Plan a Christmas Wedding
December 18, 2009
Christmas is an ideal time of year to plan a wedding. Spirits are high and everyone seems to be in a festive and happy mood already, and your event will only add to those good feelings. Christmas weddings are especially easy to set the mood for with many of your decorations already a part of most venues’ décor. Celebrate the romance of winter by planning your own Christmas wedding.
Most people who want a Christmas wedding don’t schedule it for Christmas day. Your friends and even family will want to spend the day with their loved ones, opening presents and cooking a big Christmas dinner. Instead, plan for any weekend in December, but set it as soon as possible because Christmas weddings are popular and the venue of your choice may book up early.
When visiting a possible location for your wedding, keep in mind if you are planning early, they aren’t going to have their Christmas decorations up. Ask to see photographs of their venue during the holidays so that you know what to expect. Be sure that these decorations aren’t going to clash with other ideas that you may have of your own.
Christmas weddings are filled with many options for colors including deep reds, greens, gold, silver, white and even black. You can even decide to go for a winter white wedding and stick with silver and white only. Play around with ribbons and papers that feature these colors until you come up with a wedding color scheme that you are happy with. All of these color choices will be mixed throughout your wedding décor, attire and stationery.
Your wedding invitations can be a simple and classic wedding invitation or you can have a little fun with it by customizing your own Christmas themed wedding invitation. Instead of sending flat card invites, you could send out mini Christmas presents with your invite packaged inside. You could also send out rolled up scrolls tied with a silver ribbon and a snowflake hanging off the ribbon.
To keep your wedding from becoming too busy with Christmas colors and décor, keep your wedding attire for your bridal party simple. Choosing a simple black dress for your bride’s maids and use accessories such as colored ribbons in their hair or placing snowflakes and bells within their bouquet are great ways to add just a touch of Christmas to the wedding. For the bride consider wearing a white cape or white muff as you walk down the aisle.
Many couples offer some sort of “confetti” type product to throw on the couple as they exit the church after the wedding. Instead of the traditional colored confetti, bubbles or bird seed throw snowflakes! You can purchase snowflake shaped confetti in white and silver from many craft stores or you can order it online. Place a little of the snowflake mix inside some white tulle rounds and closed up with silver ribbon and you have the perfect exit!
Remember that your venue may have Christmas decorations already up, but you may wish to add your own touches to go along with it. If your venue doesn’t have a Christmas tree on display, you may wish to provide your own and decorate it using ornaments that blend in with your wedding color scheme. If you aren’t able to have a tree at the wedding, consider adding one at your reception. Have your guests place their wedding gifts under the Christmas tree instead of on the standard gift table.
When planning the music to be played during your ceremony and reception consider classic piano arrangements of popular Christmas songs. This will keep a romantic and classic mood throughout the wedding but remind everyone of the wonderful holiday spirit you are all sharing. If you can arrange it, you may also start your reception off with a small children’s choir singing Christmas carols while you and your guests eat.
The arrangements for your Christmas wedding can also be designed in a way that adds a natural and warm feeling of Christmas to the day. Candlelight weddings can add a touch of elegance and give a soft romantic glow on a wintery evening. Instead of large and expensive floral arrangements, consider placing poinsettias around the room with pots in the color of your theme. You can replace expensive wedding favors for your guests with miniature wreaths at each place setting. Bring the Christmas decorations even further by replacing large floral center pieces with small pine trees decorated with lights and miniature ornaments that match your décor.
Don’t let your wedding cake miss out on the Christmas festivities either! Wedding cakes have come a long way and can be made to look like just about anything. You can go as simple as a lovely white cake tower wrapped in red sheer ribbons or as fun as a cake that is shaped to look like a stack of Christmas presents, with ribbons and bows as part of the decoration. Another popular treat to have at your wedding is a fully decorated and edible gingerbread house. If you are having kids at your wedding, this will be especially popular with them.
TIPS:
Many people plan Christmas parties of their own, so you may want to send out your wedding invitations much earlier than you normally would for a wedding at another time of year.
If you plan your wedding far enough ahead, shop at the day after Christmas sales to pick up Christmas decorations at a discount to use for your wedding the following year.
Write Your Engagement Announcement
December 18, 2009
Announcing to the world that you are engaged is an exciting part of getting married and shares with your community your happy news. Writing an engagement announcement doesn’t have to be difficult and is something you can definitely do yourself. Follow these simple steps and your engagement announcement will be ready for the papers in no time!
Most wedding announcements are written as if coming from the brides family, although sometimes the couple does the announcement coming from themselves as well.
If you are looking for a longer announcement you will need to gather information from both the bride and the groom such as their parents names and hometowns, where the couple is from as well as careers and education. You can also choose to include the actual or approximate wedding date. Many newspapers will provide you with a standard template or a form to fill out information or you can start with the following template when writing your own:
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith are happy to announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss Jane Smith, to Mr. John Doe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Doe. A January 31st wedding is planned at the Church of Our Lady in Our City, State.”
Be considerate of your own special circumstances when parents are concerned.
If the parents are divorced:
(Bride’s mother) is pleased to announce the engagement of her daughter…
(Bride’s mother) and (Bride’s Step Father) are pleased to announce the engagement of (Bride’s mother) daughter…
(Bride) is also the daughter of (Bride’s father)….
If one parent is deceased:
The engagement of (Bride), daughter of (Bride’s mother) and the late (Bride’s father), to (Groom)…
There are other circumstances to be aware of and must be addressed for your family individually.
You may wish to have an engagement portrait done by a professional photographer or find your favorite snapshot of you and your fiancé to include with your announcement. Check with the publications you will be publishing your announcement in to find out size specifications and if it can be color or black and white.
Most announcements are typically placed in the newspapers of the hometowns of the bride, groom and their parents two to three months prior to the wedding date.
Plan Your Wedding Now!
December 18, 2009
Welcome to the brand new website “Plan Your Wedding Now”. Having been a bride myself, and as a prior wedding photographer I have attended HUNDREDS of weddings and love to plan ideas for weddings. No, I’m not a wedding coordinator but I have seen a lot of great ideas, talked with many brides and I truly love weddings. Hopefully as this blog grows, you will be able to find at least one helpful idea to help you plan your perfect wedding! If you have any comments or feedback or if you would like to write a post on this blog with your own wedding idea, please leave me a comment on any post, because I read them all!