The Wedding!!

When Anna and Courts started planning their wedding, we knew that it would be something different and unique.  Anna's personal goal was to have people leaving the wedding with the words unique and amazing on their lips.  Well, she very much accomplished that.  Well done!!!

It started with the venue.  After doing a lot of research and visiting several places, they visited an old 1930's era movie theater in the Lakewood district of Dallas called the Lakewood Theater which now primarily is used for special events.  http://www.lakewoodtheater.com/booking.  At first sight, Anna and Courts knew that this was the place for them!!  It suited their personalities perfectly.
 

The marquee at Lakewood Theater announcing "For one night only, Meet the Griners".  In the background on the right are movie themed posters of the bride's family, the grooms' family and the couple.

The art deco interior of Lakewood theater.  Yes, that is Anna's wedding dress hanging from the lighting platform.

They picked Halloween weekend for their wedding.  Halloween is one of their favorite holidays and wanted to have a Halloween-themed wedding.

Pumkins and lanterns highlighted the Halloween theme.

Even their ceremony was unique.  They did not want a typical traditional ceremony.  Anna did a lot of research to find an officiant that they felt comfortable with.  They wanted their officiant to have a lot of the same life views and values as them.  She worked with them to customize the ceremony to match their style.  One of the favorite parts of the ceremony was the handfasting where they had their wrists bound together with a long ribbon which was then tied with a knot where they literally "tied the knot".  The knotted ribbon will be displayed in a cherished place in their home forever reminding them that they bound themselves to each other for life.

They designed their own "save the date" cards using a movie poster theme, they designed their own invitations and a custom logo.  The logo was projected on the curtain of the big screen as guests were arriving... it was totally awsome!!.  They created movie posters for each family and one of themselves, all imitating well known movies or shows.  We will try to get images of the posters on the blog.  The movie posters were a huge hit.  Some were even taken as souvenirs.  Even the wedding agenda was designed as a playbill.  Everything was custom designed by Anna and Courts which helped make the event absolutely unique.

The Playbill.  Courts designed the pumpkin while Anny designed the agenda as a Playbill.

To make it even more exciting they wanted the guests to come in costume with the reception as a costume party!  Many guests were really excited about a costume wedding but some were a little tentative being worried that they would be the only ones in costume.  We all tried to assure them that if they came without a costume, they would be in the minority.  As we predicted, most guests were in costume with a lot of really, really good costumes.  The aerobic instructors from the 1980's were a hit.  If you were one of the few that did not wear a costume, you probably felt a bit out of place.

Anna had a custom-designed witch's hat to go with her wedding gown for the reception costume party.  Isn't she a beautiful bride!!!

Monica donned a fancy mask for the reception but from the intensity of her partying, everyone knew it was her...

The Swiss contingent really enjoyed shopping for the costume party.  Here are Angelo and Debra.

Marco and Corinne had great costumes as well.  The demented joker was a great match for Marco.  Yes, Corinne is the one who found out on Monday that she is pregnant!!  We are so happy for them.  Even after seeing what it will cost him in the future, Marco wants a little girl... ;-)

Courts' mom, Sophia had a great witch costume while Andy just had just enough time to don a Phantom of hte Opera mask.

John and Rita were so excited about the party, they escaped from prison to attend.  Unfortunately, we had to turn them into the authorities after the reception.  Andy was hoping the reward would help pay for the party!!

Billy is the lion tamer and Fred is the lion.  We didn't go into detail about what they do with that whip!!

LaShunda and Delmar wore their "I was too chicken to wear a costume" costume..  ;-)

Lynn and her photography crew with Anna and Courts.  Yes, the gnome is one of the photographers!!  At the end of the reception, we spied the photo crew cutting a rug on the dance floor.  I'm surprised that they still had the energy.  They worked really hard all day.

When planning the wedding, Anna wanted guests to leave with these words: awesome and unique.  Well, just about every guest said this was such a great wedding, one of the best and unique weddings they have ever attended.

Even the pros, who attend a LOT of these things had comments like: "awesome ass wedding",  "This was a memorable one!" and "Truly one of my favorite weddings. I've never had Beetlejuice at a reception. I can't wait to see the Thriller photos." 


Anna pulled it off.  She picked a fantastic venue, great theme and a great caterer (Greek food..yummy).  Her wedding coordinator, Meredith, her photographer, Lynn, and her DJ, Glenn worked so well together and with the Lakewood theater crew to make this special day run so smoothly with the result being a truly great wedding and party!!

Aren't they cute!!

First dance as Mr and Mrs Griner...

The happy newlyweds making their grand exit.  Not sure that sparklers and dunk people are a good combination, but no fires were started.

Making their escape...

The above photos from Facebook postings by Lynn Michelle Renken (the photographer) and Kristen Haney (a friend).  Lynn will post the wedding images for viewing at: http://www.lynnmichelle.com/courtsandanna.  You gotta check it out!!  Here is a sample of her work from Anna and Court's engagement pics:  http://lynnmichelleblog.com/?s=courts&searchsubmit=SEARCH.