Dressed to the nines or, more accurately, to the early nineteen hundreds, 150 or so guests made their way into Aquarelle on Avenue B in the East Village for the epic wedding of Deanna Director and Billy Hiller. Theme weddings are nothing new, but it takes a certain kind of chutzpah — and a big dose of optimism — to base your celebration on the movie “Titanic.”
Director, an advertising copywriter and creative director, made sure to explain their intentions when she proclaimed her vows.
“Just to be clear, this wedding is based on cassette one of the VHS set Titanic,” she noted. “The love story part. Because the bond we share is unsinkable.”
Hiller, a crane engineer, admits of the Titanic that, “Yeah, it was a disaster, but it also was just an engineering marvel in itself. It changed everything. It changed how we look at safety. And humans, whether you’re 1st class or 3rd class, it really is a discussion in itself about society and who we are as people. So we’re never, ever going to forget it.”
At any rate, their guests are probably not going to forget this fabulous soiree, and they came dressed for the occasion. Jason Chatfield, an illustrator and cartoonist by trade, went to Kaufman Astoria’s costume department to suit up for his duties as Captain Smith, the officiant of the nuptials.
Chatfield/Smith noted in his remarks that, “Love is about choosing the same person, on the good days and the iceberg days, again and again.”
Amusingly, the couple was engaged on a ferry while shooting for their Instagram page.
“I did do a Titanic proposal bit with Deanna,” Hiller explains. “She unknowingly was filming this silly bit that I planned because it forced her to look away from me. The whole bit was that we threw some iceberg lettuce into the East River, and then we pretended that the ferry was heading right for the iceberg. I made Deanna do this two times so that she became familiar with it. As her back was turned, I got down on one knee and I had our friend Emily, who was actually Jason Chatfield’s girlfriend, filming from another angle. And so when Deanna turned around, thinking that she was going to do another take, I was on one knee. So I surprised her during a Titanic bit.”
The date of their engagement was not, incidentally, the anniversary of the day the boat sank — it was “the day before. The last good day.”
“I think we’re both equally as obsessed with ‘Titanic,’” Director notes. “’It’s just funny how, I guess just any kid from the 90s was very absorbed by the movie. It was something like no one’s ever seen. I actually shot a short film aboard the Queen Mary, which looks like the Titanic. It was about an influencer who boards the Titanic. He’s won this sponsored trip. And then he realizes it’s not such a great trip when the iceberg hits, and he starts complaining and writing Yelp reviews as he’s sinking! It’s always been a part of our DNA. And I was just a Leonardo DiCaprio-obsessed girl when I was 12.”
Hiller was equally entranced by the movie around that age (minus the Leo obsession, we assume).
“When I was, I think, around twelve or thirteen, I built a cardboard Titanic costume for Halloween with lights and everything,” he proudly recalls. “And this is in the early days in the 90s when I didn’t have any material to build anything. It was all cardboard and hot glue, spray paint, and lights from a little electrical kit that I had as a kid.”
The duo is not alone in their obsession, as evidenced by a quick search of the internet and a survey of their guests, a few of whom have made the movie a central part of their art.
Sarah Boll turned her downtown NYC apartment into an immersive Titanic environment.
Artist Claudia Bitrán has been working on a shot-by-shot remake of “Titanic” for 12 years and recently unveiled the latest version, which she plans to continue tweaking for who knows how long.
Olivia Nicole Hoffman, a comedian/actress who has created an online “Titanic Theme Park,” gave a toast as an animatronic Old Rose.
Saline Dijon treated the crowd to her version of — what else — “My Heart Will Go On” and when the backing music gave out halfway through, everyone joined in and sang along.
Boll commented, “It was amazing! Loved that Deanna and Billy brought a bunch of Titanic fanatics together to help celebrate their big day!”
Bitrán, who also lent one of the paintings that she did for her movie to the venue’s decor, sang with the “Yacht Rock Choir” during the ceremony before she transitioned into a guest.
“Deanna and Billy celebrated their love with an incredibly creative, Titanic-themed wedding that brought fans together from all over,” she commented. “Their wedding wasn’t just the union of two people — it united a community of passionate artists, performers, photographers, comedians, singers, painters, and wonderfully creative souls. It was a surreal, heartfelt celebration of love, friendship, creativity, and a shared passion we’ll never forget.”
Bookending the event were a couple of nods to New York City — they arrived in a Ghostbusters Ecto-mobile and left in a classic 1968 Checker cab that was used in “Home Alone 2,” but in between it was all Titanic, with details like Hiller’s tuxedo matching the one worn by DiCaprio in the movie and heart-shaped necklaces given to some of their guests.
For her part, Director wanted her dress “to look like an iceberg.” A pamphlet designed like a cruise ship ad contained info about the seating arrangements. Seating cards were replaced by 3D-printed boats that were exact replicas of the Titanic lifeboats, with the guests’ names on them, and, of course, when they initially received the boats, they realized there weren’t enough for everyone.
And we have to chuckle at the fact that this time there was a lifeboat for DiCaprio — he had been invited, but he didn’t show, and it went unused.
Although the pair did much of the work planning and creating for the day themselves, they credit the “amazing” help of their wedding planner, Jean-Claude Langerholc, who also found the ocean-themed venue, which in turn inspired them to go with the Titanic motif.
Looking back on the day, Hiller admits that “it was a logistical nightmare, a lot of work, and it paid off really well considering everyone that attended had a great time. I knew it was going to work out, but I really had to rely on a lot of people coming together to make it work. It felt like the ending of the movie ‘Big Fish’ where you just see everyone in your life coming together and like just really appreciating everybody.”
Director added, “I think my greatest achievement with this wedding was letting my people in the room know that there are people out there like Billy. A lot of my friends are still single and looking, and it just gave them this really sweet message of hope, knowing that you really can find your perfect match and work with them and love them. We’re kind of both still in shock, honestly – we can’t believe we pulled this off “.
Hiller summed up his feelings in his vows.
“You make my life feel like my favorite movie,” he said. “A movie I want to watch over and over again. And you’re the star of it. You know the one: ‘When Billy Met Deanna.’ We’ve all seen it. It’s a classic. And now, we’re about to begin the long-awaited sequel: ‘Deanna and Billy Take Manhattan.’”
As for that nagging detail of the way that Titanic ends, they are not worried. “This movie,” says Director, “has a happy ending.”
Deanna Director and Billy Hiller’s projects can be explored on their website www.deannabillyprojects.com and on Instagram @DeannaBillyProjects.
