Catherine O’Hara is reflecting on the memorable wedding present she got from filmmaker Tim Burton.
The Home Alone actor, 70, stated during an appearance on the Oct. 30 episode of Lemonade Media’s podcast Wiser Than Me that Burton, 66, introduced her and her husband Bo Welch to a unique experience in Italy after their 1992 marriage.
“Tim gave us an amazing wedding gift, which was a private tour of the Vatican,” O’Hara recalled, leading Louis-Dreyfus, 63, to respond, “Yeah, only Tim Burton would give a present like that.”
“Somebody had given [Burton] the gift, and he’d been blown away, so he passed it on, which is really wonderful and generous,” she said. “This lovely priest or cardinal took us all around the Vatican, and he was wild,” she said.
She described how their tour guide brought them “everywhere”—”including, I swear, the Pope’s closet.”
“He took us on the elevator that the Pope uses to go down to St. Peter’s Basilica for his death mass. He brought us inside this wonderful, small private museum filled with glass cases containing all of the items presented to the Vatican from all around the globe,” O’Hara recalled. “He allowed us to open the case, remove the crowns, and feign the act of placing them in my husband’s backpack.”
The actress also thanked Burton for encouraging her husband to eventually ask her out while the three were filming Beetlejuice in 1988. Burton directed the picture, which stars O’Hara as Delia Deetz. Welch, 72, worked behind the scenes as a production designer.
“Tim Burton essentially pushed him to ask me out.” O’Hara conveyed to Louis-Dreyfus that she was dissatisfied with Tim’s constant chatter, but he never attempted to ask her out. “Tim said, ‘Let me see what I can do.'” He did talk to him, and Bo reluctantly invited me out. And we’re still married, thank heavens.
In August, the Schitt’s Creek actor told PEOPLE that the day Welch invited her on a date was her favorite aspect of filming Beetlejuice. She recounted that he finally moved while they were filming the exteriors of the famed Beetlejuice mansion in Vermont.
“Bo approached me that day and said, ‘Our department is going to a trade meeting.” You want to come?” she said.
O’Hara and Welch married on April 25, 1992, and have two children together, Matthew and Luke. On Aug. 28, the couple walked the red carpet together for the debut of the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the Venice Film Festival, bringing their love and career full circle.
Earlier this year, O’Hara discussed how she and Welch navigated some “rough times” in their marriage.
“We both just really wanted to work on it and stay married,” she told PEOPLE, adding that humor has also helped strengthen their relationship. “And laughing.” We respect each other and engage in conversation, but it also leads to laughter.
“People always say communicate, right?” she continued. “Tell them how you’re feeling.”