It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and the perfect time for a wintery celebration. Here are our top 10 tips for your Christmas wedding.
1. Start planning early
Christmas is a busy time of year for celebrations, even if it’s outside of the traditional wedding season. If you’re planning a Christmas wedding, you may find that many vendors and venues are already booked up with festive events. Planning is essential, so the earlier that you can get things booked in, the better! Check out some of our favourite Christmas wedding venues.
2. Get inspired!
Stuck for Christmas wedding ideas? Why not visit a Christmas market for some inspiration? Oxford hosts a beautiful annual Christmas market on Broad Street, and you’ll also find them in villages and at local stately homes. You never know what you might discover…
3. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
If you’re getting married in December, there’s a strong likelihood that your venue will already be decorated for Christmas. Where summer weddings would traditionally have flowers, imagine holly, ivy and evergreens decorating the pews of the church. And is there any plant more romantic than mistletoe?
4. Christmas wedding cakes hack
Another upside of getting married at Christmas is that you can save a fortune on bakes. At this time of year, you’ll find reasonably priced plain white iced fruitcakes everywhere, perfect for a budget DIY wedding cake. Other Christmas wedding ideas on a budget include picking up your centrepieces and Christmas wedding decorations in the January sales and taking advantage of existing festive decor as a backdrop for your wedding photos.
5. Choosing your Christmas wedding dress
There’s no reason to choose a different dress just because it’s a festive wedding. However, the weather is a real consideration if you’re having a winter wedding – nobody wants a blue bride in the photos! Consider adding a fur coat or lavish cape to your ensemble. For bridesmaids, you could opt for festive reds and greens.
6. Keep your guests warm
When it comes to the weather for your winter wedding, it pays to assume the worst. Consider how this can affect your guests, and give them plenty of time for travelling and keep the warming mulled wine flowing! Also, consider heating some of the outdoor spaces at your venue with patio heaters.
7. It’s a busy time of year…
Christmas is a busy time of year for everyone, so, unfortunately, both guests and vendors get booked up early. If you have your heart set on a particular day, book very early! Give your guests as much notice as possible to limit the last minute cancellations.
8. You CAN guarantee a white wedding!
You can’t promise that Mother Nature will deliver a fine dusting of snow for your special day – and let’s be honest, it causes travel chaos anyway! – but there are other options to ensure snow on your big day. Artificial snow used to be messy and a bit tacky, but now there are numerous options to provide a photogenic snowfall for your wedding.
9. Enjoy your favourite festive feast
We think that Christmas dinner is one of the most anticipated meals of the year, and Christmas wedding food is an opportunity to squeeze in another one. You could opt to go the whole hog (or turkey!) and serve up a traditional roast with all the trimmings. Alternatively, you could opt for more subtle influences, like delicately spiced orange and cranberry cocktails at the reception or mince pies served with coffee after dinner.
10) Or… ignore Christmas altogether!
Every wedding is as different as the people tying the knot. Just because you’re getting married at Christmas doesn’t mean that you have to run with the theme. Just enjoy the fact that many of the venues that will be booked out every June for the rest of the decade will now have oodles of availability (look out for Christmas wedding packages) and that your guests will already be full of Christmas spirit.
Ross and Ross Events can help you to put together the perfect festive wedding feast.