A Classic, Retro Wedding at Universal Studios Back Lot in Hollywood

As lovers of movies and theme parks, Melissa Russell and Jeremy Slater were psyched to book the Universal Studios Backlot as their wedding venue. After all, both of their favorite flicks—Back to the Future  for Melissa and Jaws  for Jeremy—were filmed there. "I got the idea because a friend of mine got married outside of an old courthouse in Ohio. I thought it looked like courthouse square from Back to the Future, and then I thought, 'What if I got married in front of the actual courthouse from the movie?'" Melissa says.  After the ceremony in that very courthouse, guests grabbed a drink and hopped on a tram for a tour of the Universal Studios lot. "An entire tram full of your friends, at night, after a couple drinks, was ridiculously fun," Melissa adds. While guests were on the tram, the wedding planner transformed the ceremony into a 1950s-inspired set decorated with a soft grey blue and champagne gold color palette.  One of Melissa's favorite DIY projects was the personalized escort cards. "I surveyed as many guests as possible and searched their Facebook pages, finding out what their favorite movies were," she says. "I went all over town collecting the VHS version of their favorites from thrift stores, then I spray-painted them champagne gold and had custom labels made to match our invitations." Guests were later treated to another surprise. "We rented an actual DeLorean time machine," Rachel says. "The owner ended the night at 10:05pm (the exact time lighting struck the clock tower and sent Marty back to the future) by doing a loop around the square with all the time machine's lights flashing. It was unexpected and really capped off the night."

Our favorite #MakeTradition moment: Rather than using table numbers, the couple named each table after their favorite movies: Back to the Future, Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and When Harry Met Sally.