Robbie Bettinger and Alex Moreno weren't the first Ohio State University graduates who wanted Buckeye Donuts served at their wedding.
Were they the first to serve them, though, in a 12-foot-tall replica of Buckeye Donuts' shop in the University District? That's a distinct possibility.
"They have a lot of fond memories," Abby Henley, lead venue coordinator at Nazareth Hall, said of the reason behind the recreation for the couple's Aug. 8 wedding reception. From the office in the Wood County village of Grand Rapids, 30 miles southwest of Toledo, she said, "I had never heard of it until they said, 'We want Buckeye Donuts.'"
"We do some crazy things, but not that crazy," Henley added.
An Instagram video of the effort, complete with an LED version of Buckeye
Donuts' neon sign on North High Street, has been garnering hundreds of likes and shares – and a few requests from people who want to rent it out for their own parties.
Sadly, the mini doughnut shop didn't survive recent thunderstorms that swept through northwest Ohio. And, truth be told, Nazareth Hall staff put in the extra work to design, build, paint, decorate and equip its Buckeye Donuts because Bettinger is the son of venue owners Rob and Pam Bettinger.
Bettinger already has many happy memories of the venue, employees said in their Aug. 18 Instagram post, so "we wanted to make the day insane in the best way."
It took builder Steve Oneail about 40 hours to construct the Buckeye Donuts facade out of plywood and other materials. It took Henley, who also owns an art and graphic design business called Abby Henley Collection, another 40 hours to paint the building, signs and other features.
They needed a flatbed truck to move it into place on the Nazareth Hall grounds.
"It didn't start out as big as it got," Henley said. "I was thinking a little makeshift facade. Then Steve was talking about schematics of 12 feet high, and I was like, 'OK...'"
Wedding guests walked through a front door to peruse a bakery-case display of 40 dozen doughnuts brought up from Columbus. Reception hall employees wore Buckeye Donuts T-shirts as they served guests.
The whole thing had the blessing of Buckeye Donuts owner Jimmy Barouxis, whose father and grandfather opened the bakery in 1969.
And the happy couple? It made them as happy as a long john at 2 a.m.
Moreno, now Alex Bettinger, wrote to Nazareth Hall: "Y’all made all our dreams come true x10000." And to Buckeye Donuts, she posted with a heart, a doughnut and a shrug-shoulders emoji with the message: "We’re kinda obsessed with you."
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A 12-foot Buckeye Donuts replica featured in Ohio State alums' wedding
