The DIY Halloween Wedding That Will Leave You Shook
By Annie Molenaar
Morgan is a thirty-five-year-old wig-wearing, dog-loving, taphophile who digs heavy metal, glamour and all things dark and delicious. She found her true love in Cam, an ex pro motocross rider, event manager and fitness professional with an excellent moustache (not pictured).
Their story starts at the Brisbane Zombie Walk where Morgan, dressed as the undead, managed to capture the heart of Cam, who thought she looked hot, rotting flesh and all. Turns out she was walking alongside a mutual friend of theirs and when Cam spotted Morgan in said mutual friend’s pics he made a point of getting her contact details.
They met up, bonded over Kraken Spiced Rum, and realised pretty quickly they were onto a good thing. The day after they met, Cam told his mates he had just met the girl he was going to spend the rest of his life with. A few days later Morgan went to spend a night at Cam’s and then never went back home.
They had been together three-and-a-half years when Cam surprised Morgan and proposed at Split Rock in the Warrumbungle Mountains. Of course she said yes - no brainer - and with their hearts set on a Halloween wedding, they set out to plan and execute the whole she-bang in just six months because FUCK WAITING A YEAR-AND-A-HALF!
If you ask Cam and Morgan what they wanted most from their wedding day they will tell you that more than anything else, they just wanted to throw a really rad Halloween party. They wanted it to be fun, relaxed, moody, dark, elegant, and for people to walk away from it saying, “Holy shit, that was the best wedding we have ever been to!” And by all accounts, that’s exactly what happened.
The Ceremony
The ceremony was delivered by Paul Voge who nailed the brief for what they wanted: short, sweet, simple, personal and real. He also held up his reputation for being an all-round nice dude by stringing up some lights for them at their rehearsal the day before.
Before the girls arrived, Cam and the boys walked down the aisle through the mist of a smoke machine to AFI’s, Miseria Cantare, wearing hooded cloaks. When they arrived at the ceremony space on stage, they stood in silence until the song ended and then dropped their cloaks.
Dramatic af.
Next, Morgan’s song, Torch Song (also by AFI), started and she walked down the aisle with her bridesmaids, flower girls and her dad, blowing everyone away with her babe-ness.
They delivered personal vows to each other then walked out as husband and wife to White Zombie’s Super Charger Heaven. Their guests covered them in black, white and gold confetti which they threw from miniature skull canisters.
The Venue
Originally they wanted to have their ceremony at Toowong cemetary but because it was to be an evening event, they thought it might be a bit too much to ask of their guests to meet them in a cemetery at night… in the dark… on Halloween. So they settled for Black Bear Lodge instead and said they chose it because of its dark aesthetic and moody old-world vibes - it just felt right to them.
More Details
Budget: $15,000-$20,000
Food: Charbaby - nibbles during photo time and sliders, tacos & chips for mains, served cocktail style. HUGE raves from the couple about the service and quality from these guys
Furniture hire: Superb Party Hire
Dress: Four dress changes and then a final last-minute change four days before the wedding, Morgan finally settled on her amazing black gown which she purchased at A Formal Affair
Suit: Groom designed it and had it custom made by a tailor at Herman Menswear
Invites: Made by groom, Cam. Ouija boards that asked their guests to wear colours to hide amongst the shadows, and matched their welcome board at the venue that asked guests to take a drink and have a seat ready for the ritual to begin
Cake: Petite Crumb - Bottom tier was gluten free chocolate mud with cherries. Top tier was white chocolate with raspberries and lemon curd. They had a trick or treat style candy bar with the cake set up in the middle
Hair and Makeup: Blush and Bangs
Florist: Northside Flower Market
Rings: DETAJ Fallow made Cam’s ring and Windfall Jewellery made Morgan’s
Ring Box: A coffin made by Morgan. She purchased the box from Riot and sourced black foam & painted it
Photographer: Andrew Foy – Foy and Co - all images supplied here are by Andrew
“I really enjoyed planning our wedding. The challenge and craziness of setting a date in 6 months (for no other reason than from pure excitement of us marrying on Halloween) and putting together the venue in a crazy 7 hour marathon the day before was pretty intense. At that stage, I never thought I would find someone [in the wedding industry] I could trust with planning what I envisioned and it would have been so easy to lose our way and get caught up in traditional expectations. So we just went ahead and did everything ourselves. But to see what we created - a perfect Halloween party that showed exactly who we are and celebrated our love, and to hear our guests rave about it for months after… well, I am so pleased to say ‘WE DID THIS’ and I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could.”
- Morgan
