Revealed: The secrets of a winter wedding

The nights are drawing in and the clocks have gone back by one hour and Strictly has shown the Halloween Special. Winter’s finally taking hold and we’re in full-flow with our winter wedding season. Traditionally weddings tend to take place in the summer months. There’s a story behind this. June has historically been the most popular month to get married, and still is. June is named after the mythical Roman goddess Juno who was the protector of all women in all aspects of life, particularly in marriage and childbearing, and so June has long been a popular choice.

However, there is increasing demand for winter weddings, and we know more and more of our couples are totally sold on the romance, intimacy and special nature of the amazing intimate winter weddings that our venues are lucky enough to host.

Creating a wedding day that’s truly original and has your own stamp on it is challenging. Here’s a few of our winter wedding ideas to get you started on a different and original wedding day…

Winter weddings styling is the best

Take full advantage of the colder weather and shorter days for a dusk wedding ceremony lit by candles and sparkly lights by a crackling wood fire.

After your ceremony, rather than have your guests create a confetti-tunnel, ask your guests to use sparklers instead to create a sparkler tunnel that will provide a stunning photo-opportunity and lots of fun for all.

For your ceremony room and dining, embrace seasonal fur, antlers, ivy, moss, succulents, snow drops and wintery twigs. Paired with pearl strings, oodles of candles and fairy lights. Think cosy Skandi-intimacy. And don’t forget the mistletoe!

Make your dress a winter fairy tale dream come true. Consider fur trim and or a cape. Add rich wintery colours like deep-red velvet, pine green, chocolate brown, ice blue and greys to really make a statement. Instead of a flower crown you could consider a crown combining, wild winter berries, feathers and foliage.

Get seasonal with your food and drink choices

From mulled wine arrival drinks, to single malt whiskey shots to toast the bride and groom through to rich red wine with your meal and then coffees laced with spirits, winter just lends itself to comforting drinks.

Food-wise, swap light spring and summer options, with hearty comfort food. Imagine piping hot homemade soup with hunks of fresh crusty bread, roast beef with red wine jus accompanied by roasted winter root vegetables and round-off with sticky toffee pudding served with custard and cream. It’s far from traditional wedding food, but it’s what we all love, right?

“Out of season” – the biggest secret locals won’t tell you!

The summer months in the west country are renowned for being busy – lots of traffic and traffic jams, packed pubs, restaurants and beaches, and queues for everything from pasties to ice-creams.

Here’s the best part of winter weddings – you get the west country at its uncrowded-best, meaning easier and cheaper travel and accommodation, available tables in country pubs with roaring fires, bracing walks on deserted beaches and much more.

Keep your wedding intimate

One of the most magical aspects of a winter wedding is the intimacy the season creates. The desire to hunker-down and share drinks and stories round a fire, wrap up warm and go for walks to return to a piping hot casserole works best with smaller groups. We’d suggest a maximum of 20-25 people in total so that the feeling of winter intimacy is not lost.

Easy access to suppliers of choice

It’s a quieter time for wedding service suppliers e.g. photographers, florists etc. this means you’re more likely to be able to book your first choice suppliers and they’ll have more time and energy to devote to your wedding than at the height of wedding season when the best of them are stretched to the limit.

A winter wedding can save you money

You can access your real dream venues at much lower prices in the winter months, generally November to March excluding school holidays. In some cases up to 50% cheaper. With such changeable weather patterns in the UK now, it seems crazy to pin your hopes on a dry day in June without a viable plan B. With a winter wedding you plan to be inside from the get go, and if the sun shines and you can get outside for photography (which you often can in our experience!) then all the better.

If a winter wedding is something you’d like to find out more about take a look at some of our winter wedding packages here or email jane@petiteweddings.co.uk.