Saga of the Swamp Thing Wedding

River West

October 3, 2017

Kristin, an artist, and Neil, a musician, wanted their wedding theme to really reflect them. After going through a number of ideas they settled on their shared love of comic books. specifically Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing.

“We had gone through a few different concepts for wedding themes,” the bride began. “Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing is a beautifully written and illustrated series that at its core, is a love story. I felt that it was especially fitting as I have a deep love for nature. The entire wedding was influenced in many subtle ways, but the most clear were our invitations, the book our officiant used to hold during the ceremony and our ceremony itself. Two of my favourite things are mushrooms and moss so they were present throughout the wedding. They just make everything feel otherworldly to me!”

One of the most unique aspects of the wedding was the bride’s dress. “My goal for the wedding was to look like a mythical beast, I like to think it worked out. I chose to wear an off-white lace dress that I picked up a couple years ago for $20. I bought the dress because I am absolutely obsessed with those magical sleeves. There was one big problem, the dress was quite short. My mother and I spent a lot of time brainstorming how to go about lengthening the dress so that I would be more comfortable. In the beginning we had planned on sewing a layered skirt. Ultimately, I wanted something more interesting and unique.”

“Then, one night while I was working on the bouquet it came to me, the dress needed some nature! I took some of the flowers I had purchased to add to my bouquet and pinned them to the base of my dress. That was it, I knew what I had to do. On the night before the wedding, my mother and I wired up a bunch of Boston fern stems as well as the previous flowers. We safety pinned them to the base of my slip and stored the whole thing in the fridge until the next day. I’m not going to lie, it was refreshing on a hot morning!”

“I have seen so many artistic skirts, but never greenery or flowers added to the base of a wedding dress to make up the skirt itself. It’s hard to have something truly unique these days! Everyone gets so creative and lets their imagination run wild. It is amazing to see the things people come up with when they don’t feel bound by the boxes of tradition.”

The ceremony was short, less than 5 minutes. “Considering that Neil and I wanted our wedding to be secular, we were unsure where to turn for an officiant”, she said. “One of my best friend’s, Brijesh, quickly chimed in requesting to perform the ceremony. He got officiated online and worked with us to put together something short, sweet and fitting to us as a couple. We were incredibly grateful to be able to have our wedding ceremony in front of the barn that Neil’s papa, Frank, built in 1976. With a little love from both of our families, we tidied up the old beauty. The ceremony lasted less than five minutes, but included an excerpt assembled from Saga of the Swamp Thing books in place of vows. Short and sweet was exactly what we were hoping for and I think we surprised everyone with just how short it was!”

The reception was held inside the barn. “As the guests entered the barn, we had a buffet of tasty treats set up to grab on the way out to the tables. The barn really was the perfect place for the wedding. We didn’t have to do a bunch of shuffling in the middle of everything. We were able to have separate spaces for the ceremony, food and still have plenty of room to spread out for the reception!”

They spent under $500 on the wedding (not including their photographer) and they had lots of help from family and friends. They put together all the flowers themselves, made their own stationery and decor and family members did the catering. “Pretty much the entire wedding was DIY. For the centrepieces I had some friends help me assemble stick vases. I also put together glass mushrooms and sweet little succulent gardens in an array of containers I picked up at a local antique shop that was going out of business.”

“I designed and made the invitations. The front was inspired by the cover of issue 64 of Saga of the Swamp Thing. I cut all of the signs out of plywood and they were sprayed with chalkboard paint and hand-lettered. The paper curtain for the ceremony backdrop was assembled with the help of some very patient friends with steady hands.”

“Neil’s second cousin, Sherry, was kind enough to make us a scrumptious vanilla cake with fresh blueberries mixed in and lemon cream cheese frosting. She and I made the magic mushrooms out of candy clay and coloured them with lustre dust while my aunt Dawn made us little fondant ferns. I assembled the flowers from a variety I picked up at Michael’s, a couple of lotus pods, fresh fern shoots and baby’s breath.”

“I would tell other couples planning their wedding to relax”, she concluded. “Plan and prepare all you want ahead of time, but on the day of forget it all. Let whatever happens happen, focus on the real reason you are there. You are marrying the love of your life and that should be the one and only thing that matters when the time comes. With that in mind, reach out to friends and family. Having their help, especially on the actual day, will make all of the difference in the world.”

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