How to create a magical Christmas wedding
With the festive season in full swing and that familiar Christmas cheer in the air, Christmas is a great time to get married. There’s something magical about a winter celebration that brings all your loved ones together at everyone’s favourite time of the year.
There are so many unique ways to mark a Christmas wedding – from decorating the venue with greenery, and hosting a mulled wine station for guests, to styling your bridesmaids in cosy fur shawls so they can embrace the elements.
Invites and stationery
Ordering customised wedding invitations and stationery (name cards, welcome signs and seating plans) is an excellent way to incorporate a touch of Christmas cheer into your wedding.
Think golds, shades of green, rich purples and deep reds to inspire your stationary colour choices. A touch of metallic foiling instantly gives printed wedding invitations a festive feel and will be something that your guests can keep to look back on in years to come fondly.
To embellish your wedding stationery, take inspiration from foliage, evergreen winter trees, and plants such as Christmas trees, holly, and red berries.
Dresses and suits
Dressing for a winter wedding can be a little more challenging because warmth is vital and must be borne in mind when making dress and suit decisions.
For dresses – sleeves are always a great option in winter, but if you’ve found the perfect sleeveless dress and need a way to stay warm, elegant faux fur or cashmere shawls will keep you cosy and bring a dash of luxury to your outfit.
Bridesmaid dresses could also nod to the festive colours we all know and love, whether choosing a different shade of colour for each dress or going for matching dresses with shawls to keep your bridal party warm.
For those wearing suits – wool is a great, warm option or thick, tweed or cord. Materials like this will help to protect against the elements. If your wedding is heavily Christmas-themed, opting for a dark green, navy or burgundy suit is an excellent way to weave Christmas into your wedding clothing.
Food and drink
Your Christmas wedding could include warming winter canapes such as mini beef, oxtail and ale pies, goat’s cheese tartines, prawn cocktail cups served on a lettuce leaf, pecan-stuffed dates and hot smoked salmon. Think of all the things people love eating at Christmas and incorporate these ideas into your canapes.
For the wedding dinner, opt for a traditional Christmas dinner, or an extravagant three-bird roast is more up your street. Beef wellington, salmon en croute, rack of lamb, confit of duck, orange-glazed salmon and nut roasts are popular choices for festive wedding feasts.
Lastly, dessert could be anything from luxury homemade mince pies to chocolate orange cheesecake. Some of the most popular options we serve at Dine include a luxury chocolate fondant, a trio of winter warmers (with a choice of sticky toffee pudding, individual pear & blackberry crumble, individual bread & butter pudding, or vanilla crème brûlée) and a cheese platter accompanied by complimentary wine.
Some ideas for welcome drinks and Christmas cocktails include espresso martinis, bucks fizz, mulled wine, Christmas punch or festive Negroni. It’s always an excellent idea to choose cocktails that are personal to you and your partner so you can enjoy your favourite drink with your favourite people.
Tablescaping
Searching on Pinterest for some Christmas wedding tablescape inspiration is the best place to start. It’s easy to make your wedding dinner tables look magical using natural materials and some ambient lighting (think candles and fairy lights).
Our favourite winter wedding table decorations include elegant, tall church candles, pretty white tea lights, candy canes, holly and logs to hold name cards. For wedding favours, we recommend personalised Christmas tree baubles, festive scented candles or mini hot chocolate mixtures with a mini bottle of baileys for a post-wedding drink that guests can enjoy at home.
Copper or gold cutlery is an effective way to make your wedding cutlery feel festive and add a final touch to your table decor.
Transport
If you’re going all out Christmas-themed, you could arrange to rock up to your wedding venue in a Christmassy sleigh or a fairytale-inspired glass carriage. Other great transport options could be a country-esque green Land Rover, a red double-decker bus or a crisp white vintage car for the old souls among us.
Venue decoration
Planning your wedding venue decoration for a Christmas wedding is the fun part! It goes without saying that a grand Christmas tree and some mistletoe is an essential addition – adorned with white, twinkling fairy lights and metallic, stylish baubles that match the colour scheme of your wedding.
For wedding flowers – peonies, dahlias, and hydrangeas are the flowers that spring to mind when you think of Christmas, or you could opt for wintery branches and foliage – instead of blooms (which may be more challenging to get hold of in the winter months). Think eucalyptus, redwood, frosted ivy and spruce, which will bring a festive, earthy scent to your venue to help set the scene.
Contact us to start planning your festive wedding for 2023!
