RIO - The maid of honor will be the bride of Frankenstein.

The judge plans to dress as himself when he steps up to pronounce Dan Johnson and Mary Meyer of Rio man and wife in a Halloween ceremony Saturday at the House on Haunted Hill, east of Wyocena on county Highway G. The couple are inviting about 40 friends and family members as well as residents to attend their nuptials.

The bride and groom will appear as a dead couple. The rest of the wedding party will appear as an assortment of traditional Halloween creatures.

"As long as you pay your admission to the House on Haunted Hill, you're welcome to watch," said Meyer, 34.

If the weather cooperates, the open-air ceremony will start at 7:15 p.m. underneath the gazebo on the grounds of the House on Haunted Hill. All guests will stand around the gazebo and offer their best wishes. In case of rain, the wedding will move into the nearby barn or the couple's garage, where a private reception will be held later in the evening.

The ceremony, which will last about 15 minutes, will include a short speech about Halloween, autumn and marriage by the judge and will end with the exchanging of vows. There will be no songs or lighting of candles, the couple said.

"It will be a neat, small wedding amongst the creatures," Johnson, 39, said.

The creatures Johnson spoke of include about 10 mannequins dressed like traditional Halloween characters along the attraction's Tunnels of Terror as well as a mannequin of Frankenstein and his bride portraying a marriage scene at the gazebo, the same place where Johnson and Meyer will wed.

The wedding party will be joined by about 15 members of the Wyocena Fire Department who dress up nightly in scary costumes and sneak around the grounds, trying their best to scare visitors, said Heidi Anderson, an organizer for the attraction.

The annual Halloween attraction is a fundraiser for the Wyocena Volunteer Fire Department. Anderson said the event usually draws 800 to 900 visitors each year. More than 300 people visited the house last Friday and Saturday, the first weekend the attraction was open.

"We're hoping for 1,000 (visitors) this year," Anderson said.

Johnson's two children - 17-year-old Justin and Amber, 13 - will be a part of the ceremony as well as Meyer's child, Elise, 4. The couple are letting their children be creative in their wedding attire and are encouraging them to "have fun."

Justin said he plans to dress in camouflage, while Amber said she will be attending as a "vampire victim."

Meyer said her daughter probably will take a less scary route.

"She wants to be Snow White, but we've been to Halloween Express one too many times, and each time she eyes those long flashy eyebrows and fake teeth, so we'll see," Meyer said.

Neither Halloween nor the House on Haunted Hill have previous significance to the couple or their relationship. Johnson, who has lived in Rio a majority of his life, met Meyer, formerly of Madison, online in October 2007. The couple started dating in December 2007 and became engaged on Christmas Day last year. This will be Johnson's second marriage and Meyer's third.

The couple had been looking for ways to have an economical wedding this fall.

"We were thinking about getting married in Las Vegas before the economy tanked," Johnson said. "It would be too expensive to fly all our family and friends out there."

Johnson said he has visited the haunted house every year and enjoys seeing what is new each year. He also said he accompanied Meyer during her first visit last year.

The House on Haunted Hill is convenient for the couple. The seventh annual Halloween attraction is less than a mile down county Highway G from the couple's home, and the Wyocena Volunteer Fire Department, which sponsors the attraction, was more than willing to allow them to get married there, Johnson said. The department has an active roster of 20 volunteers.

"The guys couldn't believe it," Anderson said of hosting the wedding. Anderson's husband, Jared Anderson, is the Wyocena fire chief. "This is the first wedding we've ever had (at the house) and everyone is excited to see how it goes."

The couple said they hope their wedding will draw more interest in the house.

"We're glad to be able to help the fire department out," Meyer said. "They've been listing our wedding on all their advertisements, and we're cool with that."

kkirkpatrick@

capitalnewspapers.com

745-3509

If you go

What: Seventh annual House on Haunted Hill.

Description: Walk a haunted trail and uncover who's real and who isn't.

When: Open 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Where: W5399 county Highway G in Rio.

Cost: $6 for ages 10 and up; $3 for ages 6 to 10. Digital pictures will be taken for a minimal donation.

Sponsor: All proceeds will go to support the Wyocena Fire Department.

Note: Because this is an outdoor attraction, the house will be open both days as long as the weather cooperates. Call Heidi Anderson at 697-2569 about possible cancellations.