Halloween Themed Wedding with Sword Swallowers, Drag Acts and A Costume Contest Reception!

Sarah Sewell Photography

April 15, 2019

The inspiration behind Kris and Landon’s big day was the fact that Kris has never been to a Halloween party… no, really! “It’s the best holiday because your only obligation is to dress like an ass and then get candy for it. So we said screw it and threw a Halloween party,… but you know, just got married in the beginning.” Kris explained.

Costume party aside, the vibe they wanted was ‘dinner and a show’… with some good old fashioned freaky Halloween fun! They took their theme and ran with it. As entertainment, they had a sideshow act perform sword swallowing, walking on glass and a bed of nails act while their guests dined. Kris’ brother had recently started competing in drag competitions and agreed to do a number after dinner. It was followed by a costume contest, which their friends and family embraced wholeheartedly.

“As our theme was Halloween and we were asking our guests to wear costumes, I figured we had to look the part too!” Kris dressed as a widow and wore a black Sherri Hill ball gown with pre-owned jewellery and red shoes. Landon – a ‘gentlemanly viking’ – wore an outfit by Celtic Croft. “For the first time in history – the bride and grooms outfit cost the same!” laughed Kris.

The weird and the wonderful didn’t stop there – their ceremony was officiated by a friend – who dressed as Winifred Sanderson, because of course! In their short but ceremony they also had a friend and tattoo artist tattoo their ring fingers while they were exchanging vows.  A friend even livestreamed the ceremony on Facebook, so that the friends and family that weren’t able to attend could still be included in their day.

Pretty much all of the decor for their day was a DIY project for the couple, which meant they could let their imaginations run wild. They mixed florals and pretty place setting with taxidermy bats, insect specimens, weird antiques and even a human skull to make table centrepieces.  In lieu of a cake, the couple chose to have donuts instead and found a coffin-shaped box to display them in.

Kris made her bouquet and Landon’s boutonniere from artificial flowers and crafty bits she’d had stashed away. They mounted cheap plastic skulls to wooden bases and spray painted them gold to hold their table numbers. They had trick or treat bags as party favours, and decorated an old birdcage found in a basement as a card cage.

Despite all the attention to detail and finishing touches that the couple had, the prominence for the couple when it came to planning their day was one thing; to marry each other, and have everyone be happy about it. “We joke that the worst thing about planning our wedding was planning the wedding,” said Landon, “but it is just a joke… promise! Our advice to other couples would be start planning early, and make sure you communicate and make joint decisions. There isn’t anything we’d do differently… except maybe know that we were throwing a costume contest before actually throwing a costume contest!”

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