The weather is cold and somewhat unreliable, but December is truly a beautiful time of year to have your wedding. And if you love the holiday season, it makes even more sense for you to plan a wedding in and around “the most wonderful time of the year.”
It might be the trendy thing to do, but there are plenty of reasons to jump on the December wedding bandwagon. For example, with the holiday season in full swing, it’s an especially great time to celebrate with a refined, formal gala that brings together family and friends to witness your love transform into the gift of marriage. And those are the key terms: “refined” and “formal.” Holiday decorations, while heart-warming and reminiscent of childhood joy, can be viewed as tacky when placed in a wedding setting.
So if you’re looking to plan a December wedding with some holiday themes, how do you avoid the trappings of the season and transform outdated and gaudy into chic and classy? Thankfully, there are plenty of creative Christmas wedding ideas available to you while you’re busy planning your extra special day. From warm and toasty color schemes to festive invitations to tastefully curated decorations, here are some holiday wedding day concepts that will ensure the many merry memories of your wedding are just as prominent as the visions of sugarplums dancing in your guests’ head.
Start With The Wedding Invitations
If you’re holding your wedding around Christmastime, why not incorporate some holiday and wintry themes in your wedding invitations? For a more chic look than the classic red berries and green garland can offer, try silver and gold or blue and white. You could also include some holiday-style wording on it like “Seasons Greetings” or maybe a “holly” or “jolly,” but that’s not totally necessary. In fact, colors alone should be able to convey the holiday theme you’re trying to put into your wedding guests’ minds. It’s important to remember that even though it’s holiday themed, this is still a wedding—so be sure to choose an appropriate invitation aesthetic and avoid making it seem as though your throwing an office Christmas party.
Decorating Your Christmas Wedding
You’ll also need to start blueprinting just how exactly you’re going to decorate your holiday wedding. Again, you’ll need to be careful not to choose Christmas decorations that look like they belong more in your grandma’s den than an elegant and classy wedding venue. You definitely don’t want any mechanical singing and dancing Santas populating the ceremony or reception! One chic idea is to use pine boughs, which are a fantastic way to decorate tables, doors, or on the reception tables where they are wrapped around candles as a decorative centerpiece. For a touch of color, tie a red ribbon around the pine boughs. You can also opt to utilize Christmas holly, incorporating it into your greater decorative scheme. Another cozy holiday touch is pine cones, which make great centerpiece accents, as well as integrate perfectly into your guest seating chart concept.
But for a fashionably high-class decorative option, try winter wreaths, which can provoke the spirit of the holiday season without being too Christmasy. Wreaths are also amazingly appropriate as a wedding decoration, as their circular nature makes them symbolic of unity, strength, and infinity—definitely an important metaphor for marriage!
Does A Christmas Tree Have A Place At A Wedding?
The short answer is, “yes!” The longer answer is that a Christmas tree can be an elegant visual centerpiece at a wedding, standing tall and beckoning guests to celebrate a warm, toasty, and deeply romantic evening. Also, there’s a good chance your wedding venue will have a “holiday tree” set up—and if that’s the case, you can bet those wedding experts will choose a design that is all class! A Christmas tree at a wedding should have minimal lights and ornaments, working together to achieve an understated holiday look that compliments the surroundings rather than over-stimulates the senses.
Holiday Ornaments As Wedding Favors
Wedding favors are perhaps the perfect opportunity to inject some holiday spirit into your wedding—after all, what are wedding favors but gifts that you give to your guests? And it’s a gift that they will experience each and every year they decorate their own homes for the holidays. This is when ornaments are very appropriate for a wedding, as you can get a lot of these little holiday accessories and choose whether or not to personalize them for your guests. One particularly sweet idea is to find collections of truly evocative vintage ornaments to give as wedding favors. Vintage ornaments tend to drum up the holiday spirit more than the more modern versions, so feel free to lean into the holiday spirit in this section of your wedding planning. You can even go the extra mile to personalize these ornaments by writing your guests’ names on them!
Other thoroughly wonderful ideas for holiday wedding favors are candles with a Christmas scent, jingle bells, ribbons tied onto tiny bells, candy canes or even a hot cocoa kit with hot cocoa packets, marshmallows, and candy.
Holiday Appropriate Wedding Dresses & Suits
The chilly temperatures of a winter wedding means that warm, cozy, and festive attire is more than welcome at your nuptials! It all starts, of course, with the bride’s wedding dress. During the winter months in general, you want to make sure you don’t sacrifice comfort—and warmth—for style. That’s easy to do with winter wedding-dress options like ball gowns, a great way to wear warm layers; lace-adorned sleeves; lace wedding dresses; subtle hues to stand out against a snowy backdrop; and faux-fur capes. As for bridesmaid dresses, think about cozy fabrics like velvet, a fashion-forward jumpsuit or festive tones like silvery glitter. As for wedding suits this time of the year, fabrics like velvet, tweed, wool, and more can do wonders to keep you warm, while also invoking the spirit of the holiday season. But layers are another appropriate fashion avenue here, like a three-piece suit or a sweater under a blazer, depending on the overall dress code of the affair.
