As promised on their Halloween-themed engagement post, I’m so excited to share Cathy and Pthia’s fun fall costumed wedding at Prospect Lake Community Hall. We started out with a first look with some surprising October sun and heat. I though Cathy might struggle in her long sleeved outfit (from Unique Vintage and Kate Hewko), but she survived and looked awesome doing it (seriously, I think I would take wedding dress inspiration from her colourful veil, tiered tulle skirt, and stripy black stockings.) I loved how Pthia’s beautiful white dress (from Blush) was such a contrast to Cathy’s outfit, but they were both dramatic and sparkly.
They were so excited to see each other and the wedding party happily watched their first look from the sidelines. The wedding party had some amazing outfits of their own with elevated interpretations of characters from Star Trek, The Last of Us, and Bioshock – plus flower girl Wednesday Addams. We took some wedding party photos, some quick couple portraits, and then headed inside where the brides mingled with their guests before the ceremony.
The couple suggested their guests wear costumes, but they weren’t sure if everyone would. Every guest came through pretty spectacularly though! Cathy’s brother officiated the ceremony dressed as Gandalf (if Gandalf ever wore a suit). Their MC (and date) dressed as a character from Over the Garden Wall.
The brides had a little time together after the ceremony and then Bud braved a ladder and took a big group photo of everyone.
The wedding details were very DIY (see below), including their dinner, which consisted of a make-your-own-sandwich bar, plus tables of snacks and homemade desserts. The heartfelt parts of the toasts only seemed a little funny due to the costumes.
They had a cookie snapping instead of cake cutting, which was just as cute.
Cathy and Pthia had a very sweet and silly first dance, which led into a super fun, lively dance floor that rivalled any large wedding.
Bud pulled his favourite trick of lying down in the middle of the dance floor, which worked really well with this enthusiastic crowd.
I don’t usually post a lot of detail photos, but I just had to include all the fun, DIY details the couple and their guests created. Credit for most of these photos go to my second shooter, Webmeister Bud, who has an eye for details and was also geeking out over all of the pop culture references. Some favourites of mine: the brain slug hats made by a mother-of-the-bride, the tables had a photo of each guest incorporated into the floral centerpiece (including some wedding photos), their eyeball wedding rings, the guestbook consisting of art prints for the guests to write a message on the back of, and photos from their engagement in various places around the room, including their kitty on the sweetheart table.
This wedding contained everything I love about weddings: a couple who are best friends and an awesome team, different kinds of people all coming together to celebrate and have fun, unique and incredible personal details, a lively dance floor, and of course, lots of love.
