Costumed couples wed on Halloween at Civic Theatre
Chris Pierce forgot the gloves that went with his costume, but it was probably better he didn’t have them.
Pierce, dressed in all black with a black mask as Westley/ Dread Pirate Roberts from “The Princess Bride,” married Tiana Musisca, dressed in a red dress with a gold sash as Buttercup from the movie, in a Halloween ceremony at the historic Akron Civic Theatre on Wednesday.
“How are you gonna put a ring on if you have gloves on?” Musisca asked her husband, who loves the classic 1987 movie, when he realized after the ceremony he forgot part of his costume.
Pierce, 32, and Musisca, 24, met about six years ago on the University of Akron campus, where Pierce graduated in 2015 with a degree in computer information systems after serving in the Ohio Army National Guard for six years as a cavalry scout.
Musisca didn’t go to UA, but she was riding the bus and got off in front of the Polsky Building, which Pierce had just come out of after passing a test. He was wearing a hoodie from the video game Mass Effect.
Musisca complimented him on the hoodie, and the couple, self-described nerds and gamers, hit it off.
“It was literally like who would have known he was standing out there,” Musisca said of the chance meeting that led to their marriage.
The Stow residents started dating June 1, 2012, and got engaged June 9, 2018.
For the proposal, Pierce and his future best man made a treasure chest out of wood that played a song from the Legend of Zelda when opened. He proposed surrounded by friends at the Malted Meeple, a board game hangout then in Stow but now in Hudson.
Musisca, who works in IT, and Pierce, a network security operations engineer with FirstEnergy, were initially only looking for a close date for their wedding. But when they heard about the Halloween weddings at the Civic, they knew it would be a great fit.
“They said that they were doing the Halloween (weddings) here and that we could dress up, and we thought that that would be really fun,” said Musisca, who said they’re working on ideas for their honeymoon and plan to travel. “I’m really glad that they offer it just because it makes it more interesting.”
This is the third year Akron Municipal Court has hosted the Halloween weddings at the Civic. It also marries couples on Valentine’s Day at the theater.
This was her first year presiding over Halloween weddings for Akron Municipal Court Judge Nicole Walker, who officiated 16 weddings, most only a few minutes long, at the top of the staircase in the grand lobby of the Civic on Wednesday.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had so far as a judge,” said Walker, who occasionally donned a green and silver masquerade mask, along with her black robes.
Fairlawn residents Diane Gerspacher, 44, and Joseph Harris, 43, tied the knot Wednesday after meeting at the gym and dating for three years.
“We didn’t know it was gonna be at the Civic, and we didn’t know it was gonna be Halloween. They (court staff ) picked it for us,” said Gerspacher, a French teacher at Revere High School who wore a tan lace dress and sweater. “But it’s actually really cool, so it kind of worked out.”