Weddings: Laura Van Tassell and M. Craig Getting

Craig came home to King of Prussia with a bachelor's in drama from Ohio's Kenyon College and assembled a collection of local theater jobs, including directing and backstage work at Lantern Theater Company. A year later, his college friend Jonny joined the Lantern as a production intern.

Friends joked that the South Philadelphia apartment Craig and Jonny rented in 2011 would be an epic bachelor pad. But within months, Jonny was dating Theresa, and Theresa brought Laura, her friend and roommate since their days at Hope College in Michigan, to hang out with the guys.

Laura, who holds degrees in theater and communications, grew up in Spencer, Iowa. She and Theresa moved to Philadelphia together in 2009, when Laura landed a development apprenticeship at the Walnut Street Theatre. She was fund-raising for FringeArts when she and Craig met, but a shared commitment to the performing arts was just one reason the two were soon spending time together, even without their roommates.

"It was very fun to make Laura laugh," Craig said. "I would say something a little goofy just to see her reaction, and then she would toss something back to make me laugh. Our conversation was so easy from the get-go."

Laura's dry sense of humor isn't universally appreciated, she said. But Craig found her hilarious. "He's a very joyful person," she said.

The friends' lives took on a definite small-screen vibe. "The four of us were in this weird, roommate sitcom situation," Craig said.

The director requested a little direction.

"It feels like we're dating," he said to Laura. "We decided not just to date, but to exclusively date," she remembered.

Their first official date was a December dinner at West Philadelphia's Vietnam Cafe followed by the comedy Craig was directing at Curio Theatre Company.

By New Year's Eve, Laura was comfortable enough to invite herself to join Craig at best friend Andrew's place in New Brunswick. "We came home and watched the Mummers Parade," Craig said. "Now we watch the Mummers together every year," said Laura.

They fell in like while laughing, but love came when each realized the other was exactly who they needed even in times of stress or pain.

"We supported each other through a series of job changes, moving, and other things that happen in your mid-to-late 20s," said Craig.

Most were routine stresses, but one was not. About a year after they began dating, Laura felt inexplicable fatigue, and her joints hurt terribly. After being tested for everything from iron deficiency to an autoimmune disease, doctors diagnosed her with fibromyalgia. "Craig was always willing to run and get whatever food I wanted, to make me a hot chocolate. He would sit with me if I wanted to talk, or if I needed to sleep, he'd be just a room away, in case I needed anything."

Her fibromyalgia is now well-managed, but she was left with the conviction that Craig could handle anything life threw their way.

Laura, now 28, returned to the Walnut Street Theatre and is now individual giving manager. Craig, now 29, is the Lantern's education director, and he also continues to direct.

In summer 2013, Laura and Theresa's and Craig and Jonny's apartment leases expired.

"We swapped roommates," Craig said.

Summer 2014 was the season of weddings, and during the long car rides to and fro, Laura and Craig spoke of having one of their own some day. Craig's friend Andrew, himself newly wed, visited in spring 2015 and could not stop talking about how great being married is. "You guys should get married," he said.

The couple laughed at his blissful candor, but the next weekend, they looked at rings in New York.

Early one Saturday in May, Laura, who loves a good brunch, awoke to the scent of roasting potatoes. Downstairs, she found Craig already dressed in a button-down shirt, poaching eggs in special $12 poaching bags that she still ribs him about.

When they finished eating, Craig took a deep breath and changed the music to Jon Boden's "How Long Will I Love You?" He reached atop the fridge, behind the cookbooks, for a small navy blue box.

Craig crafted a metaphor about their lives. He remembers a time theme, she remembers something about stories. Either way, by the time he knelt, both were crying.

The couple wanted a historic venue for both their ceremony and reception for 130. The German Society of Pennsylvania was an especially perfect fit. "Since we both work for nonprofit organizations, it felt really good to be paying our rental fee to another nonprofit," Laura said.

They wed in the elegant library. Laura's parents, Wendy and Tom, are ministers, but it was important to her that neither perform the ceremony so they could enjoy their roles as mother and father of the bride. Tom walked Laura down the aisle, and Craig walked with his mom, Barbara.

The ceremony was officiated by a friend of the couples': Laura's boss' husband, Father Kirk, an Episcopal priest. "Because we knew each other, it was very easy to plan a ceremony that was traditional Episcopal but really tailored to us with language we like and poetry we love," Laura said.

Andrew, of "you guys should get married" fame, was best man.

After the vows and exchange of rings, friends Steve and Kayla performed a guitar-and-voice version of Bruce Springsteen's "If I Should Fall Behind," and Craig's sister Jillian and Laura's brother, Eric, did readings.

At the reception, guests sat at family-style tables named for famous Philadelphians, including Lucretia Mott and Ben Franklin. They ate food prepared by Bryce's, the caterer Laura regularly uses for Walnut Street Theatre events. They drank beer home-brewed by the groom and five of his friends, and had their photos taken by JJ, who does work for FringeArts.

The couple's first dance was to the same song Craig played during the proposal.

As she stood with her arms wrapped around Craig, listening to their friends perform Springsteen, Laura looked first at her new husband, then to the assemblage of friends and family. "I keep replaying that moment I scanned from Craig's face to the sea of the faces of all the people who have ever mattered to us, and I hear their version of that song in my head," she said.

During cocktail hour, somebody started the clinking of glasses that signals the couple to kiss. "We weren't standing next to each other, and I decided to go run and find Laura, and do our kiss wherever she was," Craig said. The couple and their guests had such fun that the clinking signal was intentionally given throughout the night when the bride and groom were not side by side. Her trumpet-shape dress meant Craig had to do the running. "The whole room would turn their attention to both of us until I found and kissed her."

A bargain: The crafty bride made all the bouquet and table flowers from crepe paper and sheet music and bought books from Philly AIDS Thrift for centerpieces that echoed the library setting of the ceremony. Total cost: $50.

The splurge: The couple's room on the 30th floor of the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, with windows looking out at William Penn and room service grilled cheese at 3 a.m.

The couple will hold a summer reception in Iowa, at the Congregational church where her parents are pastors, then will immediately leave for a week in Amsterdam, where Van Tassell roots begin.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Officiant: Rev. Kirk T. Berlenbach of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

Venue:  German Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Catering: Bryce's Catering Company, Wynnewood

Photography:  JJ Tiziou Photography, Philadelphia

Flowers: Handmade by the bride, arranged by An Intentional Event, Philadelphia

Dress:  Allure Bridals from Sabrina Ann Once Worn and Never Worn, Ardmore

Music: Ceremony: friends of the couple Kayla Dvorak Feld and Stephen Dowling; Reception: a groom-created playlist run off a friend's computer.

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