One-of-a-Kind Wedding

You don’t often hear of a caramel apple eating contest at a wedding. Then again, most newlywed couples don’t ride away from their wedding reception in the back of a hearse.

But Ashley Wilson and Dan Lowes of Marysville decided to do things their way. And a Halloween wedding was what Ashley had always dreamed of.

Ashley had hinted to her boyfriend that a Halloween wedding would suit her style. As a not-so-traditional woman, she didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding of white. A theme of elegant gothic was more her style.

Dan Lowes got the picture. After all, he had dated Ashley for more than four years. And the past two years of hints got him thinking of wedding bells ringing out in heavy metal style.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, Dan presented Ashley with a black spider ring — a precursor to the engagement ring he planned to give her. The spider ring was cute and plastic. The engagement ring, well, let’s just say it had a bit more shine.

“My engagement ring is absolutely gorgeous,” Ashley said. “It is a princess cut diamond with five diamonds on each side of it.”

The couple spotted the ring in early December, but Dan wouldn’t let his new fiancée see it again until Christmas, when the official announcement of their engagement was made.

The family’s reaction to the engagement announcement: “It’s about time you guys get married!” Ashley laughed.

Ashley and Dan met at her workplace, an espresso stand not far from where Dan works. “Every day he would come by and get coffee from me,” she explained. “And every day he would hang out and talk just a little bit longer.”

According to Dan, “I became a regular just so I could give her a hard time. I guess it paid off.”

Within a few weeks, Ashley knew they were on the path to love. “I think I knew he was the one when I went to have knee surgery a couple of months after we started dating,” she said. Dan went to the surgeon’s office with Ashley and her mother, and didn’t leave her side until everyone was kicked out of the room. “My mom said that was the day she knew we would be together forever, when he acted so worried and asked the doctor numerous questions about what he was going to be doing to me.”

Dan realized it was love after they were together for a few years and the initial infatuation had faded away. “At the end of the day when we could sit and do nothing together and still laugh and have fun, I had a pretty good idea,” he said.

With love in place and a wedding date in sight, official plans began in earnest. The couple wanted to start everything as early as possible, but because Halloween decor was not available in stores until September, early preparation was a bit difficult.

In the meantime, Ashley looked online and through magazines for wedding ideas. To develop an elegant gothic theme, the couple chose wedding colors of black, red and silver.

Ashley also hand-made about 150 custom invitations in the shape of a coffin. “They turned out better than I ever imagined, so it was totally worth all of the work,” she said.

The Courtyard Hall at Country Village in Bothell was chosen for the event. “When we first walked into the venue, we knew that it was going to be our location,” Ashley said. “It had a fireplace that we could have the ceremony in front of, more than enough room for our 200 guests, and chandeliers all over that worked perfect for putting spider webs on.”

Blood-red roses and dozens of candles set the tone for the wedding. Ashley’s brother-in-law made a full-size coffin for a cemetery scene, and a candy bar buffet boasted apothecary jars filled with different types of sweets alongside party bags for people to fill.

Just before the wedding, Dan and Ashley were at ease. “I knew we were finally done with all the final details, the lists and the stress, and we could finally get this party started and enjoy ourselves,” he said.

Ashley’s bridesmaids and flower girl (Dan’s 28-year-old friend from high school) dressed like 1950s pinup girls in pencil skirts and corsets. Dan’s groomsmen and ring bearers dressed in black with red suspenders, red ties and fedora hats.

Dan chose to wear a black dress shirt and slacks, a red vest and tie, and a ’50s gangster-style jacket, while Ashley entered the room in an elegant black ball gown with a silver tulle ruffled skirt overlay. A black waist cincher corset imprinted with a picture of a skeleton’s spine completed the look.

The ball gown was custom made by a friend. “I had found a picture of a dress on a high-fashion French Web site and absolutely fell in love with it,” Ashley said. A bouquet of blood-red roses, black roses and black feathers intertwined by plastic barbed wire provided the perfect accent to the gown.

As Dan spotted Ashley in her wedding dress for the first time, he thought “kick ass!” he said. “She looked fantastic, sort of an exclamation point to the day,” he said.

A second exclamation point came in the form of Ashley’s wedding band of black and white diamonds.

Dan’s ring was unique, too: black titanium with black cord detailing. But maybe not quite as unconventional as the outfit worn by Dan’s friend, Harley Cody, who performed the wedding ceremony. Dressed as a rabbi with a huge bushy beard, Harley read a short story from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Then the ceremony began.

The men walked down the aisle to “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash. Ashley walked down the aisle to the traditional sounds of “Here Comes the Bride.” Sort of. “The DJ slurred the music to make it sound messed up,” she said. “Then my real song came on.” With “Nymphetamine” by Cradle of Filth playing in the background, Ashley made her way toward Dan. Her father was at her side.

“When my dad looked at me with happy tears in his eyes and told me I looked beautiful, I almost lost it then, too,” Ashley said.

Both the ceremony and reception came together perfectly. “The Halloween mural my aunt painted was amazing and everyone was having a blast taking pictures in front of it,” Dan said. “My DJ had the place jumping all night. It seemed like the dance floor was always packed.”

The evening, filled with rock and metal music, a costume contest, and photos taken by Ashley’s friend and fellow professional photographer, Amber Cash, left the couple with little time to be together. “Every time we turned around, there were 10 other people who wanted to talk and take pictures,” Ashley said. “If we had to do this again, I would handcuff myself to Dan and walk around the reception together.”

Sound advice for any wedding, gothic or white.

Another bit of advice from Ashley: “Don’t let people try to change your vision of your special day. It is a day that you will remember for the rest of your lives. And don’t be afraid of being non-traditional. It makes for better pictures.”