Mandy and Matt’s wedding was staged at one of Los Angeles’ strangest and most iconic spots, the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. Known for its puppets, velvet curtains, and surreal history, it was the only choice once Mandy discovered it doubled as a wedding venue.

The couple leaned hard into what the theatre already was: colourful, odd, and dripping with creativity. Mandy is a visual artist, Matt is a screenwriter, and they both wanted vendors who could play with the venue’s eccentric spirit instead of sanding it down into something generic. “We weren’t trying to fit any standard wedding aesthetic”, Mandy told us. “We just wanted to be true to what makes us happy and what represents us as a couple, and at the heart of that is creativity.”

The ceremony played out on stage, complete with a puppet performance and dramatic stage lighting. Mandy walked in wearing a custom Lauren Elaine gown, which she described as a “glittering Barbie-meets-siren creation”. It had jutting tulle, a razor-sharp silhouette, and more sparkle than seemed physically possible. Her make-up gave her Sophia Loren eyes, leaning into her Italian-American roots, while Matt channelled James Bond in a Skyfall-era inspired tux.

“My favourite moment was walking down the aisle and standing in front of Matt, and just bursting into tears,” Mandy remembered. “He looked so handsome, he had been waiting so patiently, and seeing the tears well up in his eyes just made me lose it. I sincerely thank my make-up artist for using waterproof mascara and gluing the hell out of my false lashes!”

The reception matched the playful energy of the ceremony. A caricature artist sketched every guest. On top of the cake was a topper which the bride has sculpted featuring both of them in their wedding outfits and their two dogs, Zero and Doralee. “Our guests really got a kick out of those,” she said. “We would have loved for them to be at the wedding but they were simply not having it with our photographer, who is one of the loveliest humans ever. They would not stop barking at her and her cameras, so we had to nix the idea of bringing them down the street to join for the sake of everyone!”

Their philosophy on planning their non-traditional wedding was to stop worrying about what anyone else thinks. “Do what makes you happy, and trust that the ones who attend will enjoy that authenticity,” Mandy concluded. “If we could change one ‘rule’ about weddings, it would be that they don’t have to be seen as the most important day of your lives. Its a fabulous days of celebration, tradition, and love, but they are really just lovely parties at the end of the day. What’s important is that you don’t stress out and lose sight of the fact that you already were lucky enough to accomplish one of the rarest things in the world: you found a human you want to spend the rest of your life with who feels the same about you. Everything else is just icing on the cake.”