December wedding

whatlliwear

What are people thoughts on a wedding mid December?
Are they inconvenient to guests... Even though it would be really atmospherice and festive..

Uriel.

Providing people have decent notice I don't see the problem. I have two weddings this December (both family members) and I'm really looking forward to both, especially as the first one is a "winter wonderland" theme. I love Christmas time of year anyway so it just adds to the atmosphere.

Obviously around Christmas time budgets are tighter and people are trying to manage expenditure etc but like i said once people can plan in advance there's no issue.

If you prefer a December wedding, that's the main thing really.

irelandrover

It depends on the circumstances. If you have people travelling from abroad then they may have to make a choice of coming home for christmas or coming home for your wedding. I know that would be the situation in my case as i couldnt take so much time off over the christmas period.

If everyone is local then it might not be such a big issue, although funds are tight around christmas time.

Bacchus

whatlliwear wrote: »

What are people thoughts on a wedding mid December?
Are they inconvenient to guests... Even though it would be really atmospherice and festive..

You could argue that regardless of the time of year, weddings are going to be an inconvenience to some guests. Winter/December brings a few extra considerations to the table...
- The weather: Floods, ice or snow could prevent some people from travelling (yes, this happens). I was at a December wedding once where the pipes burst and the hotel had no water. Fortunately, December is usually mild enough and it's Jan/Feb that gets the worst weather.

- Christmas: This is a pro and a con.... Pro: Everyone is a Christmas party mood, the fires are roaring, mulled wine is out, venue has a big Christmas tree, it's nice to have something to look forward to (aside from Christmas) in the depths of winter. Con: It's an expensive time of year (be conscious of that with your venue - what are the room rates). Some people may be put out by impacts on their work parties or meetups with friends. People are flat out busy getting ready for Christmas and a wedding consumes one of their valuable weekends. People may have to take time off work to travel at a time of year when people really don't have days left to take (I would avoid a Thursday/Friday wedding in December).

- Light: Not really an issue for your guests, but if you want some bridal photos and photos of you and your partner, you have less daylight to work with and will be under a bit of pressure to get them done before the sun dips.

At the end of the day though, it's your day and there is something special about a wedding around Christmas. Ok, you might find that a few people can't make it but that happens no matter the time of year and the people that do make will be in great holiday spirit. Just be prepared that the weather may not go your way. If you can live with that then that's the biggest hurdle crossed.

mcgiggles

Like a wedding at any other time of the year, people will make the effort if they want to be there! We're having ours the day before New Years. Our friends living abroad can come home for Christmas with their families then spend New Years with us (if they so choose). We both love Christmas and couldn't think of any other time of the year we'd prefer to get married.
You're not depending on the weather to be good, if you get a dry day - bonus! I've been to numerous May weddings where is p*ssed out of the heavens! Hotel/ Church will likely be mostly decorated anyways which is a win! The lack of daylight for photos issue, have the ceremony a little bit earlier and go straight for photos, or photos at sunset/ dusk would look awesome also. Costs-wise - book it well in advance (which I would advise anyways, we booked ours 2 years in advance and some of the dates were gone already!) and agree a price with the hotel for the wedding rate. Chances are the price you will be given when you book will be a good bit cheaper than when the time comes around!

Bacchus

mcgiggles wrote: »

You're not depending on the weather to be good, if you get a dry day - bonus! I've been to numerous May weddings where is p*ssed out of the heavens!

While that is totally true (this is Ireland we're talking about), the severity of the weather in winter brings additional challenges in terms of travel. As I said in my previous post though, the worst of the weather is usually Jan/Feb.

mcgiggles wrote: »

Costs-wise - book it well in advance (which I would advise anyways, we booked ours 2 years in advance and some of the dates were gone already!)

That probably applies more to the dates actually over the Christmas holidays (as you have). It's a peak time to get married. The OP is looking at mid-December so it might not be as busy... still no point waiting around to get enquiring OP

The Cool

Totally agree that the right people will still make your wedding a priority, as long as you give them the notice to plan for it. Christmas weddings can be lovely, particularly if you have a venue that's nice inside. I was at a Friday wedding last December and it was a fabulous day. It was really stormy so there were no outside photos but the venue was a castle so the couple got plenty of gorgeous photos inside anyway, the rain was battering against the windows and there were roaring open fires in every room, and everyone was dressed up in Christmas party gear so all in all it was very glamourous!
The only downside for us was that there was bad flooding overnight after the wedding so we weren't able to go to the day-after party, but I think the couple were happy enough having just their families there for that, as it turned out.
One thing to bear in mind is where in your venue you might get some good photos, and when looking for a photographer make sure they're good with handling light in dark settings - that couple in particular were disappointed with lots of their photos for that reason.
Hope that helps you at all!