Here Comes the Bride (Enter Downstage Left)
Couples save and theatres earn when marriages happen on stage
By Eliza Bent
Peter Michael Goetz marries Gretchen Bierbaum and Jeremiah Albrecht at the Guthrie Theater. Photo by Anderson's Designer Portraits.
Challenge: To creatively use your theatre space between shows.
Plan: Rent out theatre spaces for weddings.
Key players: Flexible brides and grooms, accommodating staff.
What Worked: Original ceremonies, personal connections.
What Didn’t: Space limitations, scheduling issues.
What’s Next: New ways to get the word out to spouses-to-be.
The first wedding I ever attended took place in the backyard of a Vermont ski lodge. It was late July and after the outdoor ceremony the guests were invited to swim in the hotel's pool. I thought post-vow dips were a feature of all weddings. I was five years old at the time.
Weddings—whether poolside or at an altar—are inherently theatrical. But is renting out your theatre space for nuptials a viable income source? For many theatres it is. Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre (now known as the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center) holds weddings, as does the smaller-scale Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn. Minneapolis's expansive, Jean Nouvel-designed Guthrie Theater has ample event space, and recently its staff brainstormed ways to spur interest in it. After getting word that Peter Michael Goetz, who appeared in the 1991 film Father of the Bride, had been cast in an upcoming production of When We Are Married, Rachael Crew, the Guthrie's associate marketing director, got to thinking: "Given the popularity of the movie and that we had just joined up with Culinaire"—the Guthrie's in-house catering team—"we thought it would be a perfect chance to showcase what a wedding at the Guthrie would look like." The result was a wedding-at-the-Guthrie giveaway contest.
"Promoting When We Are Married was the absolute number-one priority," Crew emphasizes. "The show title appeared on all the contest materials." She notes that the play, though not particularly well-known, sold extremely well.
One challenge for Crew was the timeline for advertising, which needed to be longer than usual so contest entrants had time to make videos. Crew and the external relations team at the Guthrie narrowed down the 50 submissions to 5 finalists. The public then chose the winners. "We were stunned by how many people voted," Crew admits. The winners, Gretchen Bierbaum and Jeremiah Albrecht, received 23,000 online votes, and the two runners-up received 20,000 and 17,000 votes.
Like TV's annual "Today Show" wedding giveaway, the Guthrie contest included a dress and tuxedo rental, rings and a honeymoon. Though the Guthrie's giveaway wedding was a one-time deal, the Guthrie has seen a spike in interest from couples seeking a wedding venue.
Karen Scher, director of catering and events for Culinaire at the Guthrie, shops out available dates to couples. Most ceremonies happen on the Endless Bridge, a unique architectural element with views of the Mississippi River. Receptions take place in the Dowling Studio. The couples tend to have a prior personal connection to the theatre. "A lot of people get engaged on the Endless Bridge," notes Scher. "One couple who got married here lives across the river and can see the Guthrie from their terrace."
Another category of lovebird drawn to theatre weddings is, unsurprisingly, the theatre artist. Patti LuPone got married in New York City on the stage of Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater during her run of Anything Goes in 1988. In fact, Bernie Gersten and Cora Cahan, who'd suggested the idea to LuPone, had themselves gotten hitched on the Public Theater's Anspacher stage.
Playwright Liz Flahive and her husband decided to wed at Ars Nova in New York City, where Flahive's first play From Up Here was developed. Says Flahive, "I knew I could deal with feeling completely nervous and really elated in that space."
After researching more traditional venues, director Alec Duffy and set designer Mimi Lien decided to tie the knot on Lien's set for The Communist Dracula Pageant at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. "Mimi's set happened to be kind of perfect for a wedding—an open space with lots of movable red curtains," recalls Duffy, who grew up attending ART shows. "Perhaps the most meaningful element of the wedding, for us, was having the designer John Conklin preside over the ceremony—a perfect portent for a union in the theatre."
Affordability can't be ignored either. Playwrights Adam Szymkowicz and Kristen Palmer wanted to get married in NYC but didn't want to cut their sizable guest list. The couple rented Access Theater, where three of Palmer's pieces had been produced (since the nuptials, Szymkowicz has had a play there too). "Our rent money went to a theatre we love," says Palmer.
Sue Kessler, who runs the Bushwick Starr, and who is herself engaged to be wed at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, plans to dedicate a portion of her theatre's website to wedding rentals. Kessler believes theatres are a great place to customize your wedding: "Chances are, the people who run a theatre will be ready and willing to make your ideas happen—that's how theatre people are!"
Theatre people and theatre spaces also have hectic schedules, however, which is why Kessler recommends couples reserve dates up to a year in advance. For smaller venues, there are the shortcomings that theatre people of any stripe should be used to. Palmer recalls less-than-pristine windows—an easy fix with Windex and curtains. And Szymkowicz remembers seriously insufficient A/C—which is, of course, why everyone should have the option to go swimming after they've said "I do."
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