'Total state of shock:' Both sides explain Mansion Society "pop-up wedding" saga

In what was once the lobby of a Central State Hospital administrative building, plush couches and a mosaic of maroon rugs have transformed the Victorian-era building into a quaint coffee shop called Mansion Society, which Ana Lezama, 31, has co-owned with her mother since 2021.

While the drink menu is inspired and extensive, perhaps Mansion Society's strongest allure is its warm, extremely Instagram-friendly atmosphere. From bridal showers to engagement shoots, the shop offers bookings for a variety of private events.

Indianapolis coffee shop wedding goes viral

On New Year's Eve Day, a group of formally dressed guests trickled in to the coffee shop, a common sight given wedding guests at the nearby 1899 venue often pop over for a drink.

But when the roughly 20 people began humming the "Bridal Chorus" and a young woman wearing a white dress and veil walked through the front doors, Lezama realized Mansion Society was the wedding venue.

"The officiant literally said, 'We are gathered here today,'" Lezama said. "So there was like no time for a reaction or anything. They literally walked in for the wedding to start."

Lezama had expected a small group including a bride-to-be to come to sign wedding documents, she said. She had no idea the bride planned to hold the wedding there that day. The confusion continued as the wedding proceeded and Mansion Society staff scrambled to adjust.

Later that afternoon, a Mansion Society employee posted about the "pop-up wedding" on Facebook and Instagram. The post said the staff debated whether to share what happened, but ultimately did so to request patrons book private events rather than "showing up and taking control of our small business with no notice or any sort of monetary prearrangement."

Two days later, Mansion Society posted a video of an officiant conducting a ceremony with a bride and groom before a cluster of guests in a small side room. The wedding quickly went viral, receiving coverage from Complex and the New York Post.

"We had no idea this was gonna blow up the way it did," Lezama said.

In the hundreds of comments on Mansion Society's social media posts, several users called the couple entitled. Lezama declined to provide any personal information on the bride or groom, although she eventually shared the bride's name with IndyStar under the agreement the couple would remain anonymous if they wished to do so.

Couple responds online

In an email to IndyStar, the bride declined an interview request but pointed to an anonymous blog post sharing the couple's side of the story.

"Accusations of encroaching on a local business are serious, and we empathize with your reactions, given the narrative Mansion Society has spun," the blog reads.

The couple said in early December they contacted Isaac Barrow, director of operations at Indy Collective Property Group, who oversees the lease for 1899 and Mansion Society. The future bride and groom expressed a desire to hold a wedding with eight guests at Mansion Society. Barrow only asked that the party purchase something while at the shop.

Barrow, who was in the coffee shop during the wedding, said he had completely forgotten about the bride who approached him nearly a month ago. He thought the couple planned to sign wedding documents over coffee.

"It was just a total state of shock," he said. "Like, I can't believe what's actually happening right now."

In the blog, the bride said she and her partner want to move forward from this situation.

"It is incredibly unfortunate that such an important moment in our lives has been colored and scarred by this social media rampage, when it could have been easily resolved in private," the couple wrote.

The wedding

During the wedding, Lezama said the party moved furniture around, asked employees to watch personal items and obstructed other customers while a professional photographer took pictures.

"They were asking us to take their stuff, not in a rude way, but in a way as if the space was theirs," she said. "I think that they thought that the bride did have some kind of agreement or arrangement with us."

After the Mansion Society's Dec. 31 social media posts, Barrow emailed the bride with Mansion Society's permission, saying the coffee shop was not made aware of the wedding party's intentions. The bride acknowledged the party had grown bigger than she anticipated and offered a $200 donation to Mansion Society.

Lezama instead requested a payment of $500, significantly less than the typical rate of $900 for private holiday events but more than twice what the bride offered. She said that while the actual ceremony was not disruptive, the flash photography and ring lights may have been off-putting to other customers.

"We felt $500 was fair because we did not want to charge her our full shut-down fee when, at the end of the day, she did not have a full private event experience," Lezama said.

Lezama said the staff was caught off guard and didn't want to ruin a wedding in progress, so nobody at Mansion Society asked the party to leave. However, employees eventually asked the party to get out of the way of other customers and park their cars elsewhere.

Both sides now appear eager to move on. As of Jan. 10, the comments on Mansion's Instagram posts have been deleted and disabled, and comments are set to "limited" on the Facebook posts. Lezama said the couple should be held responsible, but she has no plans to go to court and doesn't view the wedding as an act of malice.

Barrow acknowledged there might have been a communication issue between him and the couple. Still, he maintains Mansion Society had no reason to expect a full ceremony.

"Maybe in their mind when they said, 'We're gonna sign some wedding documents,' we should have been prepared for some sort of wedding proceeding to go down," he said. "But that's definitely not what was communicated."

Misunderstanding or not, the pop-up wedding has affected the lives of those involved. The couple said in its blog post that it is now under legal counsel.

Meanwhile, Lezama said the response has been largely positive. She's seen an uptick in first-time customers and has received more inquiries about private events than usual. As for the $500 request, a GoFundMe page started by one of Mansion Society's regular customers has comfortably surpassed the bill.

For now, Lezama just wants to return to business as usual.

"We hope to move forward — and not be known as the coffee shop people had a ceremony in," she said.

Contact dining and drinks reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@gannett.com. You can follow him on Twitter @bradleyhohulin.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis coffee shop wedding saga leaves all wanting to move on