‘Til Death’ A Halloween Wedding Styled Shoot

Written By Lauren Gardner

I see so many couples go for fall weddings, but feel that they can't come up with a unique enough theme to fit the season. If you search 'Halloween Wedding' on Pinterest, you're met with pumpkins and skeletons, bright orange and black color schemes, and overall a cheesy Halloween theme that, let's be honest, you're not going for at all. I wanted to create a styled shoot that appeals to more couples by using more of a dark, moody, and romantic feel. With that, this was my vision that was able to come to life thanks to the help of some amazing vendors.

Invitation Suite

These stunning invites and programs were created by TandemHart and paired with custom jewelry created by Owen Jewelry Design in Des Moines, Iowa.

When it came to the invitations, I knew I wanted to use Tandem Hart. I'm close with the owners and love everything they create, so choosing them was a no brainer. I went back and fourth with them quite a bit with the basic vision that I had. I knew I wanted something spooky and dark but not overly cheesy, and I wanted it to be more unique of a design than something traditional. I gave the girls over at Tandem Hart complete and total freedom when it came to creating the invitation suite. All I really said was, "Give me something that'll fit the Halloween vibe, but make it dark and romantic instead of your typical Halloween aesthetic. And for the love of god, do NOT put any orange in there!". When they sent me the mock invites, I was over the moon! I loved them so much, that these invites are now framed and sitting on my desk.

For the detail shots pictured, we included a burgundy cheesecloth table runner, the bridal bouquet, invitation suite, crystals, and of course the jewelry. The jewelry was created by Owen Jewelry Design and is truly unique to the couple, literally! They create one-of-a-kind jewelry designed specially for each couple, how cool is that?!

Now for the best part of the shoot, the design! Gone is your traditional orange and black color scheme, instead we opted for burgundy, dark plum, and black. I used dry ice a lot throughout the shoot to give off a spooky vibe, specifically for the décor. Below you can see a full list of the décor that was used.

For the décor I wanted top keep it modern yet still unique. So for our first table we used bud vases, a mix of gold votives, tall pillar candles, a large crystal table number, and smaller crystals such as selenite and amethyst.

Then each place setting at the first table had gold beaded chargers, black dinner plates, black champagne flutes, burgundy napkins with a gold spider web napkin holder, gold acrylic name plates, tarot cards, and matte black silverware.

Each table had a black velvet linen tablecloth, and black chivari chairs.

For the second table I used gold taper stands with black taper candles, a mix of gold votives, bud vases, a large crystal table number, selenite crystal towers, and small selenite crystal balls.

For the place settings, I decided to do gold beaded chargers, shimmery lavender dinner plates, black champagne flutes, black silk napkins with menu cards, small crystal name plates, and matte black silverware.

Then for the entry and guestbook table, I used a black wooden vanity provided by Borrow My Vintage, and placed some spell books, a crystal ball, an amethyst tower, a "We've been dying to meet you" welcome sign, skeleton figurines, and a favors section. I used a silver bowl being held up by skeleton hands on top of the spell books and added dry ice to that, to create a spooky vibe for guests as they came to the table to sign in too!

For guest favors, I wanted to showcase something unique. Most wedding guests don't even take favors, because couples give out things guests don't necessarily want or need. So, I wanted to give couples a new wedding favor idea that their guests will love: Candles! These candles were created by Flame and Flicker Candle Co. and made for the cutest wedding guest favors! Maddie, the owner of Flame and Flicker Candle Co., handmade the candles in the color scheme, and I created little favor tags to go with each one using my cricut. She sent me over two designs to display for the shoot, one was a little knot, and the favor tag I created for it said, 'We tied the knot' and had the couples name and wedding date on them. Then the second candle design was a mini cloud, and the tag read' We're on cloud 9' and had the couples name and wedding date on them.

For the guest seating chart, I took a long black mirror and staged the table numbers on that. I printed the table numbers on glittery white cardstock, then I used a special ruler to carefully tear and rip the edges of the paper to create a more rustic and tarnished look. After I was done, I stuck them to the mirror using double sided tape.

Before the shoot, I used my wax gun to create burgundy wax stamps, that I ended up using on the seating chart as well to 'hold up' the table numbers. I also used double sided tape to keep those attached to the mirror.

The best part about using mirrors in your wedding décor, is that afterwards use can use them as home décor! The mirror that I used is actually my bedroom mirror! I liked the fact that it was black, because it matched my color scheme and fit the theme perfectly. All I had to do was wipe it down with Windex, attach the table numbers and wax stamps, then I was good to go! I also used an antique gold mirror on the other side of the entry table to add to the aesthetic! I used a cool svg font I found on Etsy and cut out the quote on removable white vinyl on my cricut. Then I used my transfer tape to apply it to the mirror.

The head table was the focal point of the entire room, I wanted it to draw everyone's attention immediately after walking into the venue. To do so, I used a dark hexagon arbor and attached a neon sign that read

'Til Death' , looped some black draping around the arbor, and attached some floral arrangements to either side. The front of the head table had a large floral arrangement, black taper candles, and a mix of gold votives. On the floor in front of the head table, I used an assortment of different sized pillar candles to create a moody and eerie feel. The couple sat behind the head table in a black leather settee that was provided by Borrow My Vintage.

The Ceremony

Night time ceremonies are all the rage, can’t you see why? Look at all the dark and romantic candlelight that really make it feel that much more special!

The ceremony area was, in my opinion, the coolest setup. I hung glass orbs from the built in trellis and put realistic looking led candles in them, hung large floral arrangements from the top, and had black draping hanging from either side. I used an assortment of different sized pillar candles on the ground and lined the ceremony aisle, then placed different styled and shaped rugs down the aisle.

The venue I chose had a lot of cool photo op areas! One of my favorites was this greenery wall! On one side it was a plain greenery wall with the cheers sign, and on the other side it was a champagne wall. We styled a burgundy velvet settee in front of the greenery wall and laid some floral arrangements out on it to create this stunning bridal portrait setup!

If you've taken the time to go through these photos, I'm sure you've noticed the longhorn skull with floral by now. There is actually a pretty funny story as to how that came to be. Emily with Tulipsis Floral called me and woke me up at at 8am the day before the shoot and said she wanted a cow skull.... I was still a bit delirious with sleep and said, "...a what?!". Emily told me she'd love to get creative with a skull for the shoot, and since I want my vendors to have as much creative freedom during these shoots as they want, I got out of bed to find her a skull. I had an idea already in my head of what she was attempting to create, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would turn out as incredible and beautiful as it did! Don't get me wrong, I knew Emily would create something really cool, but this was a masterpiece that I wanted to take home with me and hang up in my house! So here is a close up of all the beautiful floral arrangements Tulipsis created!

A few weeks before the shoot, our model Derek reached out to the photographer and I, and asked if he could propose to his girlfriend Darby. Of course we said yes! But that just meant the pressure was on to not only keep it a surprise, but to make sure our model Darby felt beautiful for that special moment. After the shoot, I took Darby into the bridal suite and had her change dresses, and told her we were going to do some extra photos with the second dress. As I was helping Darby, the photographer Missie was prepping Derek and giving him the rings. We had Darby take off her rings, since "it was so dark we won't be able to see them anyways" and Missie and Reed the videographer led Derek and Darby to the courtyard away from the other vendors. We started off with some couple photos, but then Missie gave Derek his signal, and he got down on one knee and proposed to Darby. If you couldn't tell by the photos, I think Darby knew what was happening by the second photo before Derek even got down on one knee...

Lauren Gardner
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