London couple celebrating love for each other – and horror – with Hallowedding – CBC.ca

KD Grainger and Chris Peixoto decided to have a Hallowedding when they got engaged in 2018. (KD Grainger/Teee Photography)

Instead of a declaration of 'You may now kiss the bride!' KD Grainger and her fiance will share their first kiss as a married couple when an officiant says 'Give me some sugarbaby!'

That's an ode to an Evil Dead movie the London couple watched together on one of their first dates ten years ago, and one of several horror references incorporated into their "Hallowedding" on October 31.

"We're huge fans of horror movies, fiction, tv shows. We've spent many hours watching horror movie marathons together," said Grainger. She and her fiance, Chris Peixoto, chose the date when they got engaged in 2018.

"It was appealing to us for a few reasons. One of them being that Saturday Halloweens come only once every seven years. There's a full moon [Saturdaynight] and we have a lot of positive associations with spooky, scary things."

That early date watching Evil Dead is a fond memory for both of them.

Grainger remembers being embarrassed because she fell asleep ten minutes into the movie, andPeixoto said he "knew from that moment that KD was the one."

But the genre is also important to them because Grainger's dad, who died by suicide in 2016, was also a big horror buff.

"Losing someone to suicide introduces a really complicated grief, where there's a lot of anger and resentment and guilt. Horror movies, especially the 1982 Poltergeist, reminds me of positive memories of my father," said Grainger.

Although she doesn't remember it personally, Poltergeist was the first horror movie she ever watched when she was just two years old.

"My mom was not impressed when she came home and my dad and I were watching it, to say the least," Grainger said, laughing. "The movie especially means a lot to me because of this early, positive memory of time I spent with my father."

The word poltergeist means 'noisy ghost,' said Grainger, and that also carries meaning for her now. The couple's officiant has a professional background in suicide loss, said Grainger, and has suggested incorporating a moment for her late father into the ceremony.

"My dad's spirit is a poltergeist in my life in that it's noisy and always present. Not in a bad way, necessarily. It's just something that's always there so we have a statement in our ceremony about how my dad is a noisy ghost, if you will. It's an odd thing, out of context, but that's okay if you don't know, because it matters to us."

Afternoon Drive7:17London couple plans Hallowedding

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Grainger said the ceremony is taking place outside of a family member's home in London with 13 people, and will be live streamed so other loved ones can watch. Beyond verbal references to the horror genre, there will also be a spooky theme to the decor.

"Our officiant is going to be holding a book from Beetlejuice, [called]The Handbook for the Recently Deceased. That's actually what our ceremony is written in," she said.

Grainger will carry a fall-inspired bouquet, and there will be skull-shaped jars with fairy lights and an Addams Family style welcome sign. Though she will wear a traditional wedding dress, the boutonnieres have skeleton hands on them, and her hair piece will also be held in with skeletal hair clips. Grainger also found a pair of neon green and black zombie inspired high heels that she had originally wanted for her prom.

Peoples' reactions to the idea of Hallowedding have been mixed. Grainger said her mom was surprised at first, others have offered a hesitant 'Okay, that's interesting' while many have said 'This sounds exactly like you guys.'

But to Grainger and her partner, what other people think of their celebration is all "confetti."

That's a quote incorporated into her vows, by the way.

"There's a show called The Haunting of Hill House, which is an adaptation of a really good classic horror novel written by a female author named Shirley Jackson," saidGrainger.

She and Peixoto have watched the Netflix seriesthree times.

"There's this extremely moving line at the very end of the series that goes like this "I love you completely and you love me the same, the rest is confetti."

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London couple celebrating love for each other - and horror - with Hallowedding - CBC.ca

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero