A double celebration: your guide to getting married at Christmas

To quote Andy Williams, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, and it’s also a fabulous time of year to host a wedding. Everybody is in a festive mood, and ready to enjoy eating, drinking and being merry. People may have time off from work already, so may not need to take extra holiday to celebrate with you. From a practical point of view, venue prices are often significantly cheaper in the winter, and there’s less competition for dates compared with the rest of the year. You may also end up with a white wedding in all senses if there’s snow!

If you’re considering choosing December for your wedding, read on for a complete guide to planning a Christmas celebration, highlighting everything from choosing décor and outfits to practical considerations to make everything run smoothly.

The first priority is finding the right venue, as a Christmas wedding needs slightly different considerations to a spring, summer or autumn wedding. We recommend thinking about the following things when doing your venue research.

Due to potentially adverse weather conditions in December and minimising the amount your guests need to travel, it makes sense to pick a venue that can host both the ceremony and reception. It can also be a good idea to choose a venue that has on-site accommodation for after the wedding, so guests don’t have to travel far in dark and possibly tricky conditions. At Alfriston Gardens we have beautiful rooms for up to 58 guests, making it very easy to host all your nearest and dearest right with you.

Also look at how the venue is heated and whether guests will be comfortable. Does it have open fireplaces, log burners or underfloor heating to make it warm and welcoming? The heating in our ceremony and reception barns here at Alfriston Gardens means that no matter how much the mercury drops, guests are always warm and toasty.

While the interior of the venue will be the main focus for the day, it’s also worth checking whether it has some lovely outdoor spaces for photography. If there are beautiful gardens or surrounding countryside then you can wrap up warmly and head out for a couple’s portrait session. Bonus points for snow!

Our outdoor spaces here at Alfriston Gardens are designed to look beautiful all year round. Shrubs, trees and seed heads create texture and interest in December, and we also have subtle outdoor lighting that gives the gardens a magical festive sparkle!

Once you’ve found your venue, the next step is to get the date booked in as soon as possible so you can give your guests plenty of notice at what is often a busy time of year. This is particularly important if you have guests travelling from over the UK and abroad.

A bonus of a Christmas wedding is that your venue will probably be decorated for Christmas with a tree, lights and garlands, so you can really embrace this for your wedding décor. At Alfriston Gardens we put up a spectacular 14-foot Christmas tree as well as a festive ceiling of fairy lights. The tree in particular is a gorgeous focal point for photos!

If, however, you have a specific décor theme you’d like for your wedding that could clash with your venue’s Christmas decorations, it’s worth discussing this with them in advance to see if they can temporarily take down their decorations.

As the daylight hours are much shorter at this time of year, think about how you’ll light your reception. Pillar candles in floor-standing lanterns and candelabra on tables will create a romantic ambience, while fairy lights add a dainty festive sparkle.

Seasonal flowers in bloom at this time of year include paperwhite narcissi (which smell incredible!), hellebore, poinsettia and anemones. Roses also look magnificent, particularly in deep red or frosty white. You can add a touch of luxe to bouquets with a soft velvet bow or give them a frosty sparkle with a discreet scattering of crystals or soft glitter.

Fully embrace winter by using the gorgeous seasonal foliage and plants available at this time of year to decorate your venue and create sumptuous tablescapes. Fir, yew, holly, ivy and pinecones naturally complement a Christmas wedding, while scented plants such as eucalyptus and rosemary also look beautiful, as do cinnamon sticks. You could always place a sprig or two of mistletoe into your decorations, too, to share the romance of the day among your guests!

For a delightful finishing touch, scented candles or reed diffusers add a lovely extra dimension to a Christmas wedding. Check out the winter scents from True Grace and The Botanical Candle Co – we particularly love the rich Last Light range from the latter that blends the quintessential Christmas scents of cinnamon, rosemary and clove.

There’s no better time than a Christmas wedding to choose long-sleeved dresses and embrace heavier fabrics such as duchess satin, crepe or silk velvet. Velvet is also a wonderful option for coats and accessories, as are faux fur and cashmere – anything that looks luxurious at the same time as keeping you cosy.

For grooms, think tweed, twill or flannel for suits or, for the ultimate in glam, opt for a classic black dinner jacket.

There are some colour schemes that naturally lend themselves to a festive wedding. Jewel tones of rich red, vivid emerald or opulent blue look amazing – bridesmaid dresses in these hues will contrast beautifully against a crisp white wedding dress.

A frost-inspired colour palette is also an elegant choice: think glittering white, icy blue, iridescent pink and misty grey. You can also really lean into Christmas and go with traditional red and/or green, either bringing in subtle splashes of colour via accessories such as bouquets, shoes and ties, or using them in a bolder way for bridesmaid dresses, waistcoats and pashminas.

There are lots of thoughtful little details you can add to your Christmas wedding to make it even more amazing.

Be prepared for rain or snow by having a selection of umbrellas to hand, with bonus points if they match your colour scheme. You could also collect pashminas and extra layers for guests to use and place them in a pretty basket in the hall of your venue.

If you want to have favours, you could style them up as crackers and put one on each place setting. Another lovely festive favour would be personalising a bauble or hanging decoration for each guest and placing them on the tree to be found during the reception.

Celebrate the season by serving warm welcome drinks such as mulled wine, hot apple juice and hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. If your venue allows fire pits, you could even offer roasted chestnuts during the drinks reception as a delightfully festive finishing touch.