As someone who gets to see a lot of weddings on a daily basis, it takes a lot to surprise me, and even more to show me something I’ve never seen before. But I think I can safely say that I’ve never seen a plumbing themed wedding before… or a Pee Wee Herman groom for that matter! Obviously I was keen to hear more about it and so wanted to speak to the gorgeous Tracy who married Michael in The Plumbing Museum in Boston (of course!) about their day as soon as possible.
“We got married amongst a wide variety of antique toilets!” Tracy chuckled. “I’m probably the first bride to be told, ‘We’ll move these urinals out of the way the day of your wedding.’ I initially chose the Plumbing Museum as a joke, but when we actually toured the space we completely fell in love with it. The museum coordinator, Linda, was a complete doll and an absolute joy to work with. We were also quite casual, frankly, I didn’t want to deal with who hates who, so we had open seating. It actually worked out perfectly since it led to an eclectic mix of people at every table.”
“We did a buffet that Mike actually catered so no one had to choose one entrée over the other. I’m vegan and was completely thrilled that the vegan ravioli with soy butter, roasted peppers, peas, and sage was the hit of the party. We also didn’t have a bridal party but we did have our best friends included in the ceremony. My best friend read an excerpt from ‘House of Leaves’ and Mike’s friend read ‘A Lovely Love Story.’ Our celebrant, Kezia, made the ceremony super personal and also incorporated a wide array of truly awful plumbing puns.”
Clearly these guys are a non-traditional couple and so they didn’t feel any pressure to conform to any of the wedding nonsense. “We skipped the bouquet toss, garter stupidity, cake cutting, and all manner of formality”, Tracy continued. “I actually had to run and grab our photographer because the drunken masses descended on our cupcake tower as soon as it was brought out and we needed to get a photo of it! The bar also opened before the ceremony, so no one was waiting for us to get to the ‘I do’s’ so that they could finally grab a drink.”
“I didn’t really DIY much. I really wanted to and started out super DIY, but by the day of I was pretty much throwing money at Etsy sellers so that I could concentrate on finishing grad school. I did buy my hair piece on Etsy and then went to town on it, covering it in vintage buttons and black lace with white polka dots. It looks awesome from the front, but the back would make Betsy Ross turn over in her grave. I was glad that I had relatively little to do (wedding wise) as the date drew closer, since two weeks before our ceremony our dog ate our original guestbook. So I found myself collaging like crazy in order to make a new one and having to do anything else might have pushed me over the edge!”
“My favorite part of the day was our ‘first look’ where Mike and I saw each other before the actual ceremony and prior to the arrival of our guests. Early on in our acquaintance, Mike recounted a story of how he had won a Halloween costume contest in college while dressed as Pee Wee Herman, and had celebrated his victory by scaling the bar and re-enacting the infamous ‘Tequila’ scene. I was instantly smitten. During our courtship, I also splurged and we saw The Pee Wee Herman show on Broadway so it was only natural that Mike dressed as Paul Reubens’ childlike alter ego for our big day. The first look was my first glimpse of the Pee Wee suit and I absolutely lost it and cackled hysterically.”
“Don’t sweat the small stuff!” Tracy advises future brides. “I was so stoked about the vintage love comics on the tables, but no one even noticed them until I pointed them out. To echo every bride who has ever been asked for wedding advice – all the little details that you obsess over are really quite trivial once that entrance song starts (Mine was a Richard X remix of ‘Fade Into You’ with Hope Sandoval and Jarvis Cocker). I forgot our Pee Wee Herman cake toppers but who cares? Not this girl.”
