If you choose to get married around Christmas there are plenty of ways to make sure your special day turns out the way you want without causing a seasonal clash. Do you like carols? Pick out all your favourites for a church wedding at this time of year! But even if you’re having a civil ceremony there is no reason you can’t incorporate a Christmas theme even if you can’t involve a religious festival directly.
Don’t forget that a lot of people tend to make plans over Christmas so you might want to send out wedding invitations earlier than normal, perhaps even three or four months in advance if possible. To stand the best chance of getting all your guests, consider sending out “save the date” cards as soon as you have booked your venue.
Hanging the Stockings
While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend stripy elf costumes or big red Santa outfits (unless you really want to!) there is still no reason why you can’t incorporate a bit of Christmas spirit into your wedding outfits. You could go for a wrap or bolero to keep the chill off when you’re waiting for photographs. Fake fur trim can give a really luxurious feel. Don’t be tempted to go for a warm woolly dress though, as you’ll probably need to cool down a bit once you start dancing the night way at the reception, so having the option to take off your winter warming clothes later is a good idea.
Traditional Christmas colours are reds, golds and rich, dark greens. These can be used to create a bold style, for example an all-red or all-green dress, or for spot colours on more standard-coloured outfits; ribbons and flowers for bridesmaid accessories, ties or waistcoats for groomsmen, ushers or pageboys. Plus there’s no need to worry about the weather, go prepared with a nice parasol-style umbrella in colours matching your ensemble!
Decking the Halls
Winter and Christmas weddings work especially well with decorations of ivy and berries, and plenty of candles in rich, warm colours. Don’t forget to check with your venue beforehand to make sure you’ll be allowed to have candles burning during the ceremony or reception.
You should also make sure that you work with the existing colour schemes of your wedding venues to make sure your theme doesn’t clash. If the reception hall has pink carpet, you probably want to steer clear of a very dark red theme as it will end up looking a bit gross! You can work both with and around colours for your reception. If the venue has hints of rich colours like reds, golds or deep greens then it will complement a traditional yuletide theme easily. But you can just as easily go for a “winter wonderland” style snow and ice wedding theme if the venue is decorated with cooler blues, purples or whites.
Stuffing the Turkey
In all likelihood you will probably be serving a roast turkey or goose with all the normal trimmings for a Christmas wedding dinner, followed by either a Christmas pudding or an iced fruit cake, perhaps with some brandy butter sauce. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to! For a slightly different spin, how about having a separate turkey on each table so guests can help themselves, or serving mince pies instead of mints, or mulled wine and eggnog rather than champagne and coffee? You can even completely abandon traditional festive foodstuffs and go for a party-style buffet; theme the tables and plates with your winter wedding colour scheme and there’s no reason why people won’t tuck in – just don’t forget to have a vegetarian option on offer.
While fruit cake is normally associated with Christmas, there is nothing wrong with having a decorated sponge cake (you can ice it just the same as a fruit cake) or a chocolate cake (how about a giant chocolate log wedding cake?) so don’t feel constrained in your choices. A croque-en-bouche presented to match your wedding theme can make a breath-taking centrepiece, and for the truly unconventional you can even have savoury fillings in the profiteroles, or why not shun tradition entirely and go for a completely unique savoury wedding cake
Choosing the Tree
Your florist can advise you on flowers in the colours you want which will be available during the Christmas season. Why not have a Christmas tree decorated with the same colours as your main theme (or more than one tree, if you have a big venue)? Don’t forget that prices often go up as flowers become more popular over the holiday season, so if budget is an issue you could consider an alternative such as ribbon-wrapped poinsettias (normally red, but you can get them in cream and pink), mistletoe and of course holly branches. Gypsophila in particular makes a lovely dangling flower, especially in a wedding bouquet.
For ideas and advice on choosing your Christmas wedding theme, stop by our main site at www.sasiwedding.co.uk, where you can join the Community to share wedding ideas with other brides. Happy wedding planning!
