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Reception Locations  |
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Photos by Sam Worden
Most of Erin and Paul’s attendants have done many a rehearsal on stage, either here at Thalian Hall or
in other theaters all around the country.
Hair styling, makeup, manicures and pedicures for the wedding party, and a wedding-day lunch, took place
at The Balcony on Dock.
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This famous historic structure was built in the 1850s as both theater and City Hall. It still performs
both those functions. Most weddings take place in the second-floor ballroom, which also serves as the
City Council chambers. But the “Main Stage” theater is also available for weddings when it’s not in use
for plays, concerts or rehearsals. An afternoon wedding in the theater avoids most conflicts and can be
combined with an evening reception in the ballroom.
Click here for more information.
rin Sullivan got the theater in her blood performing in Wilmington’s historic Thalian Hall as a
child. “I grew up in that building,” she said. “It has so much sentimental value to me.” So it
was the perfect setting for her ceremony with husband Paul Van Horne.She loves period pieces, and is especially taken |
with the styles of the “Guys and Dolls” era. “I couldn’t picture something not over the top.” She adapted an off-the-rack gown for an early-1950s “Grace Kelly look,” and Paul was decked out in a retro pinstriped suit and two-toned wingtips. Erin’s bridesmaids wore a simple “little black dress” design with black gloves, “very Audrey Hepburn” as inspired by “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” |
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 Erin, Rev. Russ Heiland, and Paul  |
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his performance was billed as “Marriage ... Take Two!” because, to be precise about it, Erin and
Paul had already been married for a year. But none of their families or friends could attend the
tiny civil ceremony in Baraboo, Wisconsin that made them legally husband and wife. So it made sense for this nomadic show-biz couple to reaffirm their vows in a proper ceremony in the bride’s home town. “Let’s do a little Wilmy-wood East Coast wedding,” Erin thought, and do it on a stage where she had already performed in “almost 100 productions since I was a child.” Paul and Erin were working at a dinner theater in a resort area in Wisconsin when they got married the first time. As a Canadian citizen, Paul faced immigration issues that forced the couple to settle for the quickie courthouse wedding. They met while working on a cruise ship, and were talking marriage within weeks. “It was a whirlwind romance,” Erin recalled. |
 Josh Hayes was one of Erin’s fellow performers from a Wisconsin theater who came to Wilmington for her big production. |
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scar Night was the inspiration for Erin’s arrival in a classic Bentley complete with red-carpet entrance to the theater, Marilyn Monroe hairdo and red dress. One quick change later and it was showtime. |
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 Erin dances with her father, Thomas Sullivan |
he singers, dancers and actors from Wisconsin’s Broadway Dinner Theater who helped their colleague
celebrate knew they were in for a long night. They had a show to do the following afternoon back in
the Wisconsin Dells. Which meant an early-morning drive to Raleigh-Durham Airport to catch a crack-of-dawn flight home. With their cabaret production in the Thalian Hall Ballroom followed by an after-party at Level 5 at City Stage Theater, these veteran troupers didn’t get much sleep. |
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 Erin’s friend and bridesmaid Katherine Rudeseal, a singer and actress who owns a Wilmington advertising agency, designed the programs as Broadway “Playbills.” Erin enlisted other veterans from the local theater scene, including set designers and the veteran theatrical makeup artist Lance Howell. Table centerpieces made from movie film reels and cameramen’s clap-boards came from the online “Hollywood Megastore.” |
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Food highlights included fresh fruits and cookies for the chocolate fountain; shrimp and grits in stemmed glasses; and cakes both grand and whimsical.
fter cutting her performing teeth in Wilmington, Erin spent seven years on the road, much of that
time on the dinner theater circuit.A 2005 stint on a Celebrity Cruise Lines 
ship had her on stage four times
a night, and up close with her boss, Cruise Director Paul van Horne.The “MV Zenith” proved to be a real-life Love Boat for the two. They disembarked together and Paul followed Erin to a newly opened theater in the upper Midwest. But as 2007 draws to a close, the now thoroughly married couple are leaving the boondocks behind for a shot at the bigtime. Next stop for Erin and Paul: New York City, where the next Playbill with her name and picture may well be on Broadway. |
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