George Hyer has a room full of witnesses that his new wife, Nicole, turned into a witch at their wedding reception on Halloween night at the Outlaw Inn.

"That's a little scary - might be a sign of things to come," he said with a laugh. "You never know."

The couple chose Halloween for their nuptials on a whim that evolved into an inspired evening of fun.

The bride, formerly Nichole Slocum, said she and George first planned to marry next summer but discovered many of her girlfriends had weddings scheduled on desirable dates. They looked at September with mixed feelings.

"So we had a bottle of wine and looked on the calendar and saw that Halloween was on a Saturday this year and just couldn't resist," she said.

George said he thought it was a great way to throw a fun event with guests in costumes. It had the added advantage of providing an anniversary date they would never forget.

"A lot of people had mixed feelings about a wedding on this day," he said. "We didn't do it to mock anything."

It was all about fun for all with a reception in the spirit of a masquerade ball.

Nichole said Halloween held no particular significance to either of them before. She liked the idea because it offered guests a unique wedding experience.

"We knew everyone would want to come," Nichole said.

When she started researching the idea, she found many other people had gotten hitched on Halloween. Looking online, Nicole said most couples were goth-inspired.

"What's funny is George and I are not even close to that - I wanted to put a new spin on the Halloween wedding by having it in a church," Nichole said. "That made it very different than the normal Halloween wedding."

One possible stumbling block was getting Christ Church Episcopal to agree to their chosen date. Nichole was determined to be married in the church where she and two generations before her were baptized.

"I really wanted that and they were okay with it since it is a religious holiday," she said. "We just told people to keep it (costumes) church appropriate and everyone did great."

Before the event was over, George had a few second thoughts about wedding on the night of black cats prowling and witches casting spells. He faced down two disasters beginning with the food preparation.

The couple and their family and friends handled most aspects of the wedding and reception themselves. George was completely confident about that arrangement.

"I'm an ex-chef and her father and my best man all work for Food Services of America - we've done banquets before in our lives," he said.

For the two days prior and the day of the wedding, friends and family had a ball decorating and helping with preparations. All was going well until about 2:30 p.m. during the height of food preparation when the power went out for two hours.

"My first thought was I didn't want Nichole to know," George said.

The power returned and the staff at the Outlaw Inn pitched in to help get them back on track for the reception.

Their planning paid off with a beautiful wedding that went off without a Halloween hitch until the happy couple got just outside the church door. In the frenzy, someone dropped a sparkler on the train of Nichole's dress, which then caught fire.

"George was so fast that no one even noticed that he stomped them out with his feet," Nichole said with a laugh. "That could have been disastrous. The sparkler idea, maybe not as good as I was thinking."

The rest of the wedding and reception was just as amazing as they envisioned. George was attired in a costume that Nichole described as "some sort of clocked mystery man" and she was transformed into a fetching witch who has cast a strong spell over George.

"I absolutely love Nichole and I think we're going to have an incredible life together," he said.

Nichole returned his sentiments with equal enthusiasm. The newlyweds encouraged others to follow their personal vision to create a perfect wedding.

George said couples should take the time to talk to each other, enjoy the experience and not fear following an unconventional idea.

"And make it yours," Nichole said. "If you do something that's really you then you'll never regret the choices you made."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.