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As Mendy Goss and Craig Oliver said ‘I do’ to each other Saturday in Chippewa Falls, they were surrounded by vampires, a zombie, Michael Myers and dozens of other characters.
Goss, now Mendy Oliver, and Craig Oliver were wed in a Halloween-themed ceremony and reception.
“That’s us,” Craig Oliver said. “We wear our personalities on our sleeves.”
Goss, of Chippewa Falls, and Oliver, of Eau Claire, met five years ago after they had narrowly missed each other for about seven years.
“We’ve had the same circle of friends for about 12 years now, and we’d never met,” Goss recalls.
The two had attended many of the same social functions, but had never gotten to know each other until Oliver finally asked Goss out for some pizza five years ago.
They were engaged a year later, but couldn’t decide on a wedding date.
“We got engaged, and I think there were questions from our parents long enough,” Oliver said.
So the two looked at the calendar, and decided 2009 would be the year.
“Because Halloween is on a Saturday,” Goss said.
The couple enjoys horror movies and loves Halloween, so they decided Oct. 31 would be perfect for their wedding.
“It’s nice for one day of a year to dress up and be someone else,” Oliver said.
Plus, as more outgoing people, they said they couldn’t stand the thought of a quiet, dull ceremony.
“There’s no way I could survive a traditional wedding,” Goss said.
The original plan was to marry in a graveyard outside an Eau Claire church, but a less-creepy idea came from Mike Olson, owner of Micon Cinema in Chippewa Falls.
“He said, ‘Hey, why don’t you get married in the theater?’ We thought that’d be awesome,” Goss said.
When the couple’s parents, Dave and Janet Oliver and Jim and Linda Goss, heard about the theme, they weren’t too excited about it.
“My parents, I think, wanted to do something more traditional,” Oliver said, adding Goss’ parents were looking for the same thing.
Oliver’s parents were preparing for their first child’s wedding, while Goss’ were looking towards their third.
Goss said she was asked at one point by her parents if she was a devil worshipper, which she is not. But slowly, the parents came around.
“Now they’re going completely crazy,” Goss said. “They’re having a ball doing this.”
The Gosses dressed up as a king and queen, and Oliver said he didn’t know his parents’ costume plans as of Thursday.
Though it took awhile for their parents to join in on festivities, other guests were excited from the start.
“A lot of them thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be fun,’” Oliver said.
Each person in the wedding party was allowed to choose what they’d wear.
“We just said wear whatever you want, tasteful please,” Goss said.
“We don’t want anything that’s going to offend anybody or upset anybody,” Oliver said.
The bridesmaids chose a variety of costumes: a zombie from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; Cyndi Lauper; a vampire; a cheerleader; and little dead riding hood.
The groomsmen also mixed it up as: young Obi-Won Kenobi; Michael Myers; a monster; and Dr. McGuillicuddy.
Oliver’s brother, one of the groomsmen, spent over $500 on a custom-made gothic vampire mask.
“It’s absolutely creepy,” Oliver said.
“There will be a few jaw droppers,” Goss said.
Oliver and Goss chose more traditional garb.
“We will be dressed up as bride and groom,” Oliver said tongue-in-cheek before the wedding.
“You only get married once. I still want to say I wore the wedding dress,” Goss said.
The couple wanted to have photos of them in wedding wear and didn’t want to stray too far from tradition.
“We wanted to be uncommon, but we didn’t want to be totally off the wall,” Oliver said.
Other than the bride and groom’s clothing and the actual ceremony, not much else was traditional. Guests watched clips from “Thriller” and “Shrek” on the movie screen before the wedding began.
The wedding party marched down the aisle to the theme from the movie “Halloween,” while Goss walked in to an eerie rendition of “Here Comes the Bride.” After the ceremony, the couple retreated to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
At the reception, only Halloween-themed music was played, and children were given bags of candy since most had to forego trick-or-treating.
Before they wed, the couple was looking forward to a fun night with family and friends.
“I’m hoping that it goes quick, and that it goes smooth, and that we have a blast,” Oliver said.
Goss added, “I want them to remember it as the best wedding they’ve been to.”wedding gowns
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