City Paper: Let Dracula officiate your wedding at New Hazlett
Credit: CP Illustration by Jeff Schreckengost
Let Dracula officiate your wedding at New Hazlett
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Pittsburgh offers numerous venues for couples to host their big day, from fancier options at museums and botanical gardens to more low-key affairs at parks and community centers. Among them, the New Hazlett Theater boasts a large event space based in a prime North Side location.
Despite this, Allyson King, New Hazlett’s program and events manager, says attracting brides and grooms to the theater comes with a few complications.
“It’s always been a challenge for us to book full-scale weddings in the theater because the popular wedding months/seasons are also the popular ones for theatrical productions, which, as an incubator for the arts, has always been our top priority,” King writes in an email interview.
As the summer months drew to a close, King saw an opportunity to give spooky couples a deal they could not refuse. On Nov. 1, for the first time, the theater will host Halloween-themed pop-up weddings, offering couples a “distinctive and memorable way to exchange vows,” according to a press release.
King says the idea came from her time as the event operations manager for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and MuseumLab, a position where “the heaviest focus was definitely weddings.”
“I’d had a little bit of experience with pop-up weddings at my last job and thought it could be a perfect way for the New Hazlett to contribute to the bustling wedding industry in Pittsburgh,” she says.
Each ceremony, priced at the scary low fee of $1,313, includes a one-hour “eerie yet elegant ceremony set amidst hauntingly beautiful décor” officiated by — who else? —Dracula. Packages also feature a professional photo session, a guest list of up to 50 attendees, and a champagne toast. And no Pittsburgh wedding would be complete without a cookie table, provided here with “a selection of confections.”
King says affordability was “definitely a top priority” when creating the Halloween pop-up wedding package. “With it being planned and designed by our own New Hazlett team we don’t need to worry about a rental fee for the space itself, and a lot of the creative/theatrical elements can be done in-house at low cost,” she explains, adding that the theater sought help from fellow North Side businesses to provide some elements, including a dried bouquet and boutonniere from The Peddler and a “celebration cake” by Prantl’s.Couples are encouraged to make reservations before Mon., Oct. 20, to secure one of the limited slots. King emphasizes that the pop-up weddings are open to same-sex and queer couples, as well as those looking to renew their vows.
“The only things the couples will want to bring with them is their marriage license and rings, we’ll take care of everything else,” says King.
Those interested in New Hazlett’s Halloween-themed pop-up weddings should visit the theater’s website or contact Allyson King at allyson@newhazletttheater.org.