Marriage vows have comic effect

Robert Kierna and Lindsey Bartholomew met at a movie theater, so getting married at one seemed like an obvious choice.

And given the groom’s lifelong love of Spider-Man, the wedding date and theme were natural choices, too.

“I’ve been an old-school ‘web-head,’ like, since the ‘60s,” 41-year-old Kierna said through his cloth Spider-Man mask as he paced the lobby of Regal Cinemas Riverstone in Coeur d’Alene on Friday morning.

Kierna, a manager at the theater, said he and Lindsey, 29, were making costume plans for today’s opening of “Spider-Man 3” when he got the idea for a Spider-Man-themed wedding.

“She said it aloud at the exact moment” he had the thought, Kierna said.

The couple has been together about 8 1/2 years. They met at a midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in Illinois. It was Halloween, and both were in costume.

“She was a gothic vampire, and I was Ginger Spice,” Kierna said.

They’ve dressed in many costumes since then, celebrating big movie releases like “Superman” and “X-Men.”

But Kierna’s favorite character will always be Spider-Man. “He represents the everyday man,” he said.

Kierna said he has shelves of Spider-Man merchandise at home, and he refers to the comic books as “scriptures.”

While the bride wore a wedding gown, Kierna was dressed in a full-body Spider-Man suit. He lifted the mask partway for the kiss as a crowd of friends looked on. Theater workers grinned amidst the glow and hum of the concession stand lights.

Even the minister, Carlina Stedman, played along, reading from a paper stuck to the back of a Spider-Man comic book.

“I now introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Kierna,” she said after the couple kissed, “aka Spider-Man and wife.”

The couple enjoyed refreshments, including Spider-Man cake, with friends before watching “Spider-Man 3.” A traditional honeymoon will have to wait.

“Our first movie as husband and wife,” Robert Kierna said.