Planning a New Year's Eve Wedding

A new year, a new marriage; it doesn’t get much better than that!

Not only is having a wedding on New Year’s Eve great way to start a new year, but it leaves wedding planning open to awesome opportunities that would otherwise be ill-suited for such an event.

When planning the ceremony for a New Year’s Eve wedding, always keep in mind the special things that you can get away with that most would not be able to get away with at their wedding.

Okay, people do some “special” things for their wedding and actually get away with a lot of funky things, but you have the one-up; you’re getting married on New Year’s Eve! Use it to your advantage.

Vows

When writing your vows, think of things that relate to the holiday, such as New Year’s resolutions. Share with everyone our promises for both the short-term and long-term; i.e. what you promise to do in the new year, and what you promise to do for the rest of your lives.

Vows are, of course, unique to each couple so it will all depend on the couple getting married. It also never hurts to include a bit of humor in your vows as attention checks for your audience.

Decorations

When it comes to decorations, this can go for both the ceremony and reception, if the sites are different.

What comes to mind when you think New Year’s Eve? Fireworks (both real and pictures), perhaps clocks to symbolize time, bells, a big lit-up ball that looks like the one in Time Square, and colors such as gold, silver, black and white make for excellent decoration ideas.

Oh, and confetti, lot’s of confetti: Glitter and paper and spirals, oh my!

If you’re familiar with Salvador Dali’s “Time Warp” which features melted clocks, how cool would that be to incorporate that into the theme? Awesome. It would be awesome.

Unity

Typically, a ceremony will include the lighting of candles as a symbol of the families being united together, but this is so boring. You’re having a New Year’s Eve wedding, do something spectacular and unexpected!

Ditch the candles and try lighting sparklers or something similar instead; just be mindful of your hair and veil!

Whether you have chosen to have early reception to increase chances of more attendees, or decided to have the reception kick off at the drop of the ball, there are many New Year’s Eve wedding ideas for the reception.

Music

Your song list for your reception should definitely include the popular New Year’s songs “Auld Lang Syne” by Robert Burns, “1999” by Prince, and “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey; the rest is up to you.

Keep it fun and upbeat, with a mix of one or two slow songs. If your DJ is familiar with New Year’s celebrations, than he or she knows the drill.

Here’s a tip: Many people will be going to your wedding reception instead of a typical New Year’s Eve party, so it is in your best interest to play great music that will keep your reception bumpin’!

Food and Drink

With a New Year’s Eve wedding, you can really get away with serving types of food that you would at a New Year’s Eve party: International cheese displays, hot hors d'oeuvres, a flowing chocolate fountain with various dippables, and of course, lots and lots of Champagne!

You will definitely need a main course, such as cookout food like chicken and burgers, or you can go more on the upscale side if that is what you prefer.

Get creative with the cake design: Hats, clocks, fireworks, confetti and so on; you can even have real sparklers lit on the cake during the cake cutting!

Favors

New Year’s Eve wedding party favor ideas can be lots of fun and have a bit of flexibility for every wedding budget!

You can decide to have masquerade masks and noise makers, or go with something more traditional such as wine bottle stoppers, candles, and even candy in themed boxes.

Fireworks

End your New Year’s Eve wedding with a firework display. Everyone expects to see fireworks at any New Years Eve celebration, and your wedding should be no different, except better.

You can choose to hire a professional pyrotechnics team to design a show specifically for your wedding, or have a friend or family member have fun playing with fire.

Whatever the case, your guests should be directed by the DJ and told that the grand finale signals the end of the reception, and the bride and groom should leave at the conclusion of the finale.

What better way to kick off the New Year than as a newly married couple on a honeymoon?

Pack your bags and spend the last few days of your Christmas vacation with your new wife your hubby!

Congratulations to the happy couple and have a happy New Year!