Christmas is usually a magical time spent on eating and chatting with family. The members often exchange some gifts. Have you been maybe thinking about killing two birds with one stone and inviting your beloved ones for your wedding at that time?
Although couples mostly decide to get married during summer or eventually during Valentines, Christmas weddings are becoming more and more popular. The example can be the secret celebration of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth where the singer said final YES underneath a Christmas tree.
Is it difficult to book venues and services? Do the fiancees decide to have a typical Christmas ceremony or they take it just as a date in a calendar? What about the traditions when planners deal with international couples?
First of all, let’s read a bit about the experience of newly-weds.
Iwona and Adriana got married to their husbands during Christmas. Iwona said YES in Poland. Adriana’s wedding was in England. Where this unusual idea came from? Was it difficult to find a vacancy?
“I got married in December, 25th 2004 in the restaurant belonging to our mutual friends. The idea came from my husband because we liked to go there. We used to organize some parties there such as birthday, name-day, etc. The food there was always great and the restaurant had a unique design. There was no need to add any decorations. We also didn’t have any problems with booking our venue that time. ” - said Iwona.
Adriana has a little bit different, but also interesting, experience:
“I got married at the Church of England in December 23rd 2007. In the past, I used to joke, that I will get married in December afternoon. It was very difficult to find a last-minute venue or vacancy in church, that’s why I admit, we were very lucky. After the priest had confirmed the date, we had 10 days to organise everything starting from clothes, food, through inviting guests and finishing on travel tickets and restaurant booking. The most challenging was organizing the wedding cake. The wedding finally took place in the Jamaican restaurant, which, unfortunately, doesn’t exist anymore. The music there was a pop and R&B. The staff served English food with the admixture of traditional Guinean cuisine (the country my husband came from). ”
Christmas wedding is definitely a magical thing, but are there any cons as well?
Iwona certainly hit the spot with this choice: “It was a great idea to organize our wedding during Christmas. It was definitely unforgettable for all. Guests didn’t have problems with their days off and we managed to host 140 people. Our family always remembers about our anniversary. During Christmas dinner they mainly mention about our wedding. After 16 years we still love each other with my husband just like that day. Christmas is more festive thanks to this. I highly recommend it to everyone!”
Although Adriana generally likes the idea of “tie the knot” during holiday, her memories are much different than Iwona’s: “The good thing is, both church and restaurant were already decorated, so we didn’t have to spend additional money on that. Advent is also the period of sales, so we could find inexpensive clothes and food easily. However, beside the mentioned lack of vacancies, expensive flight tickets are a big minus. Not so many people came as it was a holiday time, but it was actually a plus for us.”
Although we could read about completely different opinions and experience regarding the same wedding type, there was one mutual thing here. Although in December we rather expect the snow, the weather during their D-Day was very warm, so both brides could wear the dresses without sleeves.
Are you dreaming about Christmas-themed wedding too? There are several agencies ready to assist you!
Vicki Squirell, “Tie the Knot” (Cyprus):
“Christmas / winter wedding is something we have only just started to promote so it’s currently new to us. But we hope that with Cyprus being an all year round destination that we can create some beautiful winter / Christmas / New Year weddings. We can’t be sure, how many guests will be present, but we expect smaller groups such as close family.
Cyprus has some stunning venues that can be used in the winter for us. Small boutique hotels are the main aim. Some of them are modern and some more traditional. We see a candlelight ceremony with an open fire traditional Christmas colours reds, greens, silver and gold. We can arrange a full-on party with DJ or a more relaxed for after-dinner drinks party or something more relaxed with maybe a sax player to set the mood with some Christmas Music… or and maybe a game of Mr & Mrs to see what the couple really do know about each other and some other organised party games to give the feel of a family party.
Regarding the food in Cyprus, the BBQ and Meze is very popular as they are served outside and in summer it’s so hot outside that a 3 or 5-course meal is not really suitable. However, for our winter weddings, the traditional Cyprus meze would be loved by the Cyprus families, or a 3 or 5-course meal are more suitable. With a Cyprus Meze typically there will be around 15-20 dishes. Generally, the meal begins with olives and various dips, such as yoghurt, Tahini (sesame seed dip), Skordalia (potato and garlic dip), Taramosalata (fish roe dip), and Tzatziki (cucumber and mint dip), all served with a basket of fresh bread and a bowl of crisp village salad. And then, you might enjoy more common dishes such as grilled Halloumi cheese and Lountza (cured pork loin), or more unusual selections such as wild asparagus and other greens cooked with eggs. If you are having a meat meze, then you can expect grilled meats such as pork chops and barbequed chicken and pork, alongside spicy Loukanika sausages, kleftiko and delicious stewed dishes such as Stifado and Tavas. For the set menus, we would still like to offer a taste of Cyprus such as kleftiko one of the classic dishes of slow-cooked lamb.
We are used to dealing with mixed nationalities and religions, so our chefs here are happy to accommodate any dietary requirements.”
Check the offer of this creative Wedding Planner here: https://www.wherewedding.co.uk/planners-celebrants/tie-the-knot-cyprus
Timea Varga-Kovacs, “HungarianWeddings.com” (Hungary):
“The wedding I planned was on 28 December 2019 in the Castle District of Budapest, Hungary. The bride was from the US with Iranian origins and the groom was a Hungarian living in the US, so it was a mix of the different traditions, but mainly in the American style. The bride’s dream was a Winter Wonderland themed wedding. She never wanted a summer wedding, since she says winter and Christmas is the most magical period of the year.
It wasn’t really hard to find venues and vendors, since it wasn’t the“strict” Christmas time, which is between 24-26 December here in Hungary. However, owing to the rich decoration ideas the couple had we had to exclude some venues (e.g. hotels) and we needed to change the plan the couple had before I stepped in.
We were hoping for snow, but it didn’t come. That winter was poor in snow here, it came only in March for 3-4 days.
I absolutely recommend the Christmas Wedding. It was very special to all of us. Everyone loved it. For the team, it was a bit hard to finalize everything until 20 December, when the“life stops” workwise. It took us a lot of effort, but it was absolutely worthy. It’s a nice memory for all of us forever. Even a Hungarian TV channel made a report about it! And the couple was so happy and grateful. :) The minus is the cold weather, of course. You cannot have any outdoor activity, so if someone insisting on this part, then wintertime is not ideal. However, we had a 2-minute sparkle send-off at midnight to finish the day and it was on the outdoor terrace of Fisherman’s Bastion. It was magical.”
Would you like to have a magical wedding in the castle as well? Check it out: http://hungarianweddings.com/
Nada Tizzano, “Belmare Weddings” (Italy):
“Sorrento is always beautiful. In winter it transforms and becomes welcoming. And although colours and scents change, its appeal remains unchanged: The blue of the sea takes on more intense shades lightened by the foam of the waves, the scent of lemons and oranges gives way to fresh and clear breezes that taste good and invigorate, and Christmas transforms the streets of the centre and fills them with lights, colours and traditional flavours.
There are plenty of fiancees who choose to get married during the Christmas period. Many of them are local couples, who during the tourist season can’t allow themselves a period of vacation because they are too busy at work. But more and more often we host also foreign couples, especially English and Austrian. They choose to spend Christmas in Italy and crown their dream of love here in Sorrento. Let's not forget that here the climate in mid-December is mild, so much so that it is still possible to organize a buffet of appetizers or the cutting of the cake outdoors, and moreover, guests and couples can enjoy a unique atmosphere. The city is beautiful with its Christmas decorations and it’s pleasant in the days before and after the wedding to stroll through the markets, attend the numerous concerts in the streets and all the initiatives organized by the municipality of the city to brighten up these festive days.
Among the most popular locations for winter weddings there is certainly the historic restaurant "O'Parrucchiano", located in the heart of the city. With its intimate and welcoming rooms, it’s ideal for gathering relatives and friends in a pleasant and elegant that always manages to create a real moment of familiarity and sharing between good food, fine wines and live Neapolitan music.
Surely the settings designed for this period help to create relaxing and joyful atmospheres, the shades of red, green and gold, emblematic colours of Christmas, create frames of great charm and put the accent on the spouses who dressed each other in white and black stand out in the environment, are visible from every angle and become the fulcrum of their day in all respects, catalysts of all attention.
But all this beauty could never be enough if it were not accompanied by good food, the prince of every banquet, which during the Christmas period is enriched and transforms wedding banquets into real feasts for the palate. Generally couples, both Italian and foreign, who choose to get married during Christmas, love to create menus that incorporate dishes of the renowned Italian cuisine, appreciated all over the world, with tastings of typical courses of the Campanian Christmas tradition, in particular, it is in great demand. enrich the dessert buffet with struffoli (delicious balls of anise-flavoured dough, fried in oil and then covered with hot honey and decorated with candied fruit and coloured sprinkles), Zeppole (fried doughnuts covered with honey, sweet sprinkles and peel of an orange) and mustaccioli (delicious biscuits covered with chocolate glaze). On the menus, Italian cuisine is always the host and almost no one gives up on pasta.
And then ... the wedding cake, a true work of art by our pastry chefs, who give life to real masterpieces, embellished with flowers, coloured ribbons and glitter, highly requested by the most "à la page" brides or customized for more gluttonous, very popular among foreign spouses is the “Delizia al Limone” wedding cake, a very delicate local dessert that wraps soft sponge cake with a very light lemon cream and then garnished with cream and candied cherries… believe me, it's delicious !!
Choosing this period to get married would make you think you are going to meet very high prices but in reality, it is not so, it’s super convenient! Even more as a Destination wedding: the price of flights is reasonably low and both the banquet and the hotel accommodation can be found at more attractive rates than during the summer.”
Wanna make your Italian dream come true? Check the package of “Belmare Weddings” here:
https://www.wherewedding.co.uk/planners-celebrants/belmare-weddings-events
Samantha Bottelier Events (France):
“Christmas weddings aren’t very popular, and I’m
very sad about it. But some people really love this season, because it’s less
touristic and every hotel has their kind of magic in December. Christmas time
is the most magical session of the year. Everywhere there are decorations and
lights in Paris. It’s just so wonderful for an intimate ceremony and couple
session. Couples are mostly from America & Asia and they are charmed by the
atmosphere.
The most popular is the micro wedding. Most of the time is between 10 to 30 guests or even just the two lovebirds. Christmas time is the time of giving and sharing. Most of my newly-weds are attracted by this environment and warm-hearted.
French food is, I believe, the best in the world. We serve famous oyster and the appetizers, fois gras and escargots, Coquille Saint Jacques… For the dinner, we serve my favourite turkey with chestnut and for the dessert the traditional «buche de noel» It's basically a rich chocolate cake wrapped up. So delicious… And obviously, no Christmas without champaign. We know that French food can be hard to try. But I try to convince my bride & groom to taste it. If the taste doesn’t suit them, we mix with the catering containing their Christmas food and French food.
At this time, the famous music is jazz mix of Christmas song for cocktail and reception and after for the dancing part it’s like New Year's song for dancing like “Dancing Queen”. The scenery of the reception and ceremony are a mix between Christmas decoration and wedding decoration. If your venue is already decked out for the season, you can save money for the decor. Just check before with the venue, the decorations that they are going to use to see if they are going to fit your expectations.
Festive decoration and little Christmassy details can really take a December wedding to the next level. For example, line the aisle with festive foliage like mistletoe for a truly magical ceremony entrance, decorate the fireplace for a perfect wintertime ceremony backdrop. Add some fresh Christmas trees to add a dose of magic. Lots of candle on the wedding table create a warm and welcoming vibe, with a green garland with some ornaments on the table with the colour of the wedding, to remind the theme of the bride and groom. The colour doesn’t have to be green or red, it can be pastel, gold and silver to bring a chic and timeless vibe to your wedding.”
Christmas Wedding in Paris sounds great for you? Check the offer here: https://www.wherewedding.co.uk/planners-celebrants/samantha-bottelier-events
Christmas Wedding in a Muslim country? Why not? :)
Eda Yılmaz is the planner and founder at “Porte Event Organization” agency in Istanbul. According to her, the couples who wish to get married during Christmas or New Year’s Eve in Turkey are mostly foreigners. However, she had an opportunity to serve the Turkish brides or grooms as well. Christmas time is something Turks are quite familiar with because the New Year is a big celebration there. You can associate it with the commercial side of Christmas because you can see many special decorations in public places and people give gifts to each other. You can read below, how Eda plans the wedding from A to Z in this special time.
“Turkey will do their best to host our guests in the most satisfying way. We have many venue options overlooking the Bosphorus, 5-star hotels included. Since our weddings during the New Year's are served usually for our foreign customers, 50 people around are hosted in a wedding and New Year dinner. In comparison, Turkish couples are able to invite even more than 200 guests.” - she said.
What makes Christmas or New Year atmosphere on the wedding? Does Eda have any special packages for December weddings? Let’s see!
“We don't usually work with packages. We create different and boutique concepts completely according to what the couple wants and to their imagination. When you enter the hall in winter and New Year weddings, we create a completely different environment that brings you to a different world.
To give an example to these, we create a lot of ideas such as winter, snowy scenery such as dry branches, cotton, artificial snow... or more colourful concepts with New Year's theme, warm weddings where reds and gold colours are more dominant. We create the whole organization from start to finish together, we guide you and decide with you about decoration, sound, light, music, photography, orchestra, entertainment.
Firstly, we help with decorations in the most appropriate way according to the customer's request and depending on the place. It’s very important, because every space has a different atmosphere and conditions, and we need to take this into consideration. Music is arranged in direct proportion to the wishes of the bride and groom, and then to the wishes of the families. We try to manage the D-Day in a way that makes everyone happy and entertained. Accordingly, we are planning the night with DJ, orchestra, different entertainment and dance groups.
Regarding food, we add some flavours that you’ll definitely associate with Christmas. We can offer a turkey for the main course and we definitely create the New Year's concept for desserts.”
You can ask more about weddings at the Bosphorus to Eda by entering this link:
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On the other hand, there are people who decided to say YES in a local way. Although Margaret got married in Tunisia during the Christmas Eve and it is possible to organize a typical winter celebration, she decided to organize her wedding in the Arabic style:
“We got married in 2014, in Tunisia, cause, considering visa procedures, it was simply easier for us. From 400 guests the majority was Tunisian, so the choice was obvious. Because I live in the UK, the groom took care of the whole organisation, such as venue, dress, decorations, beautician… Although traditional Tunisian weddings last the whole week, we shortened it to 3 days. The first-day women and man spend time in hammam separately. The bride is having the girly party where they dance and make traditional henna tattoos. The groom is shaved instead of being tattooed. In the second day, there was a ritual slaughter of cow and lamb – that’s the only thing I didn’t like there. Afterwards, the chefs served this meat with couscous. That day women and men were dancing and singing together in the accompany of an Arabic music band. The third day was the actual marriage vow where we signed the contract. After putting rings on our fingers, there was a mini photo-session and we went for our wedding with the convoy of honking cars. Pedestrians were stopping by and greeting us. Everyone must know, it’s our wedding! During the celebration, the couple is on the stage sitting on the chairs looking like thrones. Everyone was dancing and singing and we cut the cake at midnight. The whole hall was decorated by a planner who was directed by my husband. I wanted the wedding to be as Arabic as possible. It was cold, around 10 degrees. However, it was a much better option for me than the wedding in August where I would simply melt.”
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As we can see, weddings at Christmas aren’t just an inspiration from movies, but good wedding planners turn those dreams into reality. You just need to think about the preparation in advance, cause winter weddings are becoming more and more popular and it might be difficult to book the desired venue.
Although the main theme is the same, you could see that each celebration is unique and differs from each other: decorations, colours, cuisine, games. Why? Because each couple is different and the planners have various ideas.
WhereWedding team is thanking all the brides, planners and photographers for taking a part in writing this article. We’re wishing a wonderful Christmas and all the best in the New Year to all our readers. 🎄
Written by: Ilona Güllü
Starring:
Vicki
Squirell, “Tie
the Knot”
Timea Varga-Kovacs, “HungarianWeddings.com”
Nada Tizzano, “Belmare Weddings”
Samantha Bottelier Events
Eda Yılmaz, “Porte Event Organization”
Photographers:
© Daniel Karczag (main photo, view of Budapest and decorations)
© Nada Tizzano (main square of Sorrento)
