Update, on October 3, 2024:
We finally have pictures that show Matthew Modine — a.k.a. “Papa” from Stranger Things — officiating Millie Bobby Brown's wedding.
In case you need a refresher, Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi finally tied the knot in May 2024 after a year of being engaged. However, they waited a few months to show the very first pictures from the ceremony. On October 2, 2023, Brown finally took to her Instagram account to share some snaps from the big day, including the long-anticipated reveal of her wedding dress. We also finally have pictures of Stranger Things costar Matthew Modine in wedding officiant mode.
Back in March, before the ceremony had taken place, we first learned that Modine would serve as Brown's wedding officiant from Modine himself. Seeing as the star already had a license from a previous wedding he officiated in 2020, Brown did not hesitate a second to ask her onscreen “Papa” to do the honors, and Bongiovi obliged. At the time, Modin revealed he had already written the vows for the wedding, which they immediately loved, and fans have finally gotten a peek at the moment via Bongiovi's Instagram account. You can see the picture here.
Previously, on March 22, 2024:
Millie Bobby Brown has chosen someone near and dear to her to officiate her wedding: her Stranger Things costar Matthew Modine.
ICYMI: Millie Bobby Brown is getting married to Jake Bongiovi, the son of Jon Bon Jovi, and became engaged to the model last spring. Brown and her fiancé have shared little updates since the proposal but have intentionally kept most of their wedding planning details private. However, some details you just have to share, like the outrageous proposal story or the sweet story behind the wedding officiant. Enter: Matthew Modine.
While speaking to Access Online on March 21, Modine revealed that he would be the one marrying Brown and Bongiovi. “I have one of those licenses to get people married and Millie thought it’d be great and then Jake said it would be a great idea," said Modine, "So I wrote the wedding vows and they loved what I wrote for them to join hands and to become husband and wife."
Modine, who has been married to his own wife for 44 years, noted that Brown and Bongiovi's won't be the first wedding he's officiated — he officiated one other ceremony during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s such a beautiful thing to be able to join two people in holy matrimony," said the actor.
And it's even more beautiful that MBB gets to experience this huge milestone in her life with one of her earliest acting partners. Matthew Modine played Dr. Martin Brenner on Netflix's Stranger Things for four seasons, a complicated character who long served as one of the show's villains.
Brenner was the director of Hawkins National Lab who inadvertently released the first Demogorgon, and experimented on child test subjects like Brown's character Eleven. Brenner was a twisted father figure to Eleven, and she referred to him in the show as “Papa.” Their relationship is mended in Stranger Things 4 when he sacrifices himself to help Eleven escape from the government.
Modine and Brown's bond has clearly transcended The Upside Down because now they get to share this moment together forever. I'm not crying; you're crying!
