I have a deep and abiding love for all things Halloween-related. So when the always-awesome Kim Davis asked me to be part of Kathi Daley’s “Halloween Spooktacular” on Facebook, of course I said yes. A Facebook party with a whole bunch of mystery writers and a whole lot more Halloween hijinks? No way was I going to miss that.

Since I didn’t know what the other authors would be talking about, I wanted to find a topic that was related to my series but also tied into Halloween. So I started a thread asking readers to help my main character, Kelsey McKenna, plan a Halloween wedding.

The responses were amazing. I laughed out loud so many times reading the suggestions that by the time my half hour was over, I was ready to divorce my husband just so I could re-marry him in a Halloween-themed wedding.

Among the most popular suggestions were dry ice in a cauldron (a must-have!), black flowers (one reader suggested baby’s breath to soften the effect), spooky food, and groomsmen dressed like skeletons/zombies/Frankensteins, which of course means they would pretty much have to have a choreographed dance. I mean, right?

One reader suggested a corn maze for the reception, which would take some planning, but be totally worth it. Another suggested a hearse as a limousine, which would be a pretty stylin’ way to arrive. Our friend Celia suggested dancing Victorian ghosts projected onto the wall like in Disney’s Haunted Mansion, and that’s when I really started wanting this to be an actual wedding that I could go to.

Other fun suggestions included having the first dance be to the song “Thriller,” a zombie band, and a black cat as a ring bearer. (I’ve got the black cat if someone can train him to walk down the aisle in a responsible manner.) Décor included tulle ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, and lots and lots of cobwebs. (Some people specified that these were to be fake cobwebs, but others didn’t state a preference.) Also from Celia: A mummy cake made from white chocolate fondant that looks like it’s wrapped in gauze, which would be amazing, adorable, and delicious.

A reader named Amy said “I would do my first dance with those lights that make your movements look really weird and spooky.” To which I replied, “I don’t even know what those are but now I want them!”

Someone else suggested the groom be dressed as Frankenstein and the bride dressed as …. The Bride of Frankenstein! Yes!! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s such a natural fit, and it provides an easy answer to the age-old question, “What should I do with my hair?”

Finally, proving that these wonderful readers were all in with this idea and would not settle for mere Halloween window dressing, one intrepid Halloween lover chimed in: “A mortician should perform the ceremony while standing in a coffin with the grim reaper as the best man and Elvira as the maid of honor.”

I want to thank everybody for all their awesome suggestions — and in fact, I did, one by one. I also want someone to throw this wedding and invite me and all my online co-conspirators.

I’ll even bring the black cat.

Readers, have you ever been to a Halloween wedding? What would you do to scare up some fun? And if you had to walk through a corn maze to get to a wedding, would you want there to be someone chasing you with a chainsaw, or no? 

Marla Cooper is the author of the Kelsey McKenna Destination Wedding Series. None of her books feature a Halloween wedding. Yet.