9 Effective Tips on How to Organize a Wedding in Winter

The stereotypes of newlyweds cluster mainly around spring and summer weddings when it is warm, green, and colorful. At the same time, such aggravating moments as the excitement, queues, and high prices for all types of wedding services fall out of sight. In winter weddings, there is no first, second, or third. But there is a specific beauty peculiar only to the frost, the absence of crowds in the registry office, a free choice of a convenient date, and reasonable prices.

Everything will be so if you plan the wedding event correctly, think over the main details, and arm yourself with valuable advice. With a skillful combination of common sense and imagination, your wedding in winter will turn into a fairy tale. In this article, we have gathered nine effective tips on how to organize a wedding in winter.

1. Choose the date of your celebration carefully

Avoid the beginning and end of the winter season when the weather is unstable and full of unpleasant surprises in the form of freezing rain and sleet. Don’t snuggle for New Year and Christmas. Yes, it is tempting, but it is very expensive and difficult to choose a banquet venue due to the peak of Christmas parties. Be guided by the main principle: the closer the wedding is to the holiday dates, the earlier you start looking for a restaurant and book it without delay.

2. Ask for a discount from wedding professionals

Many specialists who are engaged in wedding organizations don’t have work after the end of the Christmas holidays and will be happy with your order. That’s why you can ask about a small discount or special deals. 

3. Take care of the guests

If you want to have a photo shoot in nature, it is better not to take guests with you. They will freeze and distract you. Shared photos in the registry office and the restaurant will be quite enough. It is better to prepare a comfortable welcome zone for the guests with buffet snacks, and warm drinks like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, mulled wine, etc.

4. Prepare a fallback for the photoshoot

Ideas for photographing in winter (skates, sleds, molding snowmen, playing snowballs) are cool. But what if the weather will confuse your ambitious plans? You need a backup option in the form of an atmospheric photo studio or other enclosed space. However, an experienced wedding photographer can divide winter photography into two locations in order to diversify the photo sequence and not freeze the newlyweds.

5. Consider a quick transformation of the wedding dress

The outfit of winter newlyweds should combine competitive features. It should be elegant and practical, smart and warm, beautiful and functional. Additionally, it should be equally comfortable during a winter photoshoot on the street and in a banquet hall with a heated fireplace. So the wedding dress of winter newlyweds needs to be able to transform from a warmed set into a light and elegant one.

6. Think about a thematic wedding

There are many suitable themes for a winter wedding:

• Christmas (with wreaths, angels, bells, and decoration in red and green colors)

• A fairy-tale style (“The Snow Queen”, etc.)

• Valentine’s Day (teddy bears, hearts, pink cupids, and pairs of doves)

• Tangerine theme (citrus fruits, surrounded by cones, cinnamon sticks, and chocolate)

7. Choose a warm venue

A winter wedding should be warm, both outside and inside. When choosing a country cottage surrounded by snowdrifts and forests, make sure that the room is well heated. An atmospheric wood-burning fireplace is very suitable for a winter wedding and will add homeliness to the environment.

City restaurants and recreation centers, wooden chalets, country clubs are perfect for a wedding in winter. They will be comfortable not only for a feast. Countryside hotel complexes have more opportunities to organize an interesting entertainment program, provide guests with an overnight stay so that they can combine a wedding celebration with a fun weekend in nature.

8. Stay warm

In order not to shock the guests and spoil the photos with a red nose and blue lips, the bride and groom need a comfortable wedding outfit.

The special winter set for the bride includes:

• Dress with long sleeves and closed back

• Two pairs of shoes (shoes for a banquet, boots or ankle boots for outside activities)

• Fur coat, scarf, shawl or hood, gloves

• Two pairs of tights 

• Frost-resistant bouquet (chrysanthemums, succulents, dried flowers, etc.)

The groom’s winter special set includes:

• A three-piece suit made of warm, dense fabrics (wool, corduroy, velour, etc.)

• A shirt with long sleeves and a tie, preferably a woolen or velvet bow tie

• Scarf, gloves, headwear (cashmere, tweed, or felt)

• Elongated black coat (woolen classic is perfect)

• 2 pairs of shoes (shoes or loafers for the banquet and warm boots for the street)

Equipped in this way, the newlyweds will definitely not freeze and will enjoy the winter photo session, decorating the photos with a healthy blush. Snowflakes will whirl and the heat of loving hearts breaks out, weaving its romantic pattern into the winter surroundings.

9. Select a seasonal menu

When there is a persistent cold outside the window, there should be tasty meals and warming drinks on the table. Therefore, the menu for a winter wedding is radically different from a summer or spring one, where light snacks, fruits, vegetables, and soft drinks are suitable.

The principle of making the right menu for a wedding in winter is more meat and fewer vegetables, more strong alcohol, and less light table wines. The sweet table in winter is not afraid of cream cakes and hot pies with meat, cocoa, and tea with jam and honey.

The bottom line

If you can’t decide whether it is worth celebrating a wedding in winter, the aforementioned tips will help you to make the right decision. First of all, winter is an unusual solution for a wedding, because most couples prefer summer. Indeed, the blooming time is very beautiful, but winter is in no way inferior to this. A skillfully organized wedding in a snowy season will surely be remembered by both guests and newlyweds. 

At the same time, many restaurants and banquet halls reduce prices during winter or arrange lucrative promotions. Prices in wedding salons are also becoming much more affordable. Winter is a great time of the year for a wedding. Even though it is impossible to hold a wedding in a tent in nature, in the open air or near a pond, on the other hand, among the obvious advantages are all the best and most interesting venues that are not so heavily loaded as in the warm season. A wedding in the cold season is beautiful, original, surprising, and not difficult at all.