Destiel Wedding

"HEY ERIC YOUR MALE POWER FANTASY IS GETTING MARRIED TO HIS TOUGHGUY ANGEL BEST FRIEND TODAY. OPEN UP ERIC, [...] DEAN WINCHESTER IS GOING TO KISS HIS HUSBAND SQUARELY ON THE LIPS."
Tumblr post by deanenby , February 10, 2021
The Destiel Wedding was a phenomenon in the Supernatural fandom, regarding the marriage of Dean Winchester and Castiel. Originally to be hosted on Twitter by former Supernatural cast member Chad Lindberg,Post by whyissupernaturaltrending on Tumblr the Wedding is the result of Destielgate and the fan referred event of Supernatural Season 16.
The majority of fans involved were “Finale Deniers”, Destihellers and metafandom members, writing fanfiction and meta about the wedding as well as creating art and memes.Post by sunforgrace on Tumblr February 13, 2021Post by bladesnflannel on Tumblr February 12, 2021Post by samdyke on Tumblr Feb 14 2021 As one Tumblr user said: “supernatural is very funny because its intended-to-be-last season revolved around breaking free from the narrative and the writer(s) and writing your own story and then the show never ended and proceeded to give the creative power to the fans and apparently also former employees”.Post by i-do-know-and-idc on Tumblr Feb 9 2021
==Origin==
Following the season fifteen finale of Supernatural, fan engagement in the fandom as a whole had increased - with more than 4000 Destiel fanfics posted on Ao3 between 6th November 2020 and January 2021.On November 6 2020, there were 86441 Dean/Castiel works archived on Ao3. By January 1 2021, there were 90702 Destiel fanfics, meaning 4261 new fanfics were written in less than 2 months. In the same time period, works in the Supernatural fandom tag on Ao3 increased from 224968 to 230064. An increase of 5096 works; implying increased production of gen and other shipping works in Supernatural fandom during this time. This is due to the canonization of Destiel and the subsequent Destielgate. 
Many fans, critics and cast and crew of Supernatural, including Jensen Ackles who portrayed Dean Winchester on the show, were critical of the finale and the narrative choices made. The most egregious to many being Dean dying on a hunt and Sam giving up hunting to live a suburban life, as they saw that ending negated all their experiences and character growth in the fifteen seasons of Supernatural. Another point of contention was the canonization of Destiel in the third from last episode of the show, as the series killed Castiel off immediately after his love confession, barely mentioning him in the subsequent episodes. There was discourse, debate and memes about this narrative, that highlighted the Bury Your Gays trope Castiel fell into, by being taken by The Empty or, colloquially, by going to superhell or turbohell.
Chad Lindberg is most known for his roles in The Fast and the Furious and October Sky, as well as his portrayal Ash on Supernatural, a mullet-wearing computer genius who worked and lived at Harvelle's Roadhouse, during its second and fifth series. His time on the show itself was cut short, as the Roadhouse was destroyed in the second series and was firmly killed off in the fifth series. Series creator Eric Kripke stated that Ash’s death "had to do with how much I hated the actual Roadhouse itself rather than anyone in it."Taken from Webcitation: reference link Lindberg himself tweeted Ash was “gone way too soon”Chad Lindberg on Twitter February 9, 2021
On the 24th January 2021, Lindberg tweeted: "I'm so sorry but Harvelle's Roadhouse is all booked up tonight. If you're not on the list you're simply not getting in. #HappyBirthdayDeanWinchester" Chad Lindberg on TwitterJanuary 24, 2021. Fan response was positive and Lindberg continued to “live-tweet” in-character throughout the night, tweeting finally: "The Roadhouse is in shambles this morning! Ellen has been picking up empty beer bottles after Ash finished most of them. The pool table remains scorched. However after throwing out the trash there was a note found on the door... "I owe you one."- Dean"Chad Lindberg on Twitter January 25, 2021.
Following this, Lindberg periodically tweeted in-character as well as providing Cameos for fans.Taken with transcript: Samantha Ferris, who portrayed Ellen Harvelle on Supernatural, has also been interacting with fans in-character on Twitter. One exchange in particular that caught fans attention was:
Fans immediately registered it as Castiel's coat. In the words of one user:
Some had been airing on the side of caution regarding the Wedding, some concerned Lindberg is exploiting fans for profit by "using his newfound twitter clout from unhinged Supernatural gays to sell overpriced hand made Supernatural jewelry on ebay."Post by jarkaikenobi on Tumblr, February 14, 2021 Lindberg had tweeted in an attempt to calm fans's fears: "I write tweets from the POV of the Roadhouse from Heaven. Simple as that. There are no hidden clues, there are no agendas but to keep our imaginations going for nostalgic purposes and seen through the eyes of Dr. Badass. They are meant for fun & cozies."Chad Lindberg on Twitter February 13, 2021
Other users had discarded Lindberg saying "he may have sparked this whole idea but it's our story now"Post by acklesy on Tumblr February 14, 2021.
==Culmination==
Lindberg did not tweet about the Wedding. [Expand on this]
However, many fans did still celebrate the wedding, creating meta, fanfiction, art, memes and quizzes in response.dangerdaysdean's quiz link February 12, 2021seffersonjtarship's quiz link February 11, 2021 One example of the fandom banding together, and its interactive nature, was the DeanCas Wedding Fic, a GoogleDoc to compile headcanons, art, textposts and playlists. As of the 15th February 2021, the document is 23 pages long.Reblog byiskierka on Tumblr, February 15, 2021
==Reaction==
Fan reaction was mainly positive. Many noted how important this event was to them as both the power of fans and the culmination of their ship.Post by samdyke on Tumblr February 14, 2021 Post by doemons-blog on Tumblr February 14, 2021 
As one fan posted, on the 10th February, 2021:
Another wrote, on the 14th:
The Wedding trended on Twitter above Meghan Markles's pregnancy announcement and the long-awaited Snyder Cut of the Justice League.Twitter described the hashtag as Supernatural fans reminisce about Dean and Castiel's on-screen relationship and imagine what it would be like if the two had a wedding. 
Many fans noted the humour in the situation, remarking how if the show had canonized Destiel in a way more accepted by fans, the Wedding and other Season 16 events would not have happened.
Additional Tumblr posts can be found under the weddingposting Tumblr tag (among others) and Twitter posts under .
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanart===
* Timeline of wedding day events, unknown artist, shared by @cherryssapphic
* My king, at last by @JackieDeeArt,Feb 15 2021
* #NewProfilePic by @holly_saif, Feb 13 2021
===Gifset AU===
* Dean and Cas are getting married today. They’re both very nervous by becauseofthebowties, Feb 14 2021
===Other===
==Further Reading==
* 'Supernatural' Spoilers: Did Dean and Castiel get married? Here's why Valentine's Day sparked wedding theories by Aayush Sharma, Feb 14 2021
==Archives & Links==
* Destiel Wedding tagged on Tumblr
* DestielWedding, DeanCasWedding hashtags on Twitter
* Castiel and Dean Winchester Get Married works on Ao3
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Fandom Occurrences
Category:Supernatural Fandom Occurrences
Category:2021 Events
Category:Destiel
Category:Supernatural Tropes & Genres