Vogue’s Hamish Bowles was on hand to capture it all as the wedding events unfolded. The shindig was held over several days, and in two different locations. First, the couple held a civil ceremony at Von Teese’s house in Los Angeles—a decision based on the fact that many churches were, well, apprehensive, about Manson setting foot inside. For the backyard affair, Von Teese wore a shockingly simple white Moschino suit, designed by the label’s then-creative director, Rosella Jardini. (She had told Jardini that wanted to look like “a forties bride going to the courthouse to get hitched before going off to the war.”) Manson wore a Dior Homme jacket, a Galliano shirt, and Moschino creepers.
Then, for the rehearsal dinner and the formal ceremony, the couple invited 60-something guests to travel to Ireland, where all of the action was photographed by Robert Fairer. Their rehearsal dinner was held at the Kilshane House, a historical home in the middle of a private parkland. Von Teese wore a striking Kelly-green Moschino satin gown for the affair, complete with vintage rubies. But it was their formal wedding ceremony that has long been seared into my brain. Manson and Von Teese held it at a gothic-style mansion in Tipperary, owned by the Austrian-Irish artist Gottfried Helnwein. Bowles took in all of the unlikely details of the bride’s dressing room, including the custom corsets designed to give her a 17-inch waist, and the seven pairs of vertiginous heels that Christian Louboutin created for her.
The affair was filled with loads of delicious non-traditional elements, too. Their wedding banquet table, for instance, was lined with giant centerpieces of black and crimson roses. Gold skull-shaped candles lined the tables. The waitstaff were dressed in Moschino tailcoats and pipers even serenaded wedding guests. The director Alejandro Jodorowsky even officiated!
While the romance ultimately didn’t last, these quirky details and images continue to live on in my brain. In fact, I plan on channeling the spirit of the offbeat ceremony on my own big wedding day. Whenever the hell that will be.
“The Bride Wore Purple,” by Hamish Bowles, photographed by Steven Klein, was published in the March 2006 issue of the magazine. Fashion Editor: Phyllis Posnick. Hair, Danilo Dixon for Pantene at The Wall Group; makeup, Kathy Jeung for Margaretmaldonado.com; set design, Mary Howard Studio.