Inspired by their mutual adoration for retro horror movies, Lydia and Tristen had a themed wedding held at Kino-Teatr, a local arts cinema in Hastings. They were married on the stage in front of the big screen and they had so many horror themed references throughout the day.
“Pretty soon into us going out, we realised one of our many shared passions was horror films”, the bride told us. “It then became a tradition to watch the most gross, least romantic horror film we could find each Valentine’s Day. When it came to looking into wedding venues, we quickly decided our favourite was a local arts cinema, Kino-Teatr. It’s a beautiful period building with classic cinema seats and a dramatic red curtain covering the screen. Once we’d decided on the venue, subtly tying in references to our favourite horror films just felt right.”
One of the most striking aspects of their wedding was the attention to detail. The couple creatively integrated their theme into every element of the day. Lydia channelled Bride Of Frankenstein with her beehive hairstyle, and Tristen, along with his groomsmen, donning ruffled shirts and velvet jackets, looked as though they stepped right out of a classic horror film.
Tables were named after their favourite scary films – The Lost Boys, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Bride of Frankenstein to name a few… They even used video tapes (some of them had to be painstakingly recreated by Lydia’s brother-in-law as they were too rare to find on their many charity shop visits and online searches!) as the table markers. Their invites also featured the iconic carpet pattern from The Shining.
The ceremony featured songs from The Wickerman (the bride walked down the aisle to The Maypole Song) and The Lost Boys and they excited to Hip To Be Square from the American Psycho soundtrack. As they entered the main restaurant space as husband and wife, the bridesmaids tipped a bucket of red petals over them as a nod to Carrie!
Each guest had their place name on a replica Blockbuster video card and had a jar of The Blob (a chutney lovingly made by Lydia’s dad) as a wedding favour. Tristan’s sister made an incredible cake topped with the puzzle box from Hellraiser. Their first dance was to the title song from the horror film Prom Night, which they recreated the dance from as accurately as they could. Finally, they bought a video camera and encouraged guests to leave their own Blair Witch style messages for the happy couple!
“We’re lucky to have really creative friends and family so we pulled in everyone to help”, Lydia concluded. “Our advice to others would be, if there’s anything you can do to simplify your day without compromising on your vision or budget, do it! Doing the legal part of our ceremony a few months before (while dressed as characters from Midsommer!) with just two of our dear friends took a massive chunk of pressure off the day. On what we’re considering our real wedding day, we did the ceremony and reception in the same place so we didn’t have to faff about with travel or directing people. Also just remember that things are going to go wrong on the day and that’s fine, it would be boring if they didn’t!”
