. "I want what they got," einfrared added.

For others, Orunmila was living out their own fantasy "I would've cried," RealRiteZaya said. "I would've looked at her like 'omg I'm smoking this blunt with my WIFE! God is so good!'"

The video was not without its critics though. Shawnmyrelle branded it "a clear indicator of how far we've fallen as a society," adding that "nothing is sacred anymore." Lean_On_Moi, meanwhile, asked: "So you both gonna have lung issues together, yeah?This is beautiful but not cool."

Others like Shredda sought to defend the couple, pointing out: "Some people drink alcohol at weddings, some like to smoke. No different."

Orunmila told Newsweek: "We don't eat sweets and I love the [weed] strain of wedding cake. My wife had the idea to light the cake in a different way."

A relatively new strain of marijuana, wedding cake grabbed the headlines at the 2018 Cannabis Wedding Expo with Westword describing it as a "sinfully delicious indica fit for the after-party, if not the nuptials themselves."

Orunmila said they smoked the blunt "after the ceremony and before the reception," describing it as having a "pretty good taste" and being both "smooth" and "soothing."

"It was something me and my wife did for memories and because it was unique to us," he said. "We just do what we want and it felt like a good idea."

Orunmila said his wife, Sasha, doesn't smoke but he does and "she did this for me."

"She's that kind of lady and our love is that selfless," he added.

He said he found the reaction to the video "pretty funny," especially the comments from those who thought they decided to forgo a wedding cake altogether.

"There was cake, we just didn't cut the cake like a traditional wedding. My wife and I don't really like cake," he said. "We had cake and cupcakes from two different local small Black-owned businesses for all of the guests and family."

Though some appeared opposed to the idea, Orunmila said that ultimately it comes down to personal choice.

"This was just something that worked for us," he said. "I recommend people do what works for them."

Speaking to The Guardian in 2019, Philip Wolf, the chief executive of the Cannabis Wedding Expo, highlighted how the combination of weed and weddings could represent a perfect marriage for the two industries.

"The wedding industry in the U.S. is $72 billion. If you look at the cannabis industry, it's going to approach $10 billion," he said. "If you look at them together, you can get a sense of how big of an industry combined they can be."

Unconventional weddings are all the rage right now, whether it's getting married in a Busch beer-themed dress or a couple tying the knot in a Subway-themed ceremony reflecting the fact they first met in one of the chain's restaurants. Ultimately, as Orunmila said, it's about people doing what works for them.