12 Great Winter Wedding Ideas

Are you thinking of planning a winter wedding? Although we tend to believe that every bride wants to be a “June bride,” it’s just not so! Some women want to walk down the aisle when there’s a light dusting of snow on the ground and a crisp, cool breeze blowing outside. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to fashion an incredible celebration around the season!

Winter Wedding Themes

First things first, choose a theme for your wedding day, just like you would when getting married in any other season of the year. It doesn’t have to be kitschy or literal, instead merely draw inspiration from what it’ll look like outside during your vow exchange.

Winter Wonderland

A classic way to go would to be to completely embrace the beauty of winter with a “Winter Wonderland” theme. Add a bit of holiday flavoring if you’d like, or go with something more monochromatic with sparkling, white accents everywhere you go.

Holiday Inspired

An obvious way to theme your winter wedding would be to inspire the celebration with a douse of the holidays. Cranberries, metallics and lots of festive spirits, it’s only fitting that you pay homage to Christmas time or Hanukkah if you’re saying, “I do” throughout the season.

Introducing Royalty

There can be something extremely magical about a winter wedding. And it can be quite easy to turn a winter celebration into something with a royal essence. All that glitter and all those lush petals are quite princess-like – which is perfect for brides who’ve been dreaming of their wedding day since they were little girls.

Winter Wedding Ideas: Decor

Decorations

There are lots of great ways to incorporate the season’s spirit into your wedding day. Colors include, white, metallics, cranberries, emeralds, or even powdery blues. These tones are on trend and coincide with the palette of these colder months.

From sequined tablecloths to pine cone place cards – don’t be afraid to be literal or to rummage up and implement some quirkier, spirited ideas.

Centerpieces

Go with lush, fuller flowers for this time of year. Flowing, deep greenery on the tables topped off by the romance of a lit candle, utilize the mystery of the winter night sky within your tablescape.

Of course you can add ice sculptures to the gift table, heighten the centerpieces with white branches or dripping crystals and even use frosted china plates for every guest at the reception. Go big, go glam and envelope the party in winter.

Party Favors

The favors depend on the theme. For example, if you’re going with a holiday-inspired event, think of handing out ornaments at the end of the night or even large candy canes. In fact, edible favors are always a great choice – especially for the winter months. Hot chocolate mixes, mini cocktails kits or chocolate-covered cranberries are all hit ideas.

Winter Wedding Invitations, Programs, & More

Even your invitations, programs and thank you cards can hold a bit of the season’s theme in its styling. From the colors to the accents, here are some great ideas when printing off the papers.

Save-the-Date Cards & Wedding Invitations

Most of the time, winter weddings are indoor events, so a more formal event is to be expected. Take this approach when deciding on your invitation design.

Thicker cardstock, laser-cut invitations or heavy, deep font are perfect ways to accent all the info for the day’s big event. And thankfully, our favorite shops have a huge variety of winter-inspired designs to choose from.

Programs

Make sure to accent your programs with something sweet and kitschy – just for memories and smiles. A small sleigh, a Christmas angel, sparkling snowflakes or a pine cone, it’s so easy to pick out your favorite “winter” pieces.

You could even add some personalized calligraphy in sparkling ink to really set off the programs .I f they’re done well enough, they’ll become a second favor of the night!

Reception Ideas

Begin with a cocktail hour that includes warm drinks. Leave the fruity, vacation-inspired sips for the honeymoon and amp up your guests with spiced apple cider, bourbon, eggnog, pomegranate martinis and hot chocolate for the kiddos.

And then there’s the music. A bit of Christmas music – instrumental versions – can act as a nice background to the cocktails. But when it comes to the actual party, there’s no rules here – go with what you want, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a winter wedding or not.

Make sure you have a few decorated Christmas trees in the corners, where guests can add gifts for the bride and groom. Or, some icy decor pieces that can set off the sweetheart table.

Keeping the Costs Under Control

No matter the month you’re to be wed, it’s always great to know some easy tips in mind on how to keep the wedding costs under control. Here are some easy guidelines to follow:

1. Make your budget and stick to it. Know what you’re most important items are and don’t budge – from the budget.
2. Think about Friday or Sunday. Most weddings take place on a Saturday, but if you decide to go with an untraditional date – you may be able to save some big bucks at the venue!
3. Go with rose – because they’re affordable all year round.
4. More often than not, nixing the plated meal and going with a buffet will cut costs a bit more too.
5. Have a “stock the bar” party beforehand with the bride and groom’s friends. Every friend will bring a bottle of booze and the bar tab won’t get out of hand on the night of the celebration!

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