The Big Day: Lynn + Matt

Reception: The Capital Club

Dress: David’s Bridal

Suit: Express Men

Cake/Flowers: Sam’s Club

Rings: Howard’s

Everyone wants their Big Day to be a marquee event.

But Matt + Lynn got to experience that literally.

The Capital grads—they both studied media and film—had always dreamed of getting married in the historic Drexel Theatre, and as it turned out, all they had to do was ask.

No one had ever held a wedding there, so the Columbus couple got to pay tribute to their formative years and film by throwing a truly unique event.

Cushy seats are an upgrade over pews any day, and who doesn’t want to hear movie soundtracks over another version of Pachelbel’s Canon? (Free popcorn would be enough to get us in the mood to crash just about any wedding).

Easily the “premiere” wedding of Bexley last season. 

Give us a range of your budget. Did you go over? Or stay under? We spent somewhere between $18,000-$20,000. We cut costs in some areas, such as flowers—my aunt created all of the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages—and one of my bridesmaids and myself did all of the centerpieces ourselves. We revamped my mom’s veil and I wore her jewelry. We did video work for a local band and in exchange, one of the members emceed and DJ’d for us for free. We spent the most money on our venue, food, and photographer.

What do you wish you had spent more money on? We would have loved to have had [our photographer] around a little longer, thus spending more money on more hours. Steve from Shoot2Studios was fantastic to work with. We had a lot of fun with him and could not be more pleased with the results. However, if we had spent a bit more money to have him meet up with us earlier in the day, we could have had even more time with him to get even more fabulous shots. However, he was awesome and even hung around after his contracted time was up during the reception, resulting in some totally awesome dancing shots!

Was there anything that you wanted to avoid when you envisioned your wedding? We wanted to avoid our guests being bored at any point throughout the day. It was important to us that there was no lull. My husband and I are both from the Cleveland area originally and the majority of our guests traveled to Columbus for our Big Day. We wanted to ensure that they felt the day was fun, full, and special for them, too. Once at the theater they were greeted with popcorn and movie music while settling in the cushy seats. We really were conscious of having a special day for ourselves—but also a fun day for everyone.

Where did you honeymoon? We flew to Boston and spent two nights there, exploring the city, eating great food, and staying in a really cool studio apartment we had rented through AirBnB. We then drove from Boston to Cape Cod. We spent three nights there in a cute little house (again rented through Airbnb) in a small town by the water. While our time in Boston was meant to be all hustle and bustle, the Cape Cod leg of the trip was for relaxing. We got massages, walked on the beach, took a scenic drive to Provincetown, and on the rainy nights, got takeout and stayed in and watched Stranger Things!

What was the ultimate highlight of your Big Day? We would have to say the popcorn celebration as we exited the theater. It was a totally awesome experience that only lasted a few moments, but felt like it moved in slow-motion. Everyone cheered and shouted with excitement as we stepped foot outside the theater, under the marquee that advertised our wedding. Each guest had a small cup of—unsalted and unbuttered—popcorn that they tossed freely into the air as we walked by.

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