~Intro~

Jeffery and I have been engaged over a year now and that time seemed to go as quickly as the 9 years we have been together! We have been spending our time this last year doing all the things that we love and enjoy, not really focused on our plans for the wedding. This doesn’t mean that we haven’t been excited for the day we get to throw the biggest party of our lives together and in the company of everyone we love, but being together for as long as we have, it may not come as a surprise that we have shared many late night talks about what we envisioned our wedding would be like. It wasn’t going to be hard to think up some ideas, in a lot of ways we already had them, we just needed to discuss and figure out how to make them happen.
We both are very creative, and sentimental people. We share a lot in common, but also celebrate our differences. A lot of these qualities give me confidence that we will be able to put together an amazing wedding that no one will forget, but I know that our vision’s of what we might want may occasionally clash and that we will need to compromise some of our ideas. I am prepared for that, even though most people would expect the girl to do all the dirty work and freak out over little details. Not in this relationship, we both count a great deal on one another, and after all, this is OUR wedding, not MINE. We want this to be something we do TOGETHER and I couldn’t see it any other way in order for it turn out unforgettable.
It goes without saying that one of the things we share in common is our unbelievable love for Halloween. For many years we have always embraced this holiday by taking full advantage of everything Halloween! From our 8 year tradition of stealing and carving pumpkins, [nicknamed ourselves the “Pumpkin Thieves” and have even gone as far as wearing matching skull ski masks on our mischievous outings!] to Jeffery’s “Horrorfest” flyers he makes every year with a list of all the Haunted Houses we will be attending that year. We always spend the month of October indulging on our obsession. When deciding a date for our wedding, we both agreed that our passion for each other could only be matched to our passion for Halloween, so why not celebrate our love for one other on a day we have always loved as much as each other. Another element that added to our decision was the fact that we both agreed that weddings should still be fun even if it is a serious event! A “traditional white wedding,” as wonderful as they are, is not something that two imaginative people like ourselves have in mind, and it’s OUR big day, so we made the choice that we would put this wedding together ourselves to ensure the fact that it will be the unexpected and that we will totally enjoy it and have fun putting it all together!
I think when a couple has been together for some time like we have, putting together a wedding can be a fun project that will bring them closer together in a new way and allow them to show sides of themselves that have not yet been explored. Us working as a team on something such as this can really set the ground work for how the rest of our lives together will truly be. In stressful and challenging times, as wedding planning can be, its great to know that you have each other to count on for support and to make each other laugh. Jeffery can defiantly do just that, he is the CEO of support in this relationship and has a comedic charm that always wins me over no matter how lousy I feel.
So, where to begin? We started to pull out all the old ideas we discussed many night’s ago and worked off them. Amazingly not much has changed which made it very easy to set the mood of what we were planning our wedding to be, a classy Halloween theme with an awesome costume party to fallow! Jeffery went to work on planning his attire for that evening first and I was not surprised when he started to tell me his ideas. “A nice black suite from Express, [his favorite store] a blood red shirt and top hat- “I want to put something together that resembles the outfit Gary Oldman wears in Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” he had told me. I LOVED the idea, minus the goofy glasses, and found myself a bit envious he had such a precise idea already.
I, unlike most traditional girls who have everything planned already when there 8 years old and have thousands of sketches of there future wedding gown, never really gave that any thought. The only thing I did know is I wanted it to be nontraditional and red. I once humored the idea of a black dress, but felt it was to cliché for an alternative girl to get married in black. Not to mention I wear black everyday of my life, so why would I want to wear a color so common to me on a once in a lifetime special day as this?! This called for a strong and passionate color such as red. I hate being the center of attention normally, but on a day such as this I felt a loud color such as red that would demand the attention of those around me was completely necessary. Besides it will match the stunning ruby in my engagement ring, and the color shirt my love had planned to marry me in. Being as sentimental as I am, I became attached to the idea and nothing could change my mind. With it decided I started hunting down the kind of dress that reflected my interests and personality and did not look like it was on the cover of Spring Bride. Not because I don’t like those kind of gowns, I do find them timeless and stunning on the right women, but anyone who knows me would agree it would not look right on me for a number of reasons. I also was considering the cost and thought that if I was about to drop a lot of money on something, I better be able to wear it more than once! After a year searching I finally came across a great website with many different options, which for a picky girl like myself, was a wonderful thing. After many late night games of “mix and match” I have chosen a elegant red gown and corset that I will play up with black satin opera gloves and a black faux fur stole. Since we plan to marry at the Kenosha Theater- an abandoned 1920’s theater that was commissioned by Carl Laemmle, who funded and helped produce some of the horror classics such as Bride Of Frankenstein- I felt inspired to add some 1920’s flair to my outfit. With this said, I am still looking for the perfect vintage black veil or mini top hat with veil.
With our outfit’s picked out we were ready to talk about catering. I find it funny, but no surprise that the two things we enjoy the most, shopping and food, were the first 2 things we started to plan. We both decided that Ma Ma Mia’s would be perfect. Who doesn’t love great Italian food, and it is the restaurant we have gone to on every special occasion in our relationship for many years. It’s “our” restaurant and we thought it would be pretty special to share that with those we love… and its SUCH GREAT food! So be prepared to indulge on amazing pizza, pasta and cheesy garlic bread! Also, what goes great with Italian food? Red wine, and since this is a Halloween themed wedding, we would only supply a great red wine that would go with that theme, Vampire Wine. *wink* For those of you who do not drink, we have a special non alcoholic treat for you… Specialty made Jones Soda in Orange and Cream! Both Jeff and I love to create art. His talent’s range from traditional painting and illustration to his recent work with special effects and sculpture. I like to do photography and play around a bit with mixed media. We decided to add a personal touch to one of our wedding favor’s for everyone by creating our own Jones Soda label! As for some of the other detailed party favors, you will have to just come and see what other goodies are in store!
With all this said, I am sure you have figured out by now that the reception is going to be a Halloween Costume Party, which means you MUST have a costume! We understand that not everyone enjoys wearing one, so a simple mask will be supplied for those who are not in costume or come unprepared. If you are uncomfortable wearing one the whole evening, it is okay to remove it, but we really want to see everyone in one when we do our toast's and appreciate your support on this! We also would love to see some photo's with everyone in costume as well during our "Photo Booth" sessions, so please have fun with it!
I hope this helped give you all a little insight into our ideas, hopes and plans for the wedding. We will be posting a lot of updates and info as the 10 months start to pass and you can always contact us on here or by phone if you have any questions. We created a Wedsite to help bring you all closer to the experience and to help inform you about whats to come so you can be better prepared. We love you all a great deal and have appreciated your support of us over the years. We love the idea of involving you in this once in a lifetime, special experience that we both are VERY excited for!!!

Jeffery & Crystal