Jurassic Park is an iconic and nostalgic film that kickstarted a love of dinosaurs in many. However, this Michigan-based couple took their love for the prehistoric animals to the next level when they threw a dinosaur-themed wedding.
Hali Aleese McFadden and Sean James Lenney met through mutual friends five years ago at a restaurant. Both had a deep love for the dinosaur-centric film franchise, Jurassic Park. When she was younger, Hali had even wanted to become a paleontologist, although too many rocks involved deterred her, leading her into a career of wedding planning. Similarly, Sean grew up loving dinosaurs as a result of the film franchise. He claims to have watched the original film every day while growing up.
Fast forward a few years, and the couple became engaged in August 2018. Hali knew that she wanted to incorporate her love for dinosaurs into her big day. She turned to Pinterest for inspiration on a dinosaur-themed wedding.
“Being me, I always pre-thought what I wanted for my wedding,” Hali told Fox 2 Detroit. “So I Pinterested it to see if it’s really out there. I found all these awesome ideas of how to turn on the theme but still keep it elegant.”
Coming from a crafty family, Sean knew that they could work together to bring their wedding vision to life. It soon became a family affair, with many members coming together to bring movie magic to reality.
Using styrofoam, duct tape, paper mache, and much help, Sean’s father was able to build two large dinosaurs to display at the wedding. His sister, Jacqui, made some of the smaller dinosaurs that lined the wedding tables, and also scoured the internet for anything dinosaur-related that could work for the day.
The couple wed on October 25, 2019. Guests entered the venue through massive brown doors with a “Jurassic Park” sign welcoming them. Escort cards were propped up with miniature dinosaur figures.
Tables were decorated with figures of every known dinosaur species, and guests sipped on the official drink of the evening, Dino DNA. Even the bridal party were kitted out in theme. Bridesmaid’s wore flip flops with tiny dinosaurs adorning them, and groomsmen concealed Jurassic Park t-shirts under their suits.
The traditional bridal pillow that carries the rings was replaced with a golden Brachiosaurus figure transporting the ring around its neck.
The pair even reached out to Jurassic Park star Chris Pratt. “I literally Instagram-messaged Chris Pratt to come to this. You know, one of those ‘just in case you’re in Michigan this weekend, this is going on by the way’ messages,” said Hali.
Picture: Fox 2 Detroit
Church weddings are so last year. This couple decided to be different, and prove that they were in it to win it by getting married whilst running in…
There’s something about the official wedding kiss. Everyone holds their breath and witnesses an otherwise personal gesture with great anticipation. It just absolutely brings it all together. Like the old saying goes, “sealed with a kiss.” It’s the classic symbol of affection and love, and all the guests celebrate it with the couple on their big day.
Here are some of our all-time faves caught on camera.
Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale
When the Hollaback girl-singer said I do, that kiss was one for the books. She didn’t care a single bit about her trademark popping red lipstick getting smudged.
Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling
These two lovebirds got married in style. With a classic dress, and a kiss to match. Super sweet.
Justin and Hailey Bieber
Yes, we know. It’s all over the internet right now and you’ve seen this one a hundred times. Still, we can’t help but love this sexy kiss. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
David and Victoria Beckham
Ready for a blast form the past? This iconic couple has been married for 20 years already (what!) and the fashion for that time was just… how do we put it? Different. However, the love stayed the same and this kiss is therefore a much loved one. What a Posh kiss as well.
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio
True, this is not even a kiss yet, technically. But it’s very true to Marilyn Monroe. Teasing, flirtatious and completely in control, we love this wedding moment caught on camera.
Picture: Unsplash
You know the picture. The proposer suddenly lowers the knee to the ground, both hands clutching a tiny box. “Will you marry me?” they ask. It’s a picturesque…
Every couple has a love story. All the moments in life come together to create the now. When a couple decides to get married, they bring with them all their histories. That is exactly what this British couple did.
Becky Brotherhood, 43, and Lee Markham, 45, have not had the easiest path in life and in love. To honour their journey and the past that made them who they are, Becky decided to don a wedding dress with patches made by her friends and family.
Becky and Lee met five years ago. At the time, Becky had just completed her battle with breast cancer that made her leave her past career of nursing behind to focus on her health. She began training to become a massage therapist to help people who felt that their body was turning against them.
Both Becky and Lee had children from previous relationships and had gone through difficult experiences.
They quickly fell in love and brought their families together, however, Becky never thought she would remarry. It was after Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding that she had a sudden change of heart.
“I’m not an avid follower of the royals, but something about their story – how sections of the establishment were sniffy or judgemental about Meghan, or the fact that she’d been divorced made her somehow less worthy – just really hit home on that day,” she explained to Metro UK.
“I felt that perhaps my decision to not marry was actually more about what people might think, and less about what I actually wanted, or how I felt about him.”
She then took the initiative and asked Lee to marry her over Facebook Messenger.
“So I asked him – and that fact that I asked means so much to me now: to hell with rules and tradition and what people think.”
When it came to planning the big day, Becky knew she wanted her wedding dress to tell a story, one where her closest friends and family could be a part of the creation.
“Standing in front of my soul mate at the age of 43, knowing that we both have rich histories and six children between us, it felt wrong to buy something new and off the shelf,” she explains. “It didn’t feel right and didn’t fit us as a couple.”
“One of the most special things about our love is that we love each other because of our pasts. They’re not something we have to look beyond or gloss over, and the family home we are both building right now is open and welcoming to everyone. We both have scars and losses – physically and metaphorically, and I wanted that to be reflected and held in every part of my dress, bravely, unashamedly, and with love.”
Becky, a skilled sewer, began designing and sewing her own wedding dress from an old sheet she found in her attic. Some of Becky’s clients gave her scraps of fabric and buttons that were sentimental to them for her to use on her wedding dress. This inspired Becky to ask her bridal party to make their own patches that she could then sew on to her wedding dress.
“I wanted it to feel like a tapestry of our lives… our children, our friends, and our families, and everyone who had made us into the people that we were – standing face to face vowing to spend the rest of their lives together,” she told HenHeaven. ” I wanted it to feel new and different … almost tribal, a coming together of everyone’s love and blessings for us, to hold me with every stitch.”
She hosted sewing lessons to show those less-confident how to do it. This recurring sewing session quickly became special bonding moments for those involved.
“It ended up being almost like a month-long hen do, where friends would come up, and we’d catch up, and spend quality time together too and with such busy lives, when does that ever happen? And it really felt like the dress captured that energy of reconnection too.”
She sewed the patches onto an old piece of welsh slate from the quarry next to where she had grown up. Also attached to the wedding dress were Lee’s father’s wedding ring, Becky’s mother’s wedding ring, the buttons from Becky’s sister’s gown, and from her mother’s jewellery box.
In the end, they created a unique dress with immense sentimental value.
On the wedding day on September 28, all her loved ones were around to see their creation and to celebrate the union of Lee and Becky.
“Seeing everyone that loves us, and supports us, and who have been there for us through tough times, and good times – seeing all those people rally round and just love getting involved, and creating such wonderful, heartfelt pieces of art, essentially, it’s like I felt lifted up on their shoulders and carried to the day.”
Picture: Hen Heaven
It’s your last few days as a single man, but you’re not up for a wild evening out with the boys. You want to be feeling fresh and…
Many a boyfriend has had to comply with his girlfriend’s latest photo recreation attempt of some amazing couple photo she saw online. The universal sigh followed by the eye roll, usually ending in a blunt refusal to pose any longer (four hours later). One newly engaged man was a darling, and completely down for it.
Despite his best efforts, though, Collin Hewett messed it up completely. As in, horrendously. He practically drowned his fiance, Alyssa Snodsmith, in champagne. Luckily, she was a good sport and laughed all the way through!
The photo Alyssa found on Pinterest by photographer Brianna Bender Martin looks simple enough. So couple Collin and Alyssa decided it’s the one to recreate. Here’s where the fun starts.
Apparently, at first, all went well but the angle was not exactly right and the flow of champagne too little. So Collin kicked it up a notch. Next thing you know, champagne is streaming uncontrollably all over Alyssa’s face, with her gasping for air. Here’s the tweet that has since gone viral:
So me and Alyssa took our engagements pictures yesterday. She found a Pinterest picture that she wanted to try and recreate
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.
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I botched it pic.twitter.com/oSSUCB4o6A— Big Stack Dibbles Jr (@collinhewett17) October 20, 2019
“I was trying so hard to pour it slowly that when it started to kind of trickle out at the end, I over-adjusted and it came pouring out all over her,” he told TIME, laughing.
“I’m fine by the way,” Alyssa responded to the original tweet. Seems it was all taken in good spirit and she decided to roll with it.
Their photographer, Chandler Lefever, laughed just as hard.
Apparently, the rest of their photoshoot were shots of them walking far off, taken from behind, so they wouldn’t look soaked on their engagement photos for the rest of their lives. Not nearly as much fun, we think.
Picture: Twitter/ Collin Hewett