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Tiffani and Schuyler had their ceremony in an old historic movie palace including having their names on the marquee, and wedding-themed B-Movie posters replacing the current showings on the outdoor frames. They had campy movies like “I Married A Monster From Outer Space,” “Bride Of Frankenstein,” and “Bride Of The Monster.”
They opened their ceremony with a screening of clips from classic Hollywood love scenes. Following that theme, their reception tables were labelled with their favorite movies. Oh, and they had a Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory-themed dessert table! Here's what Tiffani (the bride) has to say…
The Tampa Theatre was my very first choice for a wedding venue. It’s a beautiful piece of history and I felt like it matched my dress. There were plenty of reception venues around the theatre, but we were delighted to find one, the CL Space, in historic Ybor City. Because the Tampa Theatre is an active theatre, if we wanted an afternoon wedding we were required to have a Friday ceremony. Winter was the obvious choice in Florida due to the uncertainty of summertime weather. It just so happened that January 13th was on a Friday… Friday the 13th! Thus, our Friday the 13th cinema wedding was born.
We sent out macabre style save-the-dates around Halloween announcing the day. For our ceremony program, we created Playbills which featured poster art from a B-movie called “I Married A Monster From Outer Space.” The marquee itself was designed so that any passerby would think “Friday the 13th,” starring Schuyler and Tiffani and featuring my daughter, London, would be the main attraction.
Schuyler cut together a 10-minute film reel using famous love scenes from classic movies and TV. He collaged them together to tell a story, from first attraction to marriage.
The final clip we screened was the last few minutes from The Graduate. In this scene Ben and Elaine are escaping from the chapel. The two hail a passing city bus, find seats in the back row, and they just appear to be as excited as they are frightened. That clip felt somewhat autobiographical for us. This would be my second marriage, and Schuyler and I were both excited (and frightened). Before the soundtrack of “Sound of Silence” began, the stage manager killed the film's audio, and our organist started playing a live rendition of the song. He rose from a hidden platform below the stage playing the Wurlitzer. The screen faded to black, the curtains closed, and our ceremony commenced.
If I could give any piece of advice to other couples it would be to coordinate as much as possible with your photographer. We were blessed to have Jonas and Mary. They could have doubled as wedding planners.
The entire wedding was actually planned in only a few short months! We didn’t hire a day-of planner, or an officiant until two weeks prior to the ceremony. I’d say planning everything out like this last-minute is definitely not advisable. However, for us, it worked out perfectly. Perhaps that was the hidden benefit of a Friday wedding… availability.
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Photography: Jonas Seaman Photography • Ceremony venue: The Tampa Theatre • Reception venue: CL Space
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About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
5 stars! This looks like so much fun!
So much fun! But we didn’t get to see the Willa Wonka dessert table!