Winter Weddings

I have been meaning to write this blog for a few months now. Then 2020 sort of hit us with the Corona Virus. We all went into Lockdown. Life sort of shifted on its axel a bit and now we are a couple weeks into this madness. And it suddenly feels more timely than ever to write a blog about winter weddings. Not least because I have had to postpone many of my Spring and summer weddings due to Social distancing. Many of these weddings are postponing to August, September and some into the winter months. So I wanted to write something about winter weddings to show how fun and lovely they can be.

Expert advice

Back at the tail end of last year I started contacting some of my favourite wedding suppliers whom I had worked with on some recent winter weddings. I wanted to get their advice and opinions about weddings in winter. It was really wonderful to get their input. If you follow me on instagram, and watch my instagram stories, you may remember I did a little feature on winter weddings called “ask the experts”. I shared some of these tips and promised a blog at the end of the month. I think that was in January. Well here we are several months later, and the weather is feeling more summery than ever, and I want to write about winter weddings. So here it is.

Winter weddings in the archive

I’ve really enjoyed going through my archives for this post, and fetching some pictures from some winter weddings back in 2016. I had a couple of Christmas themed weddings around the end of December, which make for wonderful weddings and even a wedding on New Year’s Eve with a fantastic fireworks display in the evening. It might be cold in the winter, but if you just embrace the weather and prepare for it as best you can, then you can really have loads of fun during a winter wedding. And it can be quite magical.

Perhaps one of your concerns might be what to wear to keep you warm during a winter wedding. Well, I asked a few experts and got some great tips. I asked Mary at The Wedding Room, a bridal retailer based in Chilwell, Nottingham whether she sees many winter weddings

Do you do many winter weddings?

It can vary from year to year, I find the most popular time during Nov-Feb is between Christmas and then NYE, which personally i don’t understand! The biggest shift we have seen in recent years is a move away from August weddings to Autumn weddings particular Sept and Oct being popular months. Having said that, we have our busiest August ever this year, so what do I know!!

Challenges

What are the biggest challenges of a winter wedding?

We don’t really find that winter weddings provides us with any different challenges other than brides being unsure if they need more coverage and should they wear sleeves? They all think maybe they should wear sleeves but it’s not always the image they have had in their mind. Often brides will enter the shop feeling they SHOULD have sleeves because they are getting married in NOV/DEC, then when they try the dresses on they just don’t like them and often feel too covered. ANd needless to say the opposite can also happen, a bride doesn’t even think about having sleeves and then they try a dress on with sleeves and they are shocked by how much they love it. If only dress buying was an exact science!!!

The best bits

What are the best things about a winter wedding?

The LIGHTING!!! Moody lighting, dark images outside, dramatic skies, soft candlelight indoors, grooms offering jackets to brides, windy veil shots ( yes it can be windy in summer too) the atmosphere that can be created in winter is stunning. I love to see a good winter wedding photographed well, I’m not just saying that because you are a photographer!

Winter wedding couple, walking towards camera, bride in groom's jacket. His arm around her.

Winter wedding couple portrait with veil blowing

Winter Wedding table details with candles and white flowers

Tips and advice for couples getting married in winter

Any tips for couples getting married in the colder months?

Have fun with it. Embrace the cold, prepare for it – it can provide some great elements to the day that you can play on! Take a blanket and wrap up together, have a bonfire in the evening when it’s truly dark, use wintery props to create great photographs, ie umbrellas, wellies, hats, gloves and scarves. DON’T stress about your dress getting dirty, a dirty dress is the sign of a great party in my opinion. Don’t over ‘theme’ your wedding to be too Wintery, it can look a bit cliched, Cashmere cardigans and leather or denim jackets are very on trend at the moment no better time than a winter wedding to make the most of those!

Any other comments:

I would advise brides and groom to think about why they chose to get married in Winter, was it a specific choice to marry then or was their preferred venue available and cheaper at that time of year. Maybe couples need to consider their guests a little bit more for a winter wedding as time outside maybe limited for them, and therefore their venue needs to have enough indoor space to accommodate them. Are marquee wedding less popular in winter, I don’t think so ( I know Beeston Fields appear to be busy most of the year) but maybe some couples have the perception it will be cold.

Thanks Mary. Really great tips and ideas.

Here are a few pictures of Ayse and her beautiful dress from The Wedding Room.

I have decided that I have way too many pictures and supplier advice for one blog post. So I am going to split this into three parts, and when I have written all three I shall link them together. I have winter wedding tips coming from a brilliant florist and a lovely wedding venue. So watch this space!

Winter Weddings | Advice from Nottinghamshire wedding experts – Part 1

Winter Weddings

Expert advice

Winter weddings in the archive

Challenges

The best bits

Tips and advice for couples getting married in winter

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