SLIDESHOW: Photos of the Willy Wonka-themed wedding
HARRISVILLE -- Oompa Loompas at anyone else's wedding might be cause for alarm, but Deleece Hall and Rod Smith aren't worried -- the couple invited them.
After all, what would Willy Wonka's factory be without Oompa Loompas?
The pair didn't have to win a golden ticket to visit the factory. All they had to do was exchange rings Saturday.
Deleece's mother, Wendy Hall, said her daughter has been fascinated with musicals and things out of the ordinary since she was very young. When she was 7, Wendy said Deleece told her she wanted a candy wedding, based off Willy Wonka.
"Then it was just a matter of finding a guy that would go along with it," Wendy said.
When Deleece got engaged in July, her mom asked if they were still doing a Wonka theme. With Smith's enthusiastic OK, the whole family got to work constructing the candy factory portrayed in Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the two movies based off the book.
"My fiance was really excited," Deleece said Thursday, two days before the wedding. "His parents were like, 'This is the weirdest girl you've ever met.' But now they're excited."
Lucinda Martin, Deleece's aunt, said nobody in the tight-knit family was surprised by the couple's choice.
She said that's just how the family is. Everyone is quirky and likes different things. So when they heard the words "Willy Wonka," the family gave an enthusiastic response.
A carpenter by trade, Smith loved putting together the chocolate river. With his expertise and the helping hands of family members, the custom candy wonderland was built from scratch in two months.
It has been a process years in the making, with the family noting different ideas when they thought of things, Deleece said, and every new person told of the theme has something to add.
"My friends and bridesmaids will text me all the time saying, 'I got a new idea!' "
However, pulling the varying visions together into a cohesive reality was more difficult than expected, Wendy said, even though she is an experienced party planner.
It took about $700 worth of candy, but the wedding had a chocolate river, lickable wallpaper, cotton candy trees, a candy forest, invention room, gobstoppers, golden-egg-laying goose and other Wonka inventions.
Even the corsages, boutonnieres and bouquets were made of candy and the groom has a purple, Wonka-style top hat.
"I can't wait," Smith said on Thursday. "I'm excited. These last two days can't go fast enough."
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