I had some friends who were planning a halloween wedding, but ended up having to get married sooner because of the baby on the way! Some of the preliminary plans we had were to use an old wrought iron gate for the back drop, with spanish moss strung over it and a cemetary scene mural behind it.

One of the things I highly recommend from planning and helping with several “normal” weddings is the cheapest and easiest way to make any space your own is with tons of fabric. Go early and often to any fabric store or even Wal-mart, find rich dark patterns that catch your eye, and you can use them as offset table coverings and centerpieces, you can drape walls and chairs with them, and as long as you use the same color families, you can mix and match patterns. Watch for seasonal things that are on clearance right now. Watch for beading and edging that you can use to enrich the fabrics you might get, too.

One idea I love is having the wedding look more like a funeral. Have all your guests in black mourning wear, and instead of walking down the aisle you can sit up out of a coffin in the front, black roses and all! Halloween 2006, my party was based on the video for My Chemical Romance’s Helena, and everyone wore black and red funerary clothes, I draped all the windows and doorways with black sheers, it was really cool.

And I hate to admit it, but Martha Stewart has some great ideas. Go to the library and see if you can find some old Halloween issues of her magazine. She does a lot of traditional and old-timey Halloween stuff that might work for you. X