Nicole & Spencer

Wedding Date September 22, 2024

“When the Wizard and Witch of South Baltimore get hitched, there has to be a show. Running Illusions Bar & Theater in Federal Hill with my husband, Spencer, means our entire lives revolve around entertaining audiences, so our equinox nuptials could not disappoint. From the Cloisters Castle filled with dark harvest decor, a hawk delivering the rings, to the tarot reader, the fire dancer, and the carefully curated music, every aspect was considered and planned out with so much love and detail. It all culminated in this moment. We chose the equinox for the symbolism of balance and symmetry. We chose fire for rebirth and passion. All things that are so important in our journey together. Standing there on the steps of the castle, our guests celebrating inside, surrounded by smoke and fire, hearing the hum as it spun, and feeling the heat on our backs—that moment was truly magic.”

OccupationS Nicole is a bartender and operations manager; Spencer is a magician. They both own Illusions Bar & Theater in Federal Hill.

Wedding date September 22, 2024

Number of Guests 135

How You Met We met when I attended a show to see Spencer perform at Illusions many years ago. In the process of bringing friends and family over the years, we became great friends, bonding over our mutual love of all things spooky, nerdy, critters of all kinds, and a complete inability to take life too seriously. Eventually we became coworkers. And well . . . now here we are.

The EngagemenT Spencer sent me on a scavenger hunt throughout the house at 2am with clues written on playing cards. One of which was nested in a dish of rocks he had collected from every one of our many hikes together. They eventually lead me to a small wooden replica of the TARDIS (fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who ) inside of which was the ring! He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him, just the two of us, no fanfare or big show. It was our moment to cherish.

Wedding Design Inspiration We wanted to celebrate the Equinox with a dark harvest theme. We chose the equinox for the symbolism of balance and symmetry. We chose fire for rebirth and passion. All things that are so important in our journey together. There was to be a free-flowing, carnival or harvest festival vibe to the whole thing. A black dress with a cathedral veil and lots of vibrant reds throughout the florals to match my hair.

What Was Unique and Special About Your Wedding Day Aside from the decor, we had a fire dancer and a tarot card reader, and the rings were delivered by a hawk.  We had very little structure as far as events. This was intentional as we really wanted our guests to move about and explore the whole castle. The Cloisters was the perfect backdrop for everything we had planned. There were also small skeleton couples sprinkled about in various places throughout the building like little spooky Easter Eggs.

Favorite Details Spencer came down the aisle to a medieval style cover of “X Gon’ Give it to Ya” and I walked down to a medieval style “Imperial March” from Star Wars. All of our pre-ceremony music was a mashup made of pieces of the scores from our favorite, most quoted comfort movies and shows like LOTR, Edward Scissorhands, Clue, Willy Wonka, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Avengers, Doctor Who, Interview with the Vampire, Beetlejuice, A Clockwork Orange, and more!

Most Unexpected Event On Your Wedding Day Our friend Adam walked in with the biggest vintage taxidermy Red Deer stag head we had ever seen. The pair certainly made quite an entrance!

I also don’t think our guests were expecting “Elddansurin” by Heilung to be our last dance song, but we got them in the mood with the antlers and flower crowns, masks, hats and wings, that had been the props for our 360 booth. Some mysterious being ran around with a portable smoke machine and everyone danced with abandon. It was a big highlight for us both and possibly our very favorite part of the day.

Piece of Advice Don’t stress about the details. There will be fires to put out the day of things won’t go exactly as planned, but the ride is so fun just take it in and enjoy it as it comes.

BEAUTY Swept CAKE SugarBakers Cakes CATERER Rouge Catering and Mission BBQ FIRE DANCER Eliza Kurtz FLORAL DESIGN Fleur De Lis Florist GROOM Christopher Schafer Clothier HONEYMOON Road trip (gorgeous hikes, haunts, graveyards and hidden cabins) through Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and ended with four days exploring Sleepy Hollow, New York as the newly minted Horsmans. Going on adventures which is one of our favorite things. INVITATIONS Birdhouse 197 LIGHTING Event Dynamics LOCATION The Cloisters Castle MUSIC AND 360 BOOTH Baltimore Sound Entertainment OFFICIANT Holland Hook, Summit Weddings and Elopements PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEOGRAPHER Pete Redel Photography WEDDING DRESS Adrianna Papell Bridal WEDDING PLANNER The Wedding Ninja