Colleen Mills-Finnerty and her husband Delsin, in the background, on their wedding day.

Delsin and Colleen Mills-Finnerty aren't your average couple.

The Jersey City pair are polymaths, self-confessed geeks -- Delsin works in IT, Colleen is getting her Ph. D. in cognitive neuroscience from Rutgers Newark -- and co-founders of nontraditional educational event series, The Spoken Nerd.

They're also steeped in culture. Delsin, 37, is well-versed in the history of the cocktail, and Colleen, 29, in her vintage threads, is a walking tribute to Old Hollywood.

It's no surprise then that for their nuptials last year, the two went above and beyond with a 1920's-inspired wedding at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City. The November wedding featured a karaoke duel to Meatloaf classic "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," catering from Hoboken vegan food truck Cinnamon Snail and a guest list that was a who's-who of the local arts scene.

Their wedding, which was shot by photographer Steven Rosen, was even recently featured on wedding blog Offbeat Bride.

The Jersey Journal spoke to Colleen, a Bayonne native, about the festivities.

JJ: How did you guys meet and how long have you been together?

CMF: We met when I was in school in Boston and Delsin was working in Providence. We dated for six years while living in New England, and moved to Jersey City so I could attend grad school in 2010. Moving was stressful but once we survived that, we got engaged! We had a two-year engagement and did most of our wedding planning a year in advance.

It's men versus women in this passionate rendition of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."

JJ: What inspired your Old Hollywood wedding?

CMF: We half-joked that if we didn't love our family and friends so much, we'd have just eloped in Vegas! For us, the wedding was about celebrating with the people we love. We wanted to craft an event that our guests would never forget. We are very into 1920's culture -- art, architecture, music, and clothing -- and the Loew's is one of the greatest 20's-era theaters in existence, so it was a perfect fit.

JJ: Why did you guys choose the Cinnamon Snail to cater your wedding?

CMF: Because the theater has no kitchen and limited prep area, and having fresh yummy food was one of our priorities, we figured a gourmet food truck was the way to go! Cinnamon Snail's food is amazing (hello, bourbon creme brulee donuts), and they are also great at accommodating food restrictions. Plus they have a very wacky but positive spirit.

JJ: What was the most challenging part of planning the whole shebang? The most memorable?

The newlyweds order vegan eats from the Cinnamon Snail food truck, which catered their reception.

CMF: The logistics were a challenge since this was largely a DIY wedding. I had a 17-page spreadsheet I used for planning. But the most rewarding part was getting to hire so many of our friends -- almost everyone from the officiant to the bartenders (Emily Palmer and Andrea Morin from LITM) to our photographer, Steve Rosen, were friends of ours or people from the local community.

JJ: Is this the first event you guys planned together?

CMF: We ran an event called Speakeasy in Providence circa 2009, which is how we met our officiant, the "Irreverand" Wendy Beth; we booked her jazz band Miss Wensday and the Cotillions, and our wedding band, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band.

Right before we moved we ran an all-day outdoor festival stage with 16 vaudeville and musical acts. We figured that was the peak of our careers and we should quit while we're ahead, but planning the wedding got us back in the saddle and Spoken Nerd is an event that reflects where we are now.

JJ: Tell us more about Spoken Nerd.

Spoken Nerd takes our love of cabaret and mashes it together with art, culture and science. We had our first event in June at LITM and it was great. The theme was "booze" and we had speakers present on home brewing beer, the history of the cocktail and how to make your own cocktail bitters. We plan on doing the next one in September.

Colleen and Delsin Mills-Finnerty share a kiss on their wedding day.

We've both always marched to the beat of our own drum, and our wedding also reflected that. We took our shared love of architecture, music, food and cocktails and created an event that was the sum total of our interests.

JJ: What is your best memory from the wedding?

CMF: We got engaged after seven years together and at first had the attitude of "well it's not a big deal, it's just a piece of paper." But when we announced our engagement, the sheer joy and celebration from our family and friends put it in perspective.

The wedding ended up feeling like so much more than just signing paperwork -- for example, walking down the aisle with my dad, surrounded by people who love us, some of whom were already crying while Delsin stood on stage with a big, nervous smile on his face was a very powerful moment. I don't think we've ever felt so loved. And to know that that many people care about us and our little family unit was very powerful.