This Philly couple said ‘I do’ and ‘Go Birds’ from a Center City rooftop with parade crowds below
The couple got engaged on Broad Street after the Eagles' big win on Super Bowl Sunday, and quickly planned an intimate wedding ceremony.
With the sounds of Philadelphians partying on the Parkway in the background, Chelsea Brown and Lo O’Neil vowed to love each other “in Super Bowl seasons and in losing seasons.”
Amid the hubbub of the Eagles’ victory parade, the small, self-uniting marriage ceremony on a family friend’s Southwest Center City rooftop was “everything and more,” Brown said, exceeding all of her expectations for the occasion.
It capped a five-day stretch that started with the couple’s engagement Sunday night on North Broad Street, amid the victory celebrations. The ceremony was made complete by Eagles sweatshirts and occasional shouts of “Go Birds!” from the three relatives and close friends in attendance.
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Officiant Alex Brown, Chelsea’s brother, understood the assignment.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate a true love, as well as celebrate our love for the greatest football team in the history of the world, the Philadelphia Eagles,” Alex Brown, 33, of Bryn Mawr, said at the start of the ceremony. “Chelsea and Lo wanted to celebrate and acknowledge their love in a way that described them best, and they could think of no better option than to do it with the Birds.”
Brown and O’Neil shared their love story with The Inquirer earlier this week. It is a romance in which Brown’s lifelong devotion to the team — and O’Neil’s desire to share Brown’s passions — turned into a shared love of the Birds, a team they say embodies both their personal values and the ethos of their favorite city.
Brown, who is bisexual, and O’Neil, who is trans, expedited their marriage due to anxiety and fear about the future of LGBTQ marriage rights. But there was nothing but joy, love, and lots of laughter on display Friday.
“My life is divided by the time before I met you and the time after, and I like who I am way more now that you’re here,” Brown, 35, said in her vows. “You’re my best friend and the love of my life.”
O’Neil, also 35, recounted their first date, saying he knew Brown was the one as soon as she walked out of her house and gave O’Neil what he called “the most awkward hug I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Here we are, almost to the day, five years later,” O’Neil said. “And all I can say is, I love you.”
He paused: “And go Birds.”
Alex Brown then turned to his sister and asked: “Do you take Lo to be your husband, in sickness and in health, in Super Bowl seasons and in losing seasons, till death do you part?”
“I do,” Brown said.
O’Neil slipped a ring on Brown’s green-nail-polished finger, and promised the same.
They sealed their union with a kiss, and then broke out into a chant of “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!” with their guests and a few passersby on the street below.
They may plan a larger celebration in the future. But for now, they said, Friday’s ceremony was perfect.
And when it was over, they headed to the Ben Franklin Parkway, for a reception of sorts with thousands of their fellow Eagles fans.