FilmmakerCharles Bandand actress Robin Sydney are married.
The couple tied the knot at the historicCasa Del Mar Hotelin Santa Monica, California, on Dec. 9.
Sydney, 39, tells PEOPLE that she and Band, 71, — who is the founder of Full Moon Features and producer of the classic horror filmsRe-Animator,Tourist TrapandTrancers— have a special connection to the 1920s oceanfront venue.
“We used to go to Casa Del Mar during New Year’s to get inspired and create our goals for the year,” she says. “We also had a beach pad near there and played games in the arcade on the pier, so it had very fond memories for us.”
“[We wanted] a wedding like no other that our guests will remember forever,” she notes.
To execute the eclectic theme, they filled the venue with lots of chandeliers, candelabras, “money-green” and “royal purple” accents, and even puppets from Band’s moviePuppet Master. In lieu of a traditional floral arch for their ceremony, the couple had a custom arch constructed from more than 20 Belvedere Vodka bottles filled with twinkly lights and flowers.
“Then in the center, we had an 8-foot-tall martini glass filled with flowers,” Sydney notes.
In another unique detail, Band and Sydney set up a prize table where their 200 guests could collect coins throughout the evening to win Apple watches, Chanel and Gucci accessories and more.
The pair eschewed some of the usual wedding elements — like having bridesmaids and groomsmen — to make the event their own. “We didn’t want our wedding to be a traditional wedding and didn’t want it to be stressful, so we removed many elements we didn’t like about weddings,” Sydney explains.
“Even though my dress had sparkles and was beautiful, I wanted more,” she explains. “I got lots of rhinestones and over 100 rhinestone butterflies and worked with A Stitch in Time’s Olivia Vaatete to make my dress dreams come true.”
Band sported a black Armani suit with a navy blue shirt. “[He looked] just as cool and handsome as can be,” Sydney says of her husband.
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Band and Sydney first met in 2004 when he cast her in her first film,The Gingerbread Man, starringGary Busey. They began dating six months later, and about two months after that, Band popped the question over dinner at a restaurant.
“I knew how important it was for Charlie to call me his wife,” she explains. “After 17 years, on Dec. 9, 2022, I got on one knee and proposed to Charlie, and he immediately said yes.”
Now that they are officially married, Band and Sydney are savoring the moment. “It means telling the world how much we love each other,” Sydney says of their long-awaited marriage.
source: people.com
