A Williams Lake couple love Halloween so much it's the day they chose for their wedding.
Twenty years ago Chris and Sarah Moore tied the knot on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2004.
"I just love Halloween," said Sarah. "I love that it is creative. I think you kind of get to be something that you're not. You can be whatever you want."
Sarah and Chris met working at Denny's Restaurant.
They had been dating for four years already when Sarah's cousin got married in May 2004.
"We had been together longer than she was with her husband," Sarah said. "At her wedding, I was thinking 'this is ridiculous, we have to figure out a date.'"
Determined to get married that year too, they realized Halloween was on Sunday, Oct. 31, and if they did not get married then they would have to wait several years before Halloween fell on a weekend again.
Their wedding was held at the Seniors Activity Centre.
For the ceremony, Chris said they kept the room more wedding-like, but had purchased $1,000 worth of Halloween decorations for the reception, which was almost a third of the entire wedding costs.
Before they left to get photographs done after the ceremony, they asked anyone who was staying around until the reception was free to start decorating the hall.
"When we got back it was all decorated," Sarah said.
Aside from intricately carved pumpkins, made by one of Sarah's cousins, there was a graveyard with tombstones for the music area.
Some burgundy-coloured fabric was draped over the lights which made the room darker and lots of cobwebs hung from the ceiling.
"We had a bride and groom that were skeletons," Chris recalled.
Even the drink menu at the bar had ghoulish names that made the drinks sound 'gross,' added Sarah.
Most of the guests wore costumes, while Chris and Sarah who wanted to wear their wedding clothes, added a few accessories.
Chris became a vampire and Sarah was a fairy.
When asked about a favourite Halloween costume growing up, Sarah said she normally dressed up as the singer Cyndi Lauper.
One year she dressed as a present, but her arms were so sore from holding them up the whole time because she was wearing a cardboard box that she didn't try that one again.
"I know we dressed up as Bible characters sometimes," Chris said of his childhood experiences, noting he became more interested in Halloween after he met Sarah.
A year and a bit after they were married, the first of their four children was born, and from then on the focus of Halloween became taking children out to go trick-or-treating.
"We always go to my mom's house before we go trick-or-treating and we always have hot dogs," Sarah said. "We meet the rest of our family there and get our costumes on and take the kids out."
Chris's mom loves to help with their children's costumes and has made some cool things over the years, including face masks.
"One year she made these goggles for a Manga character," Sarah said.
Watching the city fireworks display, usually from the Canadian Tire parking lot, is also part of the family's Halloween routine, Chris said.
When the children were younger, Sarah's mom, Louise Boxeur, would babysit and Chris and Sarah would go out for dinner to celebrate their anniversary.
Chris and Sarah love living in Williams Lake.
The Moores enjoy camping and being outside as much as possible.
"There is always a lake to go to in any direction and so many places to explore," Sarah said. "I've lived here so long and there are still so many places I haven't even been too."
Travelling is also something they enjoy, which Chris described as 'fairly new.'
To celebrate their 20th they are planning a trip to Mexico, they said.
