Wedding couple boldly goes where no one has gone before

? The bride wore a burnt umber Uhura number, and the groom turned out in tasteful Vulcan blue. Standing at the threshold between the perpetual darkness of deep space and the perpetual light of deep love, Nancy Kerr and Kyle Sessions, of Berkeley, Calif., said “I do” last Saturday in a “Star Trek” wedding at San Jose’s Tech Museum.

The happy couple stood on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise — recreated for “Star Trek: The Exhibition,” which closed Sunday — beaming up at their hand-picked officiant, the Rev. Rabbit Matthews.

Instead of a Bible, Matthews recited the vows they’d prepared using a Kindle wireless device.

“Do you promise to honor her and her commitment to the integrity of her mission?” Matthews asked Sessions, 27. “Do you promise to uphold the sacraments of marriage as described in Starfleet regulations, including cohabitation of quarters, equal division of domestic labor and loyalty to one’s commander and crew?”

Kerr and Sessions had won the museum’s “Ultimate ‘Star Trek’ Wedding Contest” on Facebook, defeating 13 other couples by garnering nearly a quarter of the 2,189 votes cast. The victory brought them to an altar of their own fevered imagining for a renewal of vows the couple first made in an Episcopal church in Utah six years ago.

They originally planned to wait until their 10th anniversary to renew their vows at the “Star Trek Experience” exhibit in Las Vegas, but that exhibition closed.

The Tech’s version drew more than 75,000 visitors during its run, although it shut down for about 45 minutes Saturday to accommodate the couple’s exchange of vows.

“Ending with a wedding makes sense because ‘Star Trek’ is about the future,” said Elizabeth Williams, the museum’s vice-president for marketing. “It’s an optimistic show.”

Mixed relationship

Among the visitors booted out of the museum so the wedding could proceed were Linda Roberts and Robert Green, who had driven up from Los Angeles to see the exhibit. Green was wearing a “Star Trek” uniform shirt that Roberts had bought at a thrift shop.

Green didn’t mind leaving while the wedding took place, but he acknowledged potential problems with entering such a union himself.

“We’re in a mixed relationship,” he deadpanned. “She’s a ‘Star Trek’ fan, and I’m a fan of ‘Star Wars.’ Lots of arguments about how to raise the kids.”

Once the bridge had been cleared, Sessions and Kerr entered while reciting lines from Mr. Spock’s tragic near-marriage to T’Pring, who jilted him at the altar.

“Parted from me and never parted, never and always touching and touched,” Kerr said as she mounted a small staircase, “we meet at the appointed place.”

Instead of exchanging rings, the couple exchanged “Star Trek” communicators they bought in the museum’s gift shop that morning. The bleeps and blorts of a battle-ready starship provided calliope-like accompaniment as the ceremony unfolded.

When Matthews declared, “It is done,” a vapor lock exhaled. The couple kissed for about 20 seconds, briefly achieving suborbital flight.

About 35 of the couple’s friends attended, among them Mark Wilde, who had just returned from shopping for his blue “Trek” shirt at Pierre Silber in Santa Clara, Calif.

“It’s an adult costume and lingerie shop,” he said, “but they also have ‘Star Trek’ costumes.”

Perfect Klingon

After the ceremony, Matthews immediately instructed the guests to “form an orderly line” to have photos taken with the bride and groom. Matthews, owner of The Sacred Well in Oakland, Calif., where “magic happens every day,” couldn’t take her eyes off the electronic tablet she was holding.

“This is Uhura’s Kindle,” she said, then caught herself. “I mean Nancy’s.”

Matthews then spread her fingers in the “V” Vulcan salute and exhorted Kerr and Sessions to “live long and prosper.” Then she led the first of several toasts in the museum’s VIP lounge.

“May your engines always be at full throttle … and may you always have all the dilithium you need,” she said, letting her purple hair down with a glass of champagne.

Benedek Nyikos leaped to his feet and delivered a lengthy toast in perfect Klingon. “Actually, it’s a Klingon drinking song,” he conceded later, “but nobody knows that, so I figured I could get away with it.”

There seemed little doubt that the bridal couple’s union would now be binding no matter where they went.

“I’m a legal minister in the state of California,” Rabbit Matthews said. “I assume I’m legal in other galaxies. Whenever I’ve teleported myself there, I’ve never had a problem.”