[img]1325|left|Alex Campbell ||no_popup[/img]Dateline Boston — I can’t seem to write a comprehensive essay about my wedding. I’ve decided to go with whatever comes off the top of my head. In no particular order, my wedding:
We got married in a fabulous art deco independent movie theatre. It was built as a church in 1906, and converted to a movie theatre in 1933. We chose the theatre because we’re not religious people; guess we got all of our bases covered anyway.
[img]1488|left|||no_popup[/img]Our contract said we could only have the theatre for two hours, before the day’s movies began. Our ceremony and reception were from 9 to 11 a.m. The timing was great; people could get up, eat breakfast, come to the theatre, grab popcorn and a bottled water, watch us get married, have a cupcake, and go on with their day.
One of my favorite parts of the day happened before the ceremony even began. I stood in a room right in front of a small window that I could see out of, but no one could see into. From my perch, I watched all of our guests arrive up the sweeping staircase to the theatre. It was like watching an episode of This is Your Life—I saw family members from California who never had been to Boston, friends from my childhood, work friends who came with their whole families, loads and loads of children I had taught (I believe there were 32), and H’s family, friends and co-workers. We had told people that the dress code was “come as you are.” One of my friends wore a fancy dress with a matching fascinator hat. A lot of people were business casual. One guest even wore a tee shirt with a coyote on it. So much fun! I got emotional seeing everyone milling around, talking, signing our wedding book. We had coloring pages and crayons for the kids. Our favors were handmade photo magnets and packs of gum.
A very organized bride plus a two-hour time limit made for an event that was scheduled with military precision. I was so worried about people mingling afterwards that I sent out an email detailing the morning and letting people know that they had to be out of the theatre by 11. I needn’t have worried.
The day went like this: People were asked to be seated, and we showed an eight-minute movie we made, complete with outtakes and everything. For our procession, we each went down an aisle on either end of the theatre by ourselves, and met in the middle of a stage. We stomped our way down to the tune of “We Will Rock You” by Queen.
Our officiant was Rory, who told the story of how we met on Facebook because he was a mutual friend of both of ours. Our dear friend Amy read from a children’s book, and then we said our vows. After we were declared husband and wife, we exited the stage via Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
We came back in a minute later, got in the middle of the audience for a group shot, then we had all the kids come up onstage for another photo. Then it was time for cupcakes. After that, we ran around taking pictures. Turned out my email must have scared off some people, because half of them left after the cupcakes, with forty-five minutes to spare. The place was cleaned spic and span, and we got out on time.
We treated our out-of-town guests to lunch a few blocks away from the theatre. About twenty of us boarded the train together, much to the delight of a least a couple of passengers who took pictures and congratulated us.
Wedding details:
Bouquet: Fake flowers. Stunning. My friend Jen offered to do them. She did an amazing job. A couple little girls liked my bouquet so much they took it apart at lunch so they could each have a piece. I quietly retrieved it, and it’s at the florist shop now, being re-assembled.
Decorations: I had a group I named The Dream Team. They came in and decorated the stage and outside of the theatre. The signs were fantastic, the flowers were amazing, the cupcake stands were works of art. We had lifesize black and white cardboard cutouts of our parents on their wedding days at the bottom of the stairs. We also got billing on the theatre marquee.
Atmosphere: Amazing! We had a fantastic time. We have heard that the attendees did as well. It is truly a day I will never forget. Wonder what we’ll do to celebrate our first anniversary?
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
