Christmas Wedding Ideas

With the Christmas season fast approaching some of you may be planning your wedding day, but a Christmas themed wedding can now be held anytime of the year.

Here are some helpful ideas to make your special day the winter wonderland you dreamed of, or maybe just a classic Christmas theme that can be enjoyed in all seasons.

Bridal Gown

Wearing a long white wedding dress with encrusted snow flakes rather than sequins will look nice for a Christmas wedding and you could team it with a velvet wedding cloak or shawl in the Christmas season colours such as Gold, Red or Green along with some luxurious fake fur detail around the trim.

If you wanted to go all out you could also wear long faux fur gloves until you get to the service. If you are going for the winter wonderland theme,then wear a sparkly tiara.

For a more classic Christmas look you could wear a headdress made up of holly berries and ivy.

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids could wear dresses in rich red or green colour with seasonal sashes or ribbons teamed with Christmas headdresses and bouquets.

A nice look for a Christmas wedding is ice blue colour bridesmaid dresses with snowflake sequins on.

If you are having a flower girl, she could scatter fake snow down the aisle before you or flowers made up of the seasonal colours.

Groom Party

The Groom, Best man and Page boys could wear festive waistcoats and seasonal coloured ties. You could even have mistletoe for the button holes to give it that extra Christmas touch.

Transport

Some people choose to be taken to the ceremony on Santa's sleigh but if you think this is a bit over the top then you could go for a horse drawn carriage instead and ask your driver to dress as Santa. Or if you are going by wedding car you could have it decorated with tinsel rather than ribbon.

Wedding Flowers

It is always best to speak to your florist about your flowers as they will be able to advise you on which flowers are most common for the Christmas season and within your colour theme.

Seasonal flowers can be helbore and lilies, star of Bethlehem and mistletoe. You could also use red roses, red carnations, hypericum berries, pine cones, thistles and white gypsophila. For a more classic look use ivy, holly or pine cones.

Wedding Invitations

Many people choose to send Christmas cards as their invitations but be careful when doing this as some could mistake it for a simple Christmas card and may put it away until Christmas so it would be a good idea to choose customized envelopes where it clearly states that it is a wedding card. Alternatively you could have your own wedding cards printed maybe with a Christmas themed photo of the two of you on the front surrounded by a border of snowflakes or holly trim, bells or bows etc, and as a finishing touch use a festive colour ribbon to tie the invitation or sprinkle glitter snowflakes in the envelope. Another idea i have seen is to send the wedding invitation through an animated e-mail where you can have it designed to look like Santa is announcing your wedding.

Decorating your Venue

If you are actually getting married at Christmas time then your chosen venue may already have their Christmas decorations up so it is worth finding this out first as you can match your colour theme.

Make sure you have a Christmas tree in the venue so you can decorate it with your chosen colours, you could also ask your guests to place your wedding presents under the tree. When decorating the venue use seasonal ornaments such as holly bushes, pine cones and ivy and of course mistletoe. For that winter wonderland theme you could hire a snow machine or a snow blanket and have some statues scattered about of snowmen, Polar bears and Penguins etc. If the outside of the venue have bushes or trees then you could make it more seasonal with lights or lanterns.

Table Decorations and Favours

You could have plain white table cloths with rich red or green runners and matching bows for the seats. Instead of flowers as centre pieces why not use festive candles. You could sprinkle glitter or mini snowflakes on each table and place a cracker at each place setting.

For napkins use your chosen seasonal colour and tuck a sprig of mistletoe wrapped in ribbon round them. For name settings use baubles or mini Santa's or snowmen. For favours you could have mini Santa sacks filled with chocolate gold coins or mini Santa's. Alternatively you could hang your favours on the Christmas tree such as baubles made up with your names and date of wedding, and then your guests could each take one of the tree before they leave. Another good idea I have seen is personalised candles.

Wedding Cake and food

Traditionally Christmas cake is a rich fruit cake so you could have this with a festive coloured ribbon round it and decorated festively with holly and mistletoe on the top. Alternatively you could go for a sponge or chocolate cake decorated in the same way. If you would prefer a novelty cake why not have a cake made up of Santa on his sleigh or something equally as festive.

For your wedding meal you could serve a traditional Christmas dinner. Roast turkey with all the trimmings and you could even place a mini turkey on each table so your guests can serve themselves. For pudding serve up a traditional Christmas pudding with custard or cream. And to finish of serve your guests a coffee and mince pie. It is traditional to have Champagne at weddings but you could add proper festive drinks such as mulled wine or eggnog as well.

Wedding Entertainment and Music

If you are expecting a lot of children at your wedding you could hire a Santa to visit your venue and give all the children a gift.

Another nice touch is to have a choir singing Christmas carols.

If you are having a Disco make sure you have chosen lots of festive songs for the DJ to play.

You could hire a dance act such as Santa and his Elves.

Why not have your first dance to a Christmas classic such as 'All i want for Christmas' by Mariah Carey. or 'Last Christmas' by Wham.

Another novelty idea is to have sleigh rides outside. Great for the kids but I'm sure the adults would love it to hehe.

Helpful Tips

If you are looking to cut costs for your wedding day then buy all your Christmas decorations and favours etc in the January sales before your wedding as this will save you lots of money.

Make your own Christmas crackers and fill them with chocolatte santas etc you could also place your guests names on the front of the crackers so they act as both favours and name cards.

Ask a family member to help you make the mince pies and Christmas wedding cake.

Find a venue that will already have nice christmas decorations and a tree up on the day of your wedding. Visit the venue the year before your wedding so you can get an idea of their colour scheme etc but remember to ask them if they will be using the same decorations for your big day so you can match the colour scheme.

Send announcement cards out to your guest as soon as you set the date for your wedding as the Christmas season is one of the busiest times of the year and you want to make sure that your loved ones are available on the day.

Ask a friend or family member to dress up as Santa for an hour to give the children their gifts instead of hireing one.

Another popular idea for favours is to buy a batch of plain baubles and write your names and wedding date on them with a gold pen.

Buy your bridesmaid dresses one size bigger in the January sale before your wedding.