Kim & Alex’s “Nightmare,” zombies, and Halloween geekfest wedding

The offbeat bride: Kim – production designer, illustrator and shadow caster (and OBT member “Kim“)

Her offbeat partner: Alex – filmmaker and shadow caster

Location & date of wedding: Bloor Cinema (ceremony) – Gladstone Hotel (reception) in Toronto, ON Canada — Saturday, October 31, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was a huge smorgasbord of all the little things that we held dear as a couple: our love for zombies, Tim Burton, movies, toys, shadow casting, poutine and of course, Halloween. All of these were incorporated into many wedding details from the decoration, to the favours, to our outfits and even the ceremony itself.

We were married at our favourite repertoire theatre in Toronto, The Bloor Cinema. While an old movie theatre may be a pretty unconventional wedding venue, it was perfect for us. It was our home away from home. Aside from seeing countless of films here, this was also the very stage we perform our monthly shadow cast of Repo! The Genetic Opera on. We’ve had one of our films played on the same screen. This was also the place where Alex proposed to me during the 2007 Toronto Zombie Walk. This theatre was the venue for many of our most cherished memories, so it was most appropriate for us to exchange vows on this stage.

For our reception, we opted for an afternoon cocktail party at the Gladstone Hotel. We wanted our friends and family to mingle without the confinement of assigned seats and it worked really well. Everyone had a blast! Our food also echoed our laid back style. Along with hors d’ourves, we also served the ultimate all-Canadian dish: poutine!

We wanted a wedding that truly brought out the kids in all of us. We definitely achieved our goal!

Our biggest challenge: Since Canadian October weather tends to go insane, and the spread of the fall flu/cold is inevitable, many of us in the wedding party were fighting the germs leading up to and during the actual event. My MOH and I were getting hints of the sore throat. My dad’s tonsils were inflamed the day before and had to miss the rehearsal. Alex was also combatting a fever the night before and on the actual morning of the wedding! It was terrible, especially since we still had so much to do and couldn’t really rest.

How did we get through the day without dying of plague? We all drank copious amounts of orange juice, took shots of oregano oil and hoped for the best. We had no time to get sick! We were freaking getting married!

When the wedding was over and we were back from our honeymoon, my immune system finally called it quits and I got the mother of all fall colds. Go figure.

My favorite moment: Our ceremony was tough to get through because we all couldn’t stop laughing! I had never experienced a wedding ceremony where everyone laughed that much. I guess it helps when the groom starts off the event by walking down the aisle with a cape to the Batman score! True to the tradition of the Bloor Cinema experience, there were also a lot of callbacks made during our ceremony. Our favourite was “Everybody! Everybody make your fiance your spouse!”, which our shadow cast yelled as a tribute to “Repo!”.

To add even more geekiness to our ceremony, we tweeted “I DO!” to each other and fist bumped with our new interlocking wedding rings while screaming “WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE!”

Dancing with my dad was also a highlight for me. We danced to “Sunrise/Sunset” from the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack, which was a film we always watched and sang along to when I was growing up.

Later that evening, we attended the Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at the Bloor Cinema and the cast did a shout-out to us in front of a packed theatre. We did our Betty and Ralph cameo and danced our first Time Warp as hubby and wife.

We had a really long day, but every moment of it was perfect. What an awesome way to spend a Halloween!

My offbeat advice: If you can manage it, try to hire the least amount of vendors as possible. Find a venue that has an all-in-one deal (in-house catering, table linens, sound system, etc.) and turn to your talented friends (or yourself!) for the rest. Not only will this save you money and the hassle of having to coordinate multiple strangers, this also guarantees that you will have a wedding that is truly custom-fit for you because… well… you and your friendors did it yourselves!

That being said, since this route ultimately leads to more DIY projects, be sure to start working early and set realistic goals. If you are getting close to crunch time and there are still a lot left to do, learn to improvise, delegate, or just simply let go. It’s not the end of the world if your DIY centrepieces aren’t exactly like the concept sketch you had in your planning book!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:

• Custom outfits: Provocouture Studios
• Hat: Creepsuela Switchletto
• Custom Pimp sticks: We Kill You
• Photography: Calla Evans
• Guest Gwin: October Toys
• Zombie illustrations: Me (Pretty Poopie)
• Rings: Steelwerks
• Bouquet: Princess Lasertron

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.