“You may now kiss your boo”: Weddings kick off movie at The Grand Cinema
Before the opening credits rolled at a screening of “The Drama,” four couples took center stage in the dimly lit haven of a Grand Cinema theater for an atypical preshow: a wedding ceremony.
The nonprofit invited couples to tie, or pretend to tie, the knot before a Saturday afternoon showing as part of its ongoing effort to bring in moviegoers through unconventional events that tie to their films.
“In the eyes of these random audience members and with the dubious powers vested in me by the Universal Life Church, the state of Washington and the Grand Cinema, I am happy to pronounce you married,” wedding officiant Wendell Ratliff said to the couples. “You may now smooch your boo.”
The lighthearted ceremony took place before a 2:15 p.m. screening of “The Drama,” a film where Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play an engaged couple who begin to learn secrets about each other in the days before their wedding.
While two of the couples renewed their vows, the other two pairs just pretended to marry for kicks and giggles.
Ratliff, who is also the cinema’s social media manager, has been officially ordained for five years. He tossed out the idea of marrying people at the movies to the events team, who helped bring the romantic vision to life.
“I feel like subconsciously, I must have been inspired by Zendaya and Tom Holland’s secret marriage,” Ratliff said. “I randomly became a minister to ordain some of my friends’ weddings. So it was like, ‘Why haven’t we tried to use that?’”
The wedding is just one example of the quirky events the theater throws to attract audiences to their films.
This month the Grand will host an Easter egg hunt before screening “Donnie Darko,” a film that infamously features a mysterious man in a rabbit suit, on April 5.
The nonprofit also holds monthly Craft Nights where movies are screened with the lights up, so viewers can work on an art project while they watch. This month’s movie is the classic Lindsay Lohan flick “Freaky Friday” showing on April 15.
“We’re just a bunch of goofy people trying to make movies more fun for everybody,” Ratliff said. “We’re always looking to try to do more fun community events like this.”
Among the couples tying a fictitious knot were two Grand Cinema regulars, David Lopez and Dani Cabrera.
The pair has dated for a year and a half, and though they aren’t ready for real marriage, participating in the pretend pomp sounded too fun to pass up.
What finally sold them on the experience was the sugary sweet waiting on the other end of the aisle. After all, as Lopez said, “We’re cake people.”
“I love weddings. I love wedding cake,” Cabrera said. “So when they said that they’re going to give cake, I was like, ‘We have to go.’”
