No one said gothic can't be glamorous. Throw a little Hollywood horror into your wedding with a scary movie-themed reception starring your favorite monsters, serial killers, and psychopaths of the silver screen. Need inspiration? Roll out the black carpet and give these killer ideas a shot.
Save-the-Dates and Wedding Invitations
For your save-the-dates, re-create the movie poster from Friday the 13th. Grab your biggest, beefiest buddy and deck him out like Jason for the photo. Then swap in your own wedding date for the movie title. Follow it up with red and green-striped Freddy Kruger-esque wedding invites -- laser-cut claw marks optional.
Extra: Add the Halloween theme song (or the theme from any other one of your favorite horror films) to your wedding website to get guests in the mood.
Wedding Reception Decor
Love Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street? Let Freddy Kruger's unforgettable ensemble serve as your color palette. Think red lighting on the walls, red and green striped tablecloths draped over the buffet table, and replicas of Freddy's signature ragged fedora or four-bladed glove on the cocktail tables.
Extra: Project a black-and-white horror classic -- like Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, or Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds -- onto the wall or a screen at your reception space.
Wedding Reception Table Names
Rather than the typical wedding table names or numbers, let iconic masks from your favorite horror movies serve as table markers. Framed photos of the sinister disguises worn by Michael Myers, Leatherface, and the serial killer from Scream on each table will help guests find their places.
Extra: Deck out your escort card table with a photo montage of black-and-white images from your favorite all-time horror movie scenes. Line the board in black fabric for an easy DIY project.
Wedding Cake
Consider adding kitschy creepy details to your wedding cake. How about a chocolate-frosted wedding cake with a decrepit Night of the Living Dead-style zombie hand bursting from the top? If that's too much, get a simple buttercream-frosted cake banded with black or red
-and-green striped ribbon and top it with a Freddy Kruger toy figurine.
Extra: If dark surrealism is more your speed, you might like a decked out David Lynchian “Blue Velvet” cake inspired by his eponymous film -- with a bloody ear cake topper, naturally.
-- Alex Hess