DETROIT — They met a long time ago. (Two years ago.)
In a galaxy, far, far away. (On Facebook.)
They wanted a wedding that was out of this world, and they got it Sunday at the Motor City Comic Con 2016.
The bride, Olivia Vance, dressed as Padme Amidala, the mother of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. She married David Waite, who was a convincing Anakin Skywalker.
The happy and self-described nerdy couple, exchanged wedding vows at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Mich., in front of hundreds of like-minded Star Wars fans, many of them in costume, for the weekend comic book and pop culture convention that drew more than 50,000 visitors.
"It all just tied together, our nerdness and our love of Star Wars," Waite said, of the marriage.
The couple communicated online for more than 18 months, trading Star Wars trivia and other references. In January, Waite traveled from his Michigan home in Upper Peninsula to meet his online love, Vance, who lives in White Lake Township, Mich.
"I almost slammed the door in his face because it was so weird," Vance said. But they quickly realized they were destined to be together.
Waite, 39, was born in 1977 when the first Star Wars movie was released. His parents took him along when he was still an infant.
"They took me to the drive-in because they didn't have a car seat" for the movie theater, Waite said. "I've loved Star Wars ever since."
Vance, 26, came to the series later, but with just as much passion.
"My dad took me to see the remastered versions in the 1990s and I loved it," she said.
Waite said he's seen the movies countless times and friends know of his love for the series.
"I'm the one they call when they are doing trivia at a bar and need an answer," he said.
Their wedding party included family members but they also crowd-sourced others from the costumed visitors to the convention.
"You can't have a Star Wars wedding without Wookiees," said Christopher Clark, of Dayton, Ohio, who came up for the weekend to attend the event. Clark, an Obi-Wan Kenobi look-alike, donned almost $2,000 worth of costume, including a custom-modified light saber worth more than $700.
One of the Wookiees, Bret Fisher of Cleveland, looked the part.
"I'm 6'8 out of costume and 7'2 in costume," Fisher said.
Both men love Star Wars and belong to a charity group that does re-enactments and hospital visits to ill children.
Others around the wedding party dressed as Stormtroopers. Rebel Legion members and other characters from the movies gathered around the couple as Waite's boyhood friend, John Paul Lufkins, read from a mobile phone as he presided over the ceremony. Shula's Bakery in Brimley, Mich, where Waite lives, donated a custom wedding cake made to look like R2-D2 and other Star Wars characters.
