5 Key Things To Consider For your Winter Wedding

There are many benefits to having a winter wedding, cosy venues, inexpensive rates and being less dependant on the Great British sun. However, there are a couple of factors you may want to consider when planning your perfect winter wedding.

Be prepared for the cold weather

There will most likely be multiple times during the wedding that you will need to be outside in the cold winter weather, whether it’s walking up to your church or taking outdoor photos. You will need to have something prepared and available to keep you warm during these times, it is popular for winter brides to have wrap or shawl designed to match their dress. If you are on a tight budget just use a nice coat that you already own that you can take on and off between photos and being inside. I would recommend taking someone outside with you with for photos to hold your coat in between shots as this isn’t something your photographer will be able to do. Depending on how long you plan to be outdoors I would also recommend arranging to wear layers under both the dress and suit, for example under the dress tights could be worn and then removed before the meal to save you being too hot once inside for the day.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget about your bridesmaids, if you are going for a matching shawl or wrap with your outfit for photos make sure you also arrange this for your bridesmaids, they will be with you along the way so if you’re planning to be cold they will be too. Blankets also never go a miss, they are so simple to arrange but will bring a lot of joy to you and your guests when having to venture outside. Your photographer may even get some cute shots of this!

Keep travel time to a minimum

Unfortunately, winter months in the UK can be even more unpredictable for its weather, with a potential chance of rain, snow and ice it is very important to think ahead and plan for this. Unexpected snow and ice can affect travel plans for you, your guests and suppliers. The best option if possible is to have your ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception all at the same venue to keep travel to a minimum. The less travel required the less unexpected issues that will arise. Where travelling is essential make sure you plan for extra time in your itinerary to factor in any unforeseen issues on the roads, make sure you speak to your guests and suppliers about this too.

Have a winter survival beauty kit available

Which must include a lip balm, the cold weather can cause chapped lips, ahead of the wedding keep your lips moisturised in preparation but it is so important to have the lip balm available on the wedding day itself. You do not want to be uncomfortable on your big day as well as look back on your wedding photos of you with chapped lips when it could have easily been resolved. Hairspray will also be missed if it’s not available, the winter winds and drizzly weather can cause a mishap with your hair. A simple fix for this is having your hair professionally done and ask for plenty of hair spray to keep your look in place, then have a bottle of hairspray easily accessible throughout the day for quick top-ups to keep your hair looking great.

Bonus Tip: The last key product I would advise is not for the wedding itself but for prep beforehand, moisturise, moisturise and moisturise some more. The cold weather can cause havoc with your skin which can lead to it becoming dry, dry skin is not ideal on your wedding day both for applying makeup to and keeping your make up looking consistent and fresh throughout the day. Be prepared for this and if possible invest in a good quality moisturiser, your make up artist may be able to recommend something perfect for your skin.

Think ahead about your photo opportunities

With winter having potentially bad weather to affect having outdoor photos you need to preplan what opportunities there are inside your venue for photos. You can get inspiration on this from the venue co-ordinator or your photographer. It is important to preplan this as it may be something that determines which venue you go for in the first place, if a venue you are looking at doesn’t have anywhere indoors for photos you may have to look at somewhere that does if photos are important to you. As well as this, it is also important as it will have a big impact into your wedding day timeline if there are minimal photos to be taken your photographer may advise you that photos will only take 30 minutes so not a lot of your time will be taken for this. However, if there are lots of great opportunities not to be missed you could be looking more at 2 hours. You need to be able to pre-plan your timeline to ensure everything runs smoothly and all suppliers including your venue and caterers know exactly what is going on and when.

Bonus Tip: With this season it gets darker much earlier than summer months, this can be played to your advantage, as this means that it will most likely go dark whilst your photographer is still with you. Speak with them about this ahead of the wedding to look at arranging some amazing nighttime shots, it is important to speak with them about this ahead of the wedding as they will need to prepare extra lighting equipment which may incur an additional cost.

Check what decorations will already be up at your venue

As Christmas is a huge part of winter most venues will have decorations up for the majority of the season. If you are wanting to incorporate the holidays into your wedding this can play to your advantage as there may already be decorations there that you were going to have to buy yourself. Speak to the venue about this well ahead of time so you can speak about what decorations you will need to get yourselves, then you can factor this into your budget. On the other hand, you may not want to factor Christmas into your big day so be sure to speak with the venue about options to have these removed for the wedding.

If you would like to find out more about winter weddings check out our blog 5 perks of a Winter Wedding on our website.