There are lots of great reasons to opt for a winter wedding rather than going the more predictable summertime route.
For one thing, it’s likely to work out a fair bit cheaper if you’re not trying to compete with everyone else at the height of summer’s peak wedding season. Venue hire is the single biggest area you stand to save on: renting a space can cost you half in December, January or February what the same location would do in June-August.
On top of that, you can really go to town for a winter wedding; creating a cosy, romantic wonderland for your guests – the colder months are truly the time when the increasingly trendy hygge style really comes into its own.
Make use of glinting fairy lights, intimate candle glow, crisp winter evergreens, and encourage your guests, bridesmaids or groomsmen to dress in more vibrant jewel tones than they typically would for a more delicate, pastel-shaded summer garden environment.
There are a few other great décor and food ideas we’d always recommend you consider for your winter weddings, including:
Start with white
Reflecting that most picturesque of winter weathers – gentle drifts of pure driven snow – you can use a predominantly white theme for winter weddings that feels both traditional and whimsical, yet modern, clean-lined and minimalist.
However, a touch of minimalism needn’t be boring in the slightest: selecting pure white linens and coverings as the basis of your colour scheme effectively creates a blank canvas for you to play around on to your heart’s content. We suggest pairing crisp, clean expanses of white with little flourishes of silver, gold and deep, seductive jewel tones – ruby, amethyst, sapphire and jade – to create a cosy and truly magical ‘Aladdin’s cave’ vibe that will warm the cockles of all attendees.
Serve spiced soups and mulled drinks
Planning catering options for winter weddings also gives you a great chance to deliver some real crowd-pleasers. There’s just no denying that a steaming pot of creamy, nutty, velvety seasonal soup, lifted with festive spices (and perhaps served with an oven-warm crusty garlic bread) is just fundamentally more alluring on a basic human level than any scattering of fridge-chilled canapes.
Mulled wines, ciders, cinnamon-spiked hot toddies and buttery rum punches also appeal to similar hard-wired comfort-seeking instincts. And, for those not looking for a double warming whammy of heat and alcohol, why not try setting up a DIY hot chocolate bar, where guests can personalise a lush cocoa mix with any number of sweet treats and toppings?
Bring the outdoors in
With its romantic imagery of snow-speckled pines, vibrant holly, romantic mistletoe, glistening berries and aromatic chestnuts, winter is a fantastic season for giving nature pride of place at weddings – and what better way to do so than by making use of the vast range of wreaths, runners and garlands we all associate with the festive season?
These little oases of deep forest green, ruby red, soft browns and pearlescent white are an uncomplicated way to turn any bleak midwinter scene into an instant Narnia. Pine cones, winter fruits and baskets of nuts can be adorned with all manner of artistic decorative touches and used as place markers, ornaments and even traditional costume accessories for a stunningly different organic look.
Additional top tips for a smoother winter wedding:
Keep it to one venue if you can. You don’t want your guests to have to keep switching locations, particularly if the weather is harsh when getting around town in your finery can be complicated and expensive. If a single location isn’t possible, try to find somewhere where the reception area is as close to the actual service venue as you can manage.
Leave blankets, shawls and wraps by exits for those that will want to pop outside now and then. You can also set up fire pits or chimeneas for cosier outdoor spaces that people will want to linger and chat in with a glass of something warming.
Encourage people to bring a sensible pair of shoes as backup. Nobody will want to be wearing wellies or hiking boots on the dancefloor, of course – but in the depths of winter, it’s usually a fair bet that anyone who doesn’t have anything sturdier than strappy sandals in their car boot will soon wish that they did!
Plan travel in advance, allow more time, and have several ‘plan Bs’ in place. If you’re unlucky – or lucky, depending on your perspective – you may even end up being snowed on. That’s a fantastic slice of good fortune in terms of your wedding photos, of course…assuming the photographer can still make it. If not, who’s been nominated to step in? Is there someone on hand who can fix makeup and hair in the event of a sudden flurry, gale or shower?
Factor in extra room and personnel for coat, bag and shoe check-ins. Everyone will be turning up with a lot more baggage for a winter wedding than they would for a summer wedding, so plan accordingly and make sure you don’t end up having to give up half your venue space to an enormous mound of damp parkas, gumboots and snoods!
Article provided by Plato Catering Hire
