Winter Wedding Planning Tips
As we’ve wrapped up our winter wedding season, we thought we’d share a few tips for brides planning a 2017 winter wedding and why this season can be beneficial for the couple!
Though winter weddings aren’t as popular as their warmer season counterparts, winter weddings can still be supremely romantic and capture enchanting wedding photos.
- Better rates: Since there’s less competition for your desired dates, most vendors have lower pricing in the colder seasons. Winter weddings are a specialty of ours but we also offer special discounts for couples and their guests when it comes to lodging and coordination.
- Fewer flowers: A surprising factor of winter weddings is the limited availability of certain flowers that aren’t in season. That’s definitely not to say there aren’t beautiful arrangements in winter to complement your wedding colors, just be prepared that a certain bouquet you’ve seen in summer weddings might not be available or could have a hefty price tag. Also, for weddings in February you could see a spike in costs for roses as demand rises around Valentine’s Day!
- Watch the weather: We’ve seen many couple embrace the falling snow and not let the weather interfere on their big day. A real life snow globe provides an amazing setting to say “I do”. If you don’t want to brave the elements, the lodge has plenty of room for an indoor ceremony. Roads are well maintained, so you don’t have to worry about your guests making it to your destination wedding.
- Prepare for a smaller guest count: For couples that don’t mind the snow or chilly temps, a winter wedding is the way to go, but cooler weather may not be ideal for some people on your guest list. You may receive more regretful declines than you were expecting from guests that can’t travel as far in inclement weather or older guests that can’t be outdoors too long. If you are having an outdoor ceremony, please inform your guests on the invitation and to wear appropriate footwear for snow.
- Give time between holidays: It sounds fun to plan a wedding around the holidays when you know your family will be getting together anyway but give your guests some downtime between the major holidays and your wedding. Your guests will appreciate the time and not having to request too much time off of work for family commitments.
- Dress warmly: As bridal gowns are already long and flowy, feel free to add a warmer layer of tights to keep you from shivering down the aisle! Your bridesmaids may appreciate the idea as well so choose longer bridesmaid dress styles for them or add cute coats or wraps to the dress code.
- Adjust the ceremony schedule: We all know how early it gets dark in winter so you’ll want to plan ahead with your photographer and your ceremony start time to accommodate the early setting sun. An after-dark reception is no problem and can be made even more romantic with soft lighting or candles.
- Provide warm cocktails: In addition to traditional cocktails available to your guests between the ceremony and reception, try offering some warm options like hot chocolate or Irish coffees to keep your guests cozy and happy.
We truly do love hosting winter weddings on Priest Lake and hope these tips give you some insight and creative ideas for your wedding!
We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind any brides that we do have 2016 availability still for June 11, September 24 and a few dates in October. Please fill out our request form for more information about having your wedding at Elkins Resort!
