Feature Wedding · Calgary, Alberta
October 2025 · Reception at The Baron · Photographed by Sofia Katherine
Some couples ask for moody. Rain and Harry built an entire world out of it. Their October wedding in Calgary had a black gown, guests dressed in deep jewel-toned florals, black calla lilies, drooping amaranthus, and a ceiling of hand-dried flowers they spent over a year collecting from the people they love. When the sun went down at The Baron, the candles came up and the night took over, which is exactly where I love to work.
I asked Rain and Harry to tell the story of their day in their own words. Here it is, along with some of my favourite frames from a night I am still thinking about.
Why we chose a dark, gothic wedding
It's easy to say that we chose it because it defied convention and that we were never conventional people. But beyond that, we have always been cozy people; our love for horror movies, books, and the darker themes in media painted our clothes, our home, and the canvas for our day. This was never about turning our heads in disgust from brighter colours. It was about showing the beauty in what is usually considered "too dark", "scary", or "edgy." Check out our colour palette: guests weren't permitted to wear black at all. Instead, they wore a plethora of floral colours in darker tones to match the ceiling of flowers we put our blood, sweat, and tears into creating. Even among the black tablecloths, rustic walls, drooping amaranths, and black calla lilies, our guests were all bright smiles and joy. Everyone was relaxed, cozy, and eager to experience something they could talk about for years to come, and what they experienced was exactly the kind of beauty Harry and I have always felt the most comfortable with.
To top it all off, Harry and I started our love story, or it really kicked off, in the fall of 2017. That was when we were putting our best foot forward to impress each other, buying hot chocolates and PSLs! Did I also mention I was born two days before Halloween? As an October Scorpio, the white dress was never an option. Yes, it may have upset some of the family on the more traditional side, but as the eldest daughter from a conservative Asian household, I found it important to stand my ground and be absolutely obnoxious about my theme. The frowns and scoffs motivated me to try even harder to show that I am strange, I am unconventional, and I found a partner who embraces and loves me dearly for it. We want others to look back on that day and say, "Man, that was one of the coolest weddings ever!"
What surprised us most about planning a goth wedding
Holy. Crap. Why was it so difficult to ask for flowers, decor, and even cakes in a darker theme? We understood our theme wasn't exactly common, but we weren't the first to do it either. In 2025, you would think goth themes were common enough to at least have a small, dusty section on vendor sites. That was FAR from the truth. We were lucky our wedding day was in October, so basic Halloween decorations gave us some platform to stand on. Any other month and we would have been hard pressed to find fake black roses at Michaels. There also seemed to be a belief that black decor had to jump to the extreme end of the spectrum: you either found tombstones, skulls, glittery spider webs, and cracked mirrors, or default black plasticware from Party City. It was exceedingly difficult to track down darker decor that was mature and elegant.
"But did you specifically blast your expectations onto social media to find the kind of vendors you wanted?" Yes. Yes we did. And we received plenty of messages from vendors willing to "give it a try," along with example photos that were the complete opposite of what we specified. "Try" is not a word we wanted to associate with a multi-thousand dollar event that will (hopefully) only ever happen once in our lives.
The other surprise was finding Sofia, who embodied everything we were hoping for. Not only that, she was so enthusiastic and on board with our idea that there was never a second where we thought, "maybe we should keep looking?"
Golden hour, then dark
Our advice for couples planning an unconventional wedding
Be loud and proud about your special day, as early as possible! It's not boastful. Some may roll their eyes at how often you talk about it, but it is your time to be excited to marry your best friend, and that is a feeling that can't be matched. Advertising it early isn't just about your excitement; it's about setting expectations and boundaries, and planting a seed in the minds of your guests in case you need help with a DIY plan or a concept of a larger magnitude. In our case, collecting a thousand dry flowers wasn't realistic to do in just months. For over a year, we talked to our guests about the vision of our flower ceiling, collecting unwanted or wilted bouquets to air dry and prepare for the day. As we got closer to the event, others grew excited with us and remembered the ambitious decor choice, and suddenly flowers were coming in every week. People were gifted bouquets, and when they thought about throwing them out, they'd remember, "Oh yeah! Rain and Harry wanted them. I should text them." Then we'd play garbage pick-up and drive over to collect what would have been their trash.
Being loud also comes with being proud: when you have an idea, stick with it, no matter what others say. Some will tell you you're being too ambitious, or some parents will feel it's too unconventional. You're carrying the stress of planning it, you may or may not be the one paying for most of it, and this is about showcasing you and your love. Don't be discouraged if anyone doubts you. Keep going, keep planning, pay for that day-of coordinator (worth it), and watch your guests' jaws drop at the wonderful things that sprouted from your beautiful mind.
What the day meant to us, looking back
The day after our wedding, we didn't need to say it out loud: we were so sad. It was over. It was so fun, it went so well, the planning was all worth it, and now it was over. But man, to this day we talk about it as if it happened yesterday. All of our closest friends were right there, in one room, dancing and singing out loud. My own friends were in tears, completely unsurprised to see me stickin' it to my family with a black dress. Everyone looked amazing, everyone made new friends. It was, by definition, the perfect day, even with the insignificant hiccups.
In terms of what it meant to us: it meant that we did it. We showed our loved ones that we could pull off the theme we wanted and blow everyone's expectations out of the water. We showed that the dark is not something to be feared, or to view as "pushing the envelope" for a wedding. It can be just as beautiful, and it brings just as much warmth into our hearts as a wedding with the white dress, something borrowed, and something blue. Because of how much help we needed to pull this off, we also saw how much our friends and family truly loved us. Everyone who was present had helped in some way, and it felt like we weren't just celebrating a marriage that was a long time coming, but also the very community that shaped us into the couple that will now be known for "that cool goth wedding."
We will never regret the choices we made. It was absolutely a difficult journey, and there were definitely tears, insecurity, and anger involved, but we stuck to what we knew best, and we hope to show others that weddings are not all about [ADD THE REST OF RAIN & HARRY'S CLOSING PARAGRAPH]
Planning a moody night wedding in Calgary?
Candlelight, dark florals, portraits after the sun goes down. Night and low-light photography is what I do best, in Calgary and wherever your vision takes us. Tell me about your day: book a chat.
Reception venue: The Baron
Ceremony venue: Ampersand Calgary
Bridal gown: Ethos Bridal
Suits: Huey Lam Suits
Hair & makeup: Rainki's Makeup Studio
