My friends Jason and Melissa met at our haunt club, got engaged on Halloween at their yard haunt, and had a Haunted Mansion-themed wedding...in a cemetery! They've generously given me permission to post some pictures, and I think you'll be amazed at their creativity and artistic skills, as the vast majority of the decor was hand-made by the bride and groom, and their families and friends.
Before the wedding, the couple mailed "Save the Date" notices to guests. These notices were very similar to the Save the Dates sent out by Disneyland for the celebration of the Haunted Mansion's 40th Anniversary. The couple's colorful tri-fold wedding invitations depicted the unique gate at the Haunted Mansion in Florida, complete with it's ironwork bat. The invitations also featured the iconic Haunted Mansion plaque with the words "The Haunted Ghostly Wedding of Melissa and Jason" and invited guests to wear period costumes (but discouraged any gore.)
The wedding took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Glendale, California- or more precisely, in a chapel located on the cemetery's grounds. The chapel was a reconstruction of an ancient stone church in Scotland, complete with Gothic arches. Purple and white floral arrangements made by the bride decorated the pews.
The bride wore a traditional white wedding gown, and the groom wore a silver-buttoned black tailcoat over a purple jaquard vest. The flower girls wore white dresses with purple ribbon sashes, and the groomsmen wore black with purple buttonieres. Here's the happy couple with their guests- and fellow haunters- Amy and Chris in their Victorian garb:
The groom and some groomsmen had cast large plaques which then hung on homemade styrofoam-based pillars just outside of the reception area at a local hotel.
The bride's mother Diane- also a haunter- made a fanciful cake based on the version of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, Anaheim, California. The zombie-looking cake topper was placed on the "lawn" to it's left, and was a standard (although humorous) one repainted with green faces and hands. The homemade place card holders featured the three Hitchhiking Ghosts.
Melissa and Jason sat on a dais at a table with candelabras and small tombstones randomly placed. The pennant bunting along the front was modeled after bunting seen under a coffin in the Mansion, in the scene where boney hands inside a coffin try to push open the coffin lid. The portable backdrop behind the Bride and Groom's Table was designed with homemade purple Haunted Mansion-style wallpaper and copies of Haunted Mansion art work, including a "Tomb Sweet Tomb" stitched sampler.
Other props from the Mansion were simulated with the help of friends, including the bat-topped stanchions, and a full set of changing portraits that morphed from normal to creepy. An animated "guy-in-the-brick-wall" and the "deaf man with horn", nearly identical to those seen in the graveyard portion of the Haunted Mansion ride, were borrowed from a friend (James of The Haunted Mansion Northside blog) who sculpted them and uses them in his own haunt.
Guests were given white gift boxes tied with black ribbon and topped with a cardstock version of their Haunted Ghostly Wedding plaque. Inside? Special souvenir M&M candies emblazoned with the couple's names on one side and the motif from the Haunted Mansion's wallpaper on the other, as well as chocolate tombstones and ghosts. For additional fun, the wedding party danced in sync to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Then the newlyweds departed in a historic automobile and headed for their honeymoon in France, where they visited Phantom Manor, the version of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Paris.
Jason and Melissa are now proud parents; their baby boy was born just 2 weeks ago.
Oh, and the baby's name? He is Ramsley... named after the butler in the 2003 Haunted Mansion movie!
Congratulations, Melissa and Jason!
by Shawn & Lynne Mitchell of the 
it's one of those books I just Love with a capital "L" and didn't want to read too fast, because it would leave me with nothing more to feast my eyes on. It's easy to go slowly through the book, though, as there's so much information crammed around the lovely photos, you must take the time to make sure you didn't miss any tidbit. It's perfect for pouring over- just make sure you have a notepad at hand, because you WILL get ideas!
, and this is not a bad thing, as they will fit nicely together on a bookshelf. Note for yourself the similar sizing, slick covers, Ravenscroft font- which is also the font used on the iconic Haunted Mansion plaque just outside the Mansion's gates- and black background for the photo layouts. These style points made Surrell's book enjoyable; and they work for both of the Mitchells' books as well. However, the Mitchells fit more illustrations to a single page because they trim and layer the photographs, so it has a more casual feel to it than many books. For the authors, it must have been like working a jigsaw puzzle trying to get everything to fit.
