Gothic-chic, Halloween-inspired wedding ideas

By Tia Albright
WeddingChannel.com
With Halloween just around the corner, you might be thinking of crossing over to the dark side with a gothic-inspired wedding. If you loved reading about Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz's "Alice in Wonderland" nuptials last May, here are some tips and tricks to ensure that your wedding is hallo-chic.

LOCATION: GOTH MANSIONLocation, location, location - it's all about the setting! Why not go above and beyond by hosting your celebration in a historic, gothic mansion or castle? From the tall ceilings to the gargoyles overlooking the entrance, this venue will be the perfect place to set the stage. Not only is this a fantastic space, you'll also have a head start on decorating because there's already a built-in backdrop!DECOR: DARK DESIGNSThere's nothing more clean and classic than a simple black palette. Use rich, black linens in heavy velvet or pintucked fabrics on tables surrounded by black chiavari chairs padded with black seat cushions. Create cool place settings by using large silver chargers or black-and-white swirl patterned dishes with ornate silver goblets. Place black feather wreaths throughout the venue, which can complement large, elegant centerpieces of dark blooms and feathers in urns or simple black candelabras with black candles.

FLOWERS: BOLD BLOOMSAsk your florist to create overflowing vases of black magic roses (mix them with deep red calla lilies for extra texture) or have the blooms strung into pomander balls hanging from chandeliers. Spice up your bouquet by adding a few black feathers. Or be bold and create bouquets of orange roses and tulips to add a punch of Halloween's staple color.

COCKTAILS: GREEN HAZEWho needs beer and wine when you've got magic potion? Ask your caterer to create a specialty cocktail with a green hue. Serve it from a large pot-like punch bowl into large glass goblets with ornately decorated stems. You'll love how the bright green hue contrasts with the all-black decor. Plus, guests will enjoy trying to decipher the ingredients in the "special" punch.

CAKE: COOL AND CREATIVE:Imagine a blood-red velvet cake covered with white fondant and a black swirl pattern. You can even top it off with a feather bouquet. For a more unique design, have your baker make a one-of-a-kind gothic mansion iced in gray with mini gargoyles and stained-glass windows. Or consider a topsy-turvy cake with layers going in every direction. It can serve as the centerpiece of your reception decor.

• I've always wanted a halloween wedding. and i plan on getting married either on Halloween or mistchife night. assuming i spelled that right.
• I think it would be the coolest thing ever. and so romantic.
• Either that, or wedding in the snow. It's so cute.
• curse my romantisism.

Gourds of gigantic proportions

(that's a really big pumpkin.)

Pampered pumpkin picked as plumpest of them all
The Associated Press
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Thad Starr's giant pumpkin really began putting on weight in August , a lot of weight.
The pumpkin gained about 30 pounds a day on its way to victory Monday at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay.
Starr's pumpkin finished at a record 1,528 pounds. Starr won last year with a pumpkin that that was four pounds lighter and also set a record.
Starr, of Pleasant Hill, Ore., bought a trailer to transport the pumpkin. It has a circumference of 15 feet.
He says his secret to growing big pumpkins is good soil: "We really pamper them."

• whyyy do people feel the need to inject gourds with steroids? let alone PEOPLE.
• what possible use could a pumpkin that large be?

i cried my eyes out last night.

Empty feeling for Flyers after second home loss
By ED MORANPhiladelphia Daily News
morane@phillynews.com
THERE WERE A TON of empty seats in the Wachovia Center last night.
It's a good bet the fannies that normally would be in those seats were somewhere watching the Phillies. Which, of course, makes sense, with the Phils playing for a World Series berth and the Flyers just getting their season going.
Maybe the Flyers can return the favor next spring.
But they will have to get their first win in this 82-game campaign if they want to to do that. Two games in and they're 10 points out of the division lead after losing to Montreal, 5-3.
The 10-point deficit is more a factor of the schedule and the fact that the first-place Rangers have played five games and won them all. But it's also a factor of a scary reoccurrence of a bad trend from last season - not playing a full game.
"It's obviously not something we're happy about," said Mike Richards, who scored his second goal of the season on a power play to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the second period, a lead they blew by allowing four final-period Montreal goals.
"We played pretty good for 40 minutes. In the third period they capitalized on their opportunities and we didn't. It's something we're concerned about. At home, with a goal up, we have to be careful about the situation and tonight we weren't."
So instead of the strong start they were looking for, something like the 6-1 jolt to start last season, the Flyers have gone 0-2 at home with a three-game road trip starting tonight in Pittsburgh.
"Our quick start last year was huge come April," winger Mike Knuble said. "We don't even get in the playoffs if we don't start 6-1 last year. Come October, you won't put yourself out of the playoffs, but if we have a tough October, we could have a very tough time making the playoffs. You have to have a solid October to make the playoffs."
The Flyers got goals from Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, but Marty Biron let in four for his second loss in two starts. He didn't have a lot of help from the defense. The Canadiens' go-ahead goal was scored inadvertently by Scottie Upshall, who tried to knock down a puck in front and put it behind Biron instead.
"We did a lot of good things for the first 40 minutes and got ourselves in the position we wanted to be in," said coach John Stevens. "It's just not paying attention to the details on the defensive side of the puck that gives them momentum.
"That goal they scored to tie it up, we looked at that goal three times in the prescout. [Roman] Hamrlik scored a goal just like that against Toronto the other night.
"The other one was not a smart play, either, trying to knock a puck down in the slot. Marty has no chance on that."
After a scoreless first period, Montreal scored 54 seconds into the second after Andrei Kostitsyn ran into Richards coming out of the zone with the puck and forced a turnover.
The puck went up the wall to Andrei Markov and found its way back to Kostitsyn as he cruised toward the net. He fired a shot that beat Biron short side under his glove, giving Montreal the 1-0 lead.
Carter evened the score when he blasted a drop pass from Upshall that appeared to tick off the stick of defenseman Michael Komisarek and got behind goalie Carey Price.
Richards gave the Flyers the 2-1 lead on the power play when he drifted in from the blue line and one-timed a pass from Daniel Briere 4 minutes, 15 seconds into the period.
Montreal took the lead at the start of the third on two quick goals, the second the fluke tip by Upshall into his own net.
Hamrlik tied the game on a quick redirect from Kostitsyn at 1:18. Then, at 2:02, Komisarek took the shot that Upshall tipped past Biron, putting Montreal up, 3-2.
"I was just trying to come in and get in position and the puck came up on my stick and my first reaction was to maybe just to knock it down, and unfortunately I made the perfect tip for a goal," Upshall said. "I told Marty, 'Sorry, buddy, that was my fault.' That was a big goal."
When Robert Lang scored at 13:40, it put the Canadiens up, 4-2 . Biron had allowed a rebound to come back out to Sergei Kostitsyn, who found Lang out front and open.
Gagne pulled the Flyers back to within one when he collared a Knuble rebound and put it around Price, but Steve Begin added an empty-netter to end the scoring at 5-3.
"It's tough starting the season 0-2, especially at home," Gagne said. "We need to go on the road and think about winning one game at a time. It's still early in the season. A lot of things can happen in the season, but for us right now, we have to focus on the next game in front of us." *

• So i totally know none of you read that whole thing. But the Flyers have lost two home games in a row.
• It's awful. we did so well last year and now we're in a funk.
• HOPEFULLY this means we'll win the next eight-hundred games. *knock on wood*
• I've also noticed lately that most hockey players have crazy names. except for mike richards. But that's still crazy because his last name is multiple guys with the first name Richard.

Did a mountain lion attack Pa. farmer?

(how awful!!)

By Peter Mucha
Inquirer Staff Writer


The Pennsylvania Game Commission is investigating an attack on a southern Lancaster County farmer who believes the culprit was a mountain lion.
The last confirmed case of a mountain lion running wild in the state was in the 1960s, after one escaped from a circus or a menagerie, said Joe Kosack, commission spokesman.
Samuel Fisher was attacked near his home around 6 p.m. yesterday, and was taken to a hospital, Kosack said.
The commission had been getting eyewitness reports of three big cats. "A black one, a brown one and a tan one may have been roaming the area together," Kosack said.
Fisher reported seeing two big cats, shooting at one and wounding it. "While he was trailing it, he claims one of the animals attacked," Kosack said.
The Sadsbury Township farmer said it was a mountain lion that leaped from a tree onto his back, a neighbor told the Intelligencer Journal. When the animals began to claw his chest, he stabbed the cat with a knife and it ran off, the newspaper reported.
As of early this afternoon, however, commission officers have been unable to find any evidence of mountain lions in the area.
After smoothing out some ground, the officers left the carcass of a deer killed on a road, hoping to at least detect pawprints.
"They're down there trying to sort out what happened," Kosack said. "... We're not saying these people aren't seeing something. But we don't know what they are seeing."
Wild bobcats live in Pennsylvania, but even big ones weigh only about 30 pounds, and they're generally found in mountainous areas, not Lancaster County.
If the animals are mountain lions - also known as cougars, panthers, pumas or catamounts - perhaps they had been exotic pets.
"It's possible that somebody had an escape, or got tired of taking care of something that big," Kosack said.
Wild mountain lions haven't roamed Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, he said. "That's when they became extinct."
Or at least that's the Game Commission's belief.
Some people disagree, Kosack said.

• I think the neighboor attacked him. dressed up as a mountain lion.
• orrr, it could have been my pet mountain lion.
• Or clay akien.