This time of year often signals the end of the busy summer wedding season, though many couples are now seeing the benefits of having an off peak winter wedding.
There’s loads of great reasons why having a winter wedding will bring you comfort and joy:
Good for your pocket
Off peak weddings could be better on your budget plus wedding suppliers may have more availability at this time of year.
Decor taken care of
Some venues may already have their Christmas decoration up which could mean you don’t have to worry too much about decorating the space any further.
Rich colour palette
The rich warm winter colours are luxurious and comforting plus lend themselves for extravagant textures of velvet and gold metallic décor.
Dreaming of a white Christmas
Let’s be honest snow on your winter wedding would be the ultimate romantic weather scenario (providing your venue isn’t too hard to reach), so it’s exciting that there might be a chance of snow for some stunning wedding pictures.
Wet weather plans in hand
Contrary to a summer wedding, there seems to be less pressure about the weather for a winter wedding as you won’t be expecting it to be super sunny, so you’ll make inside plans regardless.
Wrap up warm
No fear of fainting like in the summer heat or sweating in all your attire. Guys can go to town in a full three piece suit and ladies can keep warm in wraps, boleros and fake fur.
Embrace hygge theme
With the nights drawing in earlier and light fading quickly, there lots of opportunities for romantic lighting options like candles and huddling up round a firepit toasting marshmallows.
Holidays are coming
If you have a wedding around Christmas or New Year then your guests might already be off work anyway, so they won’t need to take any extra holiday to come to your big day.
Fresh wedding season
Your guests shouldn’t be too ‘wedding-ed’ out as they may not be going to as many other weddings at this time of year. Plus your wedding may look more unique as it will utilise flowers and produce from a different season to popular summer weddings.
Fly off for some winter sunshine
There are some good rates around for honeymoons at this time of year and travel to some tropical countries is better as it won’t be during wet or stormy season.
Obviously, I love a good wedding and even more so a royal one. Well, if you wait longer enough then two come along at once and we’ve certainly been spoilt for royal weddings this year!
I was glued to the television once again on Friday to see Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank get married for the Royal Wedding part two. Yes, it may only be 5 months since the last one, and yes, it was at the same venue of Windsor Castle again, but this wedding sequel still offered new trends and insights.
Royal wedding trends
You can guarantee that a royal wedding is sure to be a lavish affairs and an exaggerated Pinterest fantasy that will influence trends and weddings to come. Who can forget the puff ball dress of Eugenie’s mother on her wedding day to Prince Andrew in the 1980s.
And the affect of Kate and William’s royal wedding in 2011 is still apparent now as couples continue to choose to have trees inside at their weddings. Likewise, Harry and Meghan’s wedding prompted further foliage and minimalist trends – here’s my Royal Wedding Fever report from earlier this year.
Along with the happy couple, the (celebrity) guests arriving gives a glimpse of fashion colours and trends. This wedding called for traditional morning suits to be worn, which even Cara Delevingne sported. The other ladies had to keep hold of their hats as it was such a windy day.
Guests wore bold seasonal colours of bright pink, greens, navy and pastel pink. Whilst the mother of the bride and Princess Eugenie’s sister and chief bridesmaid wore emerald green and royal blue respectively. Princess Beatrice topped off her outfit with a royal blue alice band hat – another new evolution in the hat world and perhaps playing it safe consider the weather (and previous hat faux pas that this Princess has fallen foul of!)
Art & culture influences
You could see nods of the Princess’s love of the art world in a number of elements at the royal wedding including the green and blue sashes that the bridesmaids wore which incorporated the Mark Bradford artwork also in the Order or Service. Their sashes also brought together the outfit colours of Sarah Ferguson and Princess Beatrice.
Green also featured on the Bride’s Russian inspired tiara with emeralds, which was borrowed from the queen.
Additionally the jacquard print of the wedding dress, by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, contained symbolic emblems such as a thistle (to represent their love of Scotland) which was echoed in her bouquet; a shamrock (for the Ferguson family); a York rose; and trailing ivy (to symbolise their home) which she also carried in her bouquet.
The cut and style of the dress were elegant and simple with long sleeves, nipped in waist, full pleated skirt and a voluptuous long train. The beautiful portrait neckline, with a nearly off the shoulder look, provided a low back feature. Also with the decision to omit wearing a veil, the low back showed that the Princess was not afraid to her scars.
Seasonality
For me the star of the show was the flowers. Once again, I was blown away by the floral display up the steps and around the west door of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle where the royal wedding took place.
The theme of the wedding really celebrated nature and the season with leaves, berries, foliage and flowering branches foraged from Windsor Great Park. I love the immense autumnal vibe and the idea of using what nature has provided and going out to collect and bring back what you find. There were roses, hydrangeas, dahlias and berries in bright, bold oranges, pinks and purples. Plus those impressive liquid amber trees standing proud (albeit a little blowing in the wind) either side of the entrance.
The rich floral colours reminded me of a Wind in the Willows photo shoot that I did that encapsulated those deep autumnal colours.
Traditional versus modern
The wedding fell on the anniversary of the first Oktoberfest which originally celebrated a royal wedding in 1810. This wedding seamlessly blended traditional royal elements along with modern millennial thinking. It was a true celebration of the things and people that they love and wanted to be a part of their special day. As well as the pomp and ceremony of the ceremony, they had a two celebration with a festival and funfair themed party.
Their reading was far from traditional with an excerpt from The Great Gatsby and like so many brides nowadays, Eugenie chose not to obey her new husband.
It was good to learn that they had banned plastic from their wedding with the environment being a hot topic on everyone’s lips at the moment.
Plus they decided to shy away from tradition with their wedding cake, and enjoy a red velvet and chocolate wedding cake.
For me, Eugenie and Jack’s wedding conveyed some great messages: celebrating nature, embracing culture, thinking seasonally and considering the environment. Plus Princess Eugenie made a massive statement by not wearing a veil – to be proud of who you are and not to hide your scars.
When I was planning my own wedding, I had a vision that the church would be bursting to the rafters with copious amounts of flowers flowing from every flat surface. I wanted to go on one of our romantic country walks near where we lived and collect up armful after armful of beautiful cow parsley and adorn the church with swathes of the lovely white flowers. I wanted the feeling of a country day to be in abundance as the first impression for my guests. However, I had overlooked one very crucial fact (one which Dee McMeeking makes in her guest post this month). I got married in August and by the height of the summer there wouldn’t be any cow parsley gracing the lanes of the British countryside anymore. I had to rethink my plan and pick flowers that were in season at the time of my wedding. (Don’t worry my amazing florist made such great suggestions on flowers that the place looked amazing anyway!)
To help you start to choose your flowers, here’s a very brief guide to some of the most popular flowers and shrubs used at weddings and when they’re mainly in season in the UK (and therefore more readily available and at a more reasonable price):
SPRING
Apple Blossom
Azalea
Bluebell
Broom
Carnation
Cherry Blossom
Chrysanthemum
Clematis
Daffodil
Daisy
Forsythia
Freesia
Gladioli
Honeysuckle
Iris
Jasmine
Lilac
Lily
Orchid
Polyanthus
Rhododendron
Tulip
SUMMER
Aster
Azalea
Calla Lily
Carnation
Chrysanthemum
Cornflower
Daisy
Dahlia
Delphinium
Forget Me Not
Freesia
Fuchsia
Gerbera
Gladioli
Heather
Hollyhock
Hyacinth
Iris
Jasmine
Lavender
Lilac
Lily
Lily of the Valley
Lisianthus
Lupin
Marigold
Orchid
Peony
Rhododendron
Rose
Sunflower
Sweet Pea
Sweet William
Zinnia
AUTUMN
Chrysanthemum
Dahlia
Freesia
Gladioli
Gypsophila
Hydrangea
Iris
Lily
Lisianthus
Orchid
Rose
Sunflower
WINTER
Calla Lily
Carnation
Chrysanthemum
Forsythia
Freesia
Gerbera
Gypsophila
Iris
Lily
Lisianthus
Orchid
Rose
Snowdrop
This is by know means an exhaustive list but just a starting guide to begin thinking about what is available for your big day. Take a look at some other blog posts on colours, traditions and meaning of flowers at weddings.
The tradition of wedding flowers is steeped in symbolism and there’s lots to think about in terms of colours, meaning and seasonality.
Flowers have been a part of wedding traditions since at least Greek times when flowers would have been grouped together in a garland to be worn on the head and seen as a gift of nature. It would also contains strong smelling herbs such as garlic or chives to ward off evil spirits. In the Middle Ages, garlands were worn entwined with ears of wheat to symbolise fertility. And with the rarity of baths, the bouquets were a nice fragrant distraction from any other lingering smells!
Nowadays, wedding flowers can compliment and reflect the theme, style, colours, tone and surroundings of the day. You can include flowers in your bouquet, corsages, button holes, table decorations, flower walls, displays at venues or as confetti or petals sprinkled by the flower girls.
Flowers are a big focus in 2016 not only in the décor but with hair accessories and headwear. Plus a new trend of ring corsages is emerging and the use of wild flowers like daisies. It doesn’t all have to be about the flowers, as foliage will be as important or instead of flowers in displays. Alternatives to traditional flowers are seeing the use of succulents in bouquets, on tables and given away as favours. Plus instead of the usual confetti, there is now a herb toss as another option which gives such lovely aromas to this part of the day.
Then once you’ve finished with your bouquet (if you’ve not thrown it to your single friends), there’s also a lovely new trend emerging of the ‘lonely bouquet’ where you leave your bouquet in a public place, with a note for someone else to find – thus spreading smiles and the joy of flowers to others. (Google it, I’ve not made it up!)
We have asked the highly talented (and award winning) Dee McMeeking to help unravel some of the mysteries of picking the right flowers, at the right time of the year, for your special day.
Photo credits: peony bouquet by Dee McMeeking, Photograph thanks to Nick O’Keeffe Photography
It’s one of those questions a bride to be will always be asked – “what flowers are you having?” and I know for some of you that can be a scary question! If you are blessed to know your hypericum berries from your viburnum then you will not need to read any further. But if your floral knowledge is more daffodils and dandelions then here is my quick guide to things you need to know about seasonal wedding flowers.
1) Flowers are seasonal
In theory that means that you can’t have certain flowers at certain times of the year. Think of it like Cadbury’s crème eggs or Easter Eggs – you don’t find them easily in shops in August or December! Flowers are the same. So if you have set your heart on a bouquet of peonies and you are getting married in the UK in November you may struggle. I say ‘may’ because the majority of cut flowers we use here in the UK are imported and most flowers are in season and being grown somewhere in the world, but that will make them more expensive.
Top tip: There are a couple of great apps that can help you out here – Flowerwheel, or Flowerbook. Both allow you to see when flowers are in season and more importantly photos and colours! So if your answer to the “what flowers” question is pink and white flowers, you can take this a step further and get some ideas with super search functions by colour.
2) Flower prices vary during the year
Flowers are one of those products where the prices will vary, sometimes quite significantly, at different times of the year. It’s as much about supply and demand as it is about seasonality. There is one big hot spot in the year that I have to mention – Valentine’s Day! The price of red and pink roses can treble if not quadruple just for that week. But other flowers can be cheaper than normal – such as orchids – purely because everyone is buying red roses.
When something is in season, it is naturally growing at its peak, the price is lower. So if you work with seasonal flowers you can get more for your money.
3) Using local flowers can save you money
More and more brides are opting for an informal look with their wedding flowers. The country garden “just picked” look where your flowers look more natural and less structured. If this is your style then you can do your own wedding flowers – certainly for your wedding reception, you might want a bit of help for bouquets and button holes. There are UK based growers who will sell you seasonal flowers “by the bucket” you just pre-order them, collect them, and then display them in your own personal style. Buying direct from the grower will save you some money and you will have very fresh flowers, often picked that day. To find your local suppliers check out this sitehttp://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/
I mention this purely from an experience I had with a bride who was fixed on her colour scheme of navy and gold and her flowers HAD to match to these colours. Now even at the peak of any floral growing season you are not going to get gold flowers and navy is also a tricky one too! Especially if you are in February in the UK! So if you are getting married in Spring or Winter remember that you may have to compromise with your flower choices. My solution was to go neutral with the flowers – ivory, white and creams and then add her gold and navy in through adding details such as ribbons and containers. Sometimes you may just need to be a little creative with your colour scheme.
Here is how I would approach finding out what is in season for my wedding flowers. First of all start with your wedding date and figure out which season you are getting married in. Search for “wedding flowers in season UK” now the UK bit is important because if you stumble on an American wedding blog in your search results what’s in season there may not be accurate for you! You will be surprised how many great guides there are already out there on blogs (just like this blog- check out these posts on seasonality, colours, and meaning of wedding flowers). Then I would pick out a few of these flowers that I liked and pop straight over to Pinterest and create a wedding flowers board. Search for “wedding flowers with xyz flowers” and see what emerges. When you have some visuals and you know roughly what is available at that time of the year you have enough research to either take to a florist or to source the flowers yourself!
Happy planning!
Dee McMeeking is the designer (wedding planner, wedding stylist & floral designer) behind Dee McMeeking Wedding Styling, a wedding styling & floral design business based in Warwickshire, UK & Dublin, Ireland. If you’re a creative with lots of great wedding ideas but need some help to bring your unique style to life on your wedding day, then contact Dee today at weddings@deemcmeeking.com. Dee works with clients from anywhere in the world and is waiting to hear more about your wedding styling ideas.
Obviously, I love a good wedding and even more so a royal one. Well, if you wait longer enough then two come along at once and we’ve certainly been spoilt for royal weddings this year!
