The scene is set: 60 white chairs in front of a waterfall and a gazebo ready for a reception with a bar off to the side in Kiwanis Park in Regina.
The characters are also ready. They include Robin Dunne, an actor, and producer from Toronto and his fiancée, Farrah Aviva, who is also an actor. Aviva is from Vancouver.
The two actors will be getting married between takes of a wedding scene in the movie, “Welcome to Nowhere,” which is being filmed in Regina.
Inspired by the theme of the film, Dunne and Aviva decided they would tie the knot on set three weeks ago.
“We decided, oh my god, let’s just do it!” Aviva said.
Aviva plays a bride in the film and the guests, who include parents and loved ones, will make their film debut as extras during the wedding scene.
At first, it kind of seemed like a crazy idea, we thought, well there’s a wedding in the movie, why don’t we actually just do it. I think it was kind of a joke. And the more thought about it, we thought, you know what? Who needs six months to plan a wedding? Or a year? We can do it in three weeks! ” Dunne said.
“Welcome to Nowhere” is a romantic comedy, with a deeper undertone.
Aviva describes it as a story about finding yourself in the most unlikely of places and in a way, art mirrored life when they look back on how they met.
“I was in that state of nowhere, living in New York”, Aviva said.
“Then a girlfriend encouraged me to go up to Toronto and visit her.”
And that was where she met Dunne.
“It was fate,” Dunne said.
However, the two said the life and schedule of a working actor makes it hard to plan a wedding.
The pair has been engaged for three years and said they simply couldn’t find the time to set a date.
Now, the couple said the Queen City has a special place in their heart.
“We love Regina!” Aviva gushed.
“I’ve actually become obsessed with Regina. I find everyone here to be so nice and there are great restaurants, great shopping here — people that I don’t even know…are offering to go run errands for me to help make this wedding happen.”
The couple said friends and family from out of town will arrive in the evening. The wedding scene will be shot and then, Dunne said, he’ll yell “cut”!
“Farrah and I are going to get up on stage, all our bridesmaids are groomsmen going to come up , we’re going to perform the ceremony, we’re going to do all the things that you do when you get married,” Dunne said.