From your wedding gown to your arrival and departure and everything in between, there are so many creative ways to tie Halloween wedding ideas into your special day.
For Halloween superfans, take the full-on Halloween-themed wedding route and fill your ceremony and reception venues with pumpkins, cobwebs, vines, various inky hues and other spooky touches.
But even if you love Halloween, you don’t have to go quite so over the top if that’s not your style. Include more subtle nods to the autumn holiday—stick to Halloween wedding shoes hidden under your dress or hand out Halloween wedding favours at the end of the night.
For others, gothic feels are what it’s all about and October is the perfect time for a gothic-inspired wedding.
Below are some elegant Halloween theme wedding ideas that can help invoke you and your partner’s love for Gothicism, Halloween or just being a little bit darker than the usual bride and groom duo.
Halloween Wedding Ideas: The Wedding Décor
To create a dramatic or gothic atmosphere, hang rented antique crystal chandeliers from your wedding venue’s ceiling.
Place large arrangements of natural branches in large glass vessels on the floor throughout the space. Use an eclectic mix of vintage goblets, white china, black chargers, and black linen napkins with silver napkin holders.
Arrangements of white blossoms—like hydrangeas and garden roses—of different heights and sizes would look stunning interspersed throughout the tablescape. If your space has a fireplace, light it to cast a magical Victorian glow, or fill it with pillar candles of various heights. As a safer alternative to candles, LED-lit furniture can effectively give off that magical glow without you having to worry about a fire starting and/or added costs; candles can burn linens, start fires, and cause permanent wax stains on linens. This can result in extra fees and in some cases, total replacement costs for the damaged or destroyed linens. More importantly, it can be a safety concern!
For the ceremony, surround the altar with overflowing arrangements of blood-red flowers or hang a crystal chandelier at the end of the aisle.
For the reception, set each guest’s place with matte gold flatware matched with gold charger plates and vintage wine glasses. Use feathers calligraphed in gold ink as place cards. Top an ornate silver lace runner with vintage vessels full of black forest calla lilies, dahlias, and garden roses, surrounded by white pumpkins, persimmons, and figs, and light as many candles as you can.
For a slightly spooky twist, take inspiration from Dia de Los Muertos: Add elegant and ornate skull designs and adopt “Until Death Do Us Part” as your style mantra—it’s equally romantic and macabre.
Halloween Wedding Ideas: The Food
Even if the decor is considerably dark for a special occasion, it doesn’t mean the food has to be (so perhaps dismiss the idea of serving punch from a bubbling cauldron).
It’s okay to keep the fare seasonal and festive—fall’s rich, spicy flavours automatically lend themselves to a sumptuous Halloween-themed wedding.
Ask your caterer to create a signature Halloween wedding drink for your cocktail hour. Apples are a seasonal staple (and perfect to play up the poison apple motif). Turn them into a rum apple cider or go for green apple martinis garnished with fresh slices.
For dinner, you can serve foods that incorporate the warm, hearty flavours of autumn, like pumpkin, apples, pecans, walnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Dessert would be apple cinnamon flambé with Calvados and butter pecan ice cream, as well as slices of wedding cake—a four-tiered confection covered with dark chocolate fondant and decorated with black magic roses.
Fill a dessert table with tiered and ornate trays carrying seasonal sweets, like chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes, caramel apple tarts, and gourmet popcorn balls, then send everyone home with bags of your favourite candies!
The Wedding Dress
When it comes to your wedding dress, play with deep colours and antique embellishments for a moody, gothic feel. Since it might be trickier to get your hands on a specifically Halloween-themed wedding dress, simple accents can help turn your gown from ordinary to Halloween-worthy in no time. Try a dark-hued sash cinched at the waist with an embellished brooch, or opt for a black birdcage wedding veil, a pair of short gloves and antique jewelry.
Vintage lace and long sleeves harken back to brides of the past, while an ethereal tulle design has a ghostly feel that’s still modern and romantic. If you’re in the market for a dress that’s dark and edgy, black wedding dresses are still making their way down the runway.
When it comes to bridesmaids’ dresses, deep jewel tones or all-black will have your friends looking spookily chic.
Dramatic Makeup for Your Halloween Themed Wedding
Unless your wedding is a full-blown Halloween costume party, you probably won’t want your makeup to be too Halloween-ish.
Instead of asking your makeup artist for Halloween wedding makeup specifically, come to them with a few dramatic ideas, like a darker smokey eye or a deep plum lip colour. To avoid going overboard, choose to highlight one area such as the eyes or lips.
Best Kelowna Wedding Rentals for Halloween Wedding Ideas
All Occasions offers the best Kelowna Wedding Rentals for Halloween themed weddings. From our exquisite glassware to the tents that protect your guests from stormy weather, we offer high-quality rental items at the price that makes the most sense.