Christmas wedding - come and provide me with cheesy, OTT inspiration!

[ballinacup]

DP and I get married on the 7th December and I want our wedding to be a Christmassy extravaganza.

The budget is not huge but me and my lovely bridesmaids are ready to roll up our sleeves and make stuff ourselves/trawl the shops for christmassy bargains.

So come on, bombard me with ideas!

[HotelTangoFoxtrotUniform]

You can get big Ikea vases for not much money and fill them with cheapy baubles that match your colour scheme - I went to a Christmas wedding with those decorations and they were lovely! The bride had also glitter sprayed a million pine cones and we put them on all the window sills. Lots of candles too. Gorgeous.

[siblingrevelry]

I got married December 18th a few years ago - saved us a heap as the church and venue had Xmas decs up, so instantly everything looks cheery.

I bought a load of the little iced german/spiced star biscuits from a xmas market - although Im guessing Aldi will do them - which we had on trays as people arrived for pre-reception drinks (mulled wine).

I bought a pack of mirrored tiles from B&Q, and had a burgundy candle sat on one in the middle of each table, with a few decorative glass stones in clear & burgundy.

I've also been to Xmas weddings where people had baubles as place names (written on with glitter pen/permanent marker)

A Xmas themed £1 scratchcard for each guest instead of favours?

[ballinacup]

Ikea vases, german biscuits, mulled wine...

[Pootles2010]

Fake snow during first dance. Too much?

[Pootles2010]

You could take a leaf out of the poncey xmas thread and silver-spray paint dried Alliums? They're just drying out now in our garden so you'd need to get on this one a bit quicker.

[siblingrevelry]

Our first dance was to 'The power of love' (Frankie goes to Hollywood, not Jennifer Rush!).

Making me want to do it all again, I loved my Xmas wedding.

Even didn't mind spending £400 to hire a fur trimmed cape to wear on exiting the church.....and the holly/ivy/mistletoe and other greenery & berries looked gorgeous in the bouquets.

[ballinacup]

Yeah I've got a fur trimmed cape on order DM was trying to convince me to get a red one but I didn't fancy looking like Santa.

I would love fake snow but I think DP may draw the line in the sand right about there! I don't know if anyone I know has Alliums in the garden, but will have a look.

[NeverKnowinglyUnderstood]

my friend got married at Christmas a few years ago and she hired father christmas to come for an hour and hand out naughty and nice gifts (instead of favors) it was ace

[devonsmummy]

I had a Christmas wedding - 21st dec

We didn't do this but it would be a good idea to have tea / coffee/ hot choc served as guests arrive to reception (our were freezing after having pics done!)

Table decs were terracotta plant pots (aged) with candle, ivy & berries

I had ivy in my hair.

If your having little bridesmaids make sure they're well wrapped!

Our registry office & reception both had Xmas trees & decs do they saved us the effort / expense of loads of decorating.

How about Xmas crackers on tables (a way to break the ice between guests?)

[devonsmummy]

Oh & for CHEESE I walked in to mariah Carey's 'all I want for Christmas is you' !
We trawled through loads of cheesy Xmas songs

[VodIsGod]

We married on Dec 2nd. It got dark early and I have a happy memory of the restaurant where we had our reception being cosy and softly lit (fairy lights, log fires) and they had put up Christmas trees etc.

[VodIsGod]

Is it a church wedding btw? It's just we snuck in quickly at the start of the month as the church didn't allow flowers/decorations after the start of advent...

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

Fairy lights! Thousands of them!

I would have loved a Christmas wedding. Will keep thinking...

Siblingrevelry good idea - Asda do very good versions of lebkuchen (the little spiced biscuit/cake things) and they would be brilliant handed out with mulled wine.

[Wandastartup]

We had December 2nd too-it was sunny and snowy. Dark green velvet bridesmaid dressed and I had a cream velvet cape. Lots of dark red flowers and mulled wine. It was fab plus if the weather is nice it's a bonus unlike July weddings where it's gutting if it's bad. Probably outed myself here!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Ooooh my PFB DS birthday is Dec 7th.

You NEED The Pogues FairyTale of New York (not as your First Dance but somewhere). I was singing this in labour . Quite brilliantly IMO.

Candles. In tiny jars (out of reach) or floating in clear glass water bowls (IKEA do floaty candles and wide shallow bowls)

Or the battery TeaLights for safety?

Chocolate coins on the table?

Ivy on the table as a long 'runner'?

[thistlelicker]

Make salt dough decorations with name and date as keep sake?

[ilovevenice]

A friend of a friend had an empty Christmas tree at the reception entrance and asked all the guests to bring a bauble of their choice - they had someone putting them up and then kept them for all their future Christmases...

[thistlelicker]

If u have kids coming get shortbread in shapes of trees / Santa. Etc and let them decorate them with icing an balls and the like

[fackinell]

Ooooh marking place as want a Christmas wedding next year!! Shall try and think of some ideas.

[thistlelicker]

What about having the ikea vases but having hand picked holly and berries as
Centre pieces?


Sorry I can't sleep!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I've got an M&S fur trimmed cape .
Not any help but I thought I'd throw it into the mix.

It's black though.
Do I get a Save the Day Card? (So that I can decorate but not get invited)

[siblingrevelry]

If you or any mates are computer savvy, how about making a Xmas CD for each guest?

You could do a selection of about 10 Xmas songs (even better if they're going to be played at your reception or service - either your fave xmas hymns, or modern xmas classics), print out the sleeves to coordinate with the theme, or even just with your initials & the date in red/gold/green lettering. Every time they play it over the following weeks they'll think of you - then it will probably come out with the decorations every year and serve as a lasting reminder of you and your special day.

[ballinacup]

Some amazing ideas on here, I don't know how I'm going to choose.

The church have said no flowers etc, but there'll be lots of candles. It's a Saxon church and very, very beautiful so no doubt it will look lovely regardless.

I had thought about mulled wine at the reception but hadn't thought about tea/coffee/hot choc for the non-alcohol drinkers so thanks for that suggestion.

For favours/place markers I was thinking little jam jars filled with sweets with a christmas ribbon bow and big gift tag with the guest's name.

[trice]

I had a christmas wedding, midwinters day. As others have said the venue was already decorated which saved us a fortune. We got some lovely photos as it snowed.

We had sparklers. And honeymooned in skis.

[TheSlug]

I had a Christmas wedding, 21st December. It was beautiful and everyone loved it. We had Christmas carols in the church before I arrived, My bms were in deep berry red, with furry white stoles, at the reception we had hot choc and mulled wine as welcome drinks, with mince pies and roasted chestnuts as appetisers. lots of Christmas songs all through the day. our first dance was to Mariah Carey's 'All I want...' Bit cringey, but we couldn't decide so just went with it.
our centrepieces were small Christmas trees (45cms high) with teeny tiny fairy lights. they were on gold plates with fake diamonds sprinkled round. On the tables we had Christmas crackers and candy canes, and mini home made fruit liqueurs. all the children got presents of things like comic books, playing cards and toys to keep them entertained at the table. We also had photo baubles made and hung them all on a tree for guests to take away as favours. Instead of a guestbook we had a medium sized Christmas tree with sparkly, round red gift tags for people to write on and hang on the tree. We also had tins of Quality street for people to have with their coffees after dinner.

the only thing we didn't have was a Christmas meal- we had sausage and mash :) (completely outs self)