43
TLC's 'Our Twinsane Wedding' reception at Y'town's Powers Auditorium
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
If the reception hall in “Our Twinsane Wedding” looks familiar, it should. The celebration took place in the ornate lobby of Powers Auditorium in downtown Youngstown.
“Our Twinsane Wedding” is a one-hour special about the joint wedding of two pairs of identical twins. It will air at 10 p.m. Monday on TLC cable television station.
The twins are Brittany and Briana Deane of Virginia, who married Joshua and Jeremy Salyers of Maryland, respectively.
The couples met at the annual Twins Day festival in Twinsburg in summer 2017.
On Aug. 4, they returned to Twins Day and got married there. Their reception took place that evening at Powers.
Twins Day is a gathering that attracts identical twins from throughout the country.
It’s no surprise the couples chose Powers. The spacious and elegant lobby, with its towering ceiling, massive staircase and ornamental touches, is available to rent for weddings and other events.
The brides-to-be had contacted Powers, inquiring about renting the space for their reception.
“I just remember getting a phone call from one of them, telling me they saw an ad for our venue somewhere, and the next thing you know, I was giving them a Facetime tour, and a few weeks later they decided to book,” said Leslie Williams, the booking agent for the facility. “We found out about the filming when they returned their rental agreement.”
TLC, which bills itself as the top TV destination for all things wedding, saw the Deane-Salyers nuptials as a great topic for a special.
“When we got wind of their story – identical twins marrying identical twins – it was a no-brainer for the network to jump on this to share their fairy tale wedding with the world,” said Nicole Anaejionu, who handles publicity for the channel.
Williams said a film crew was at Powers most of the day, up until the end of the reception.
“It was intense,” she said. “There were quite a few twins on the guest list. I think at least 35 percent of the guests were twins. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The Deane sisters dress alike, work at the same office as lawyers, and live together. Naturally, they also wore identical wedding dresses.
In the TLC special, they note that they had always dreamed of marrying identical twin brothers.
In addition to the wedding and reception, Monday night’s TLC special focuses on the daily lives of the two sets of twins, and also looks into the subculture of identical twins.