Planning a rustic winter wedding

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Planning a rustic winter wedding brings out the beauty for your special day

Winter weddings are unique affairs which say a lot about the couple who sets their date during nature’s coldest season. If you and yours are going for a rustic setting, the natural beauty of winter is the perfect time to show that your love and dedication to each other will weather any storm.

Location and Palette

When deciding on the location for your winter wedding, consider the weather. If you choose a place where snow and ice are sure to be present, you can bring that beauty inside without suffering frostbite.

For minimal d?cor, try selecting an indoor structure with ample windows, such as this glass chapel, letting nature be your backdrop. Consider, also, holding your ceremonies in a hunting lodge or cabin (something big enough for you and all your guests). If you are getting married in a place with warmer climes, where the possibilities of subzero temperatures are next to nil, you can move the wedding outside, taking advantage of both the starkness of the barren trees and the ability to have that first marital kiss without your lips freezing together.

Colors for a winter wedding vary, from a blue and silver ice dream to the pine green and berry red of a winter holiday that will last a lifetime. You can also choose log cabin colors and textures in wood browns and evergreens.

Gussy It Up

Once you’ve chosen location and colors, it’s time to envision the d?cor. Even if you are getting married outside or in a location which requires little embellishment to make it beautiful, you still want to do it up with a few well placed visual markers to show that this is your wedding–your place, your time.

The officiator’s podium and the marital archway can be made of rough-hewn wood. A metal archway can be embellished with evergreen branches, berries, or woven wooden grapevine. Border your aisle with rough cut logs which still have their bark, and appropriately colored flowers. Hang evergreen sprays, bundles of mistletoe, or simple pine or vine-woven wreaths around your sacred space.

If going for that winter wonderland look, lay a snow-white runner down the aisle. You can hang silver bells at the end of each pew or row of chairs, and pull in branches of blue spruce or juniper beset with its signature blue berries to add a natural element.

Incorporating old traditions keeps the ceremonies interesting, fun, and down to earth. Find an old straw broom for broom-jumping. Build a bonfire. Hire an acoustic band or enlist family members to play, if they are a musical bunch. Hold a barn dance. If your wedding has a Celtic flair, have a piper lead the bride down the aisle.

Hello, Goodbye

Choosing the right wedding invitations will let your guests know what sort of celebration this promises to be. Remember to include the sort of dress you expect your guests to wear, be it formal, casual, or mandatory blue jeans and boots. If the ceremonies are in a remote location, it’s also good to enclose driving directions and a contact number in case a guest gets lost.

Wedding favors leave your guests with a little piece of your moment together. Show your appreciation with something different and memorable, like small gift baskets with seasonal fruit and nuts. You can also send your guests away with tiny tree seedlings wrapped in burlap, which they can plant when weather permits, or seeds which can sit unattended until spring. You can also give out local bottles of wine or other handmade items which come from the location of your special day.

However you choose to put it together, whatever the theme, whatever the colors, a rustic wedding is the perfect way to express what is uniquely you.