Logan and Emma Bard are 99 percent positive that they are the first people to ever get married at the Bangor Mall, though if there’s been another example of it happening, it’s news to them.
They are definitely sure, however, that they were the first to get married there on Halloween — and on the stage of Some Theatre Company on Sunday, Oct. 31, where Logan Bard had less than 24 hours prior played the role of Rocky in the final show of the company’s sold-out run of “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Logan Bard is the son of Some Theatre’s artistic director, Elaine Bard, and its technical director, Gerry Bard. Emma is the daughter of Bangor High School theater arts teacher Deb Elz Hammond and theater artist Barrett Hammond. Both have performed in, directed and worked backstage at countless shows over the years. Getting married at a theater on Halloween just made sense.
“Theater means so much to both of us and to both of our families,” Emma said. “And Halloween is our favorite holiday. We knew this would be the most ‘us’ thing we could do.”
Logan and Emma Bard’s wedding cake for their Halloween ceremony. Credit: Courtesy of Some Theatre Company
The couple began dating in 2019 while both were performing in Some’s production of the musical version of “Heathers.” Logan, now 25, proposed to Emma, now 24, onstage on Halloween 2020, during the curtain call for Some’s production of the play “The Woman in Black.” A year later, they were back onstage for their own wedding.
Some Theatre opened its Bangor Mall theater space in 2019, and has quickly become one of the leading lights of a new wave of local tenants at the mall offering experiential and entertainment options, instead of traditional retail.
Artistic director and founder Elaine Bard said that after successfully pulling off a sold-out run of a large musical like “The Rocky Horror Show” and then immediately hosting a wedding, she’s considering offering wedding packages to potential renters as part of the many things Some Theatre offers.
“Maybe this is a niche for us, for people who want to have intimate, quirky, fantasy weddings,” she said. “We’ve got a whole company of people who have mad wedding planning skills — cakes, photos, lights, design. Theater people know how to do a little bit of everything.”
Logan and Emma Bard are pictured in the parking lot at the Bangor Mall after their Halloween wedding ceremony. Credit: Courtesy of Some Theatre Company
Not that being a theater director and a mother of the groom simultaneously wasn’t a little stressful.
“It was a lot of pressure to get people in and out with all the usual COVID safety, and then to finish the show on Saturday and turn right around and redesign the set for a wedding,” said Elaine Bard. “Plus, to spend time with Logan and have that emotional connection. All of it made me cry. It was very emotional, but in a wonderful way.”
For Emma Bard, seeing her soon-to-be husband gyrating shirtless onstage as Rocky, Dr. Frank-n-furter’s bronzed, muscular science experiment, less than 24 hours before the ceremony, was just part of the fun of the wedding weekend.
“Doing the show and planning the wedding at the same time just meant that the past few months were very, very busy for us,” she said. “But that’s what’s so great about theater. All of it is so much fun.”
And as if having a completely sold-out run for a show capped with a wedding wasn’t enough, the choreographer for “Rocky,” Becca Tinkham, had her own life-changing moment over Halloween weekend. At 11:19 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30, Tinkham gave birth to a baby girl.
“We got a sold out show, we got a wedding, and we got a baby,” said Elaine Bard. “How much better can it get?”
As for the honeymoon, the Bards intend to wait a year and go to Florida next fall, to celebrate their marriage at Disney World, where Logan’s sister Erryn works as a lighting designer, and at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.
“We always get to have a Halloween anniversary,” Logan Bard said. “That’s pretty awesome.”
