Christmas Eve wedding

[RRK593]

Has anyone got married on Christmas Eve? My partner and I are in the very early stages of planning our wedding and we’re not sure on what we want at all at the moment!

The one thing we do know is that we want a smaller wedding (I hate the family politics of pleasing everyone!) so I think it will just be us, our two children and immediate family. (14 total)

We got engaged on Christmas Eve last year and love the idea of a small Christmas Eve wedding, maybe in the afternoon as it starts to get dark with lots of candles and a nice meal. Though the logistics of it might be a little tricky! (Sorting the children’s presents for the next day/ everything that comes the day after a wedding being on Christmas Day) or even if places cater for weddings on Christmas Eve.

Has anyone done this and can share how their special day went?

thanks! :)

Personal i wouldn't go to an Xmas eve wedding as its family time. But if its just close family you might be OK!

I'm not sure many venues would have weddings on Xmas eve though....

I would absolutely hate to be a guest at a Christmas Eve wedding.

I haven't and wouldn't get married on that day - I just think it's a busy day for so many, I don't even think you would get the service you would expect from hairdressers/beauty/venue as you would a little bit earlier in the month! I work in travel and it would have been impossible for me to attend anyone's wedding on Christmas Eve. Each to their own I suppose!

As a guest, I'd really hate a Christmas eve wedding.

It's such a special family time and most people have customary things they do at home. Plus it potentially impacts everyone's Christmas day. Not good.

I wouldn't go to a wedding on Christmas Eve, it would just make Christmas unnecessarily stressful. Maybe consider another date close to Christmas, e.g. the 21st?

I attended a wedding on the 23rd December and to be honest it was a nightmare.

Everyone is busy and has Christmas prep to do. Christmas Eve I’d have just refused the invite.

Why not Between Christmas and New Year? That dead time around 28th/29th? Much more time friendly for most.

I would love this, But it's only going to be us and our children.
I wouldn't go to a Christmas Eve wedding unless it was very nearby, very short time-wise and very close friends/family.

I'd have to decline unless it was my child getting married and even then I'd try and get them to change the date.

I’d decline a Christmas Eve wedding invite.

As a guest I'd politely decline an invite to a Christmas Eve wedding (full day or evening reception). However, if you moved it by 1 week, you'd have a New Year's Eve wedding and that I would attend without a shadow of a doubt!

In theory it sounds lovely and romantic. In reality, I think it's just not practical. If you've got your heart set on a 'Christmas' wedding how about something in the middle of December - would still be a lovely cosy affair?

We considers this then thought it through and realised it was actually a bit selfish. There's so much to do on Xmas Eve, and that wouldn't go away, people would just have to do it around your wedding, and would be stressed as hell.

No. Christmas Eve is an immediate family only thing. We have our family traditions and I'd be really annoyed to get an invitation to a wedding that I'm obliged to attend.

Also it's a busy enough time without adding a wedding into it. People will hate you.

The most memorable and super fun New Year's Eves I have had was at a wedding. Xmas eve would be a nightmare.

I compromised with my DH who wanted a Christmas wedding, we got married on the winter solstice 21st December. It was perfect!

I'd have to decline unless it was my child getting married and even then I'd try and get them to change the date.

^I would be the same. Really OP out of all the dates in the year and the best you can come up with is Christmas Eve????

Please don't do this. Even you will find it super stressful.

If something goes wrong on the day, or the days before- you won't be able to get it sorted .

It's a major stress for lots of people.

I think it's a bit selfish to highjack your family's Xmas Eve.

To me Christmas Eve is the best day if the year and I like to spend it at home doing festive things. I would be bloody annoyed and only come if I felt I had to.

Anyway, how about between Christmas and New Year? This can be a bit of a dead time in need of something fun to do. I may feel differently when I have no children at home.

Ahh I guess the general consensus is that it’s not a great idea - though just to clear a few things up it would literally be us, our children, our parents, my brother sister and nephew and my OH two brothers and one wife. We all live within 5 mins of each other and will all spend xmas eve/Xmas day together.

Bit reading through all your wise concerns I am slightly rethinking - the other option which we would also entertain would be just us and the children but we would still need witnesses which would still be tricky on xmas eve and the issue of the venue.

@DandelionPocket is right, a romantic idea… probably a bit hard to do in reality? 😣

No way, how to stress you and everyone else out. Sounds romantic, would be an utter palaver. Have it in january to cheer yourselves up after Christmas.

The idea of Christmas Eve was the anniversary of the engagement really. Would be happy to do it just us and the children but I think that would be equally as tricky!

I'd love it! Something different on Xmas eve, but I'd want an xmassy feeling themed wedding.

we didn’t have a Christmas Eve wedding, but we did have a similarly sized family wedding in December.

i think the key here is 14 people.

How does this fit into their lives and normal holiday plans? If it works for those people, then proceed to step 2.

Pulling off a wedding on Christmas Eve is going to be tricky, but if it’s this small, I’m guessing what you are really planning is a ceremony and a really nice family meal? Your going to face stiff competition for private rooms in restaurants or for caterers if you want to host at home, but it’s not impossible.

florists for this size of event actually aren’t that complicated. We didn’t need that much so we were able to get into a schedule of a nice florist pretty easily. We did several very small table arrangements because they were easy for them to transport and deliver and our venue staff, a restaurant, could do the setup. The only thing we went really wedding heavy on was the bouquet. You will likely pay a huge premium for delivery on the 24th. The problem with delivery on the 23rd will be that things won’t be as crisp and you won’t have proper storage facilities.

I’m into paper crafting and one of my hobbies is paper flowers. If I were doing a Christmas Eve wedding, I would probably skip the florist and make everything myself way in advance. I kind of wanted to do this for our wedding, but we were holding it in my husband’s parents town, not where he and I lived, so it wasn’t practical. Instead, I only made hand sculpted flowers for the wedding invitations and mailed them out in boxes. That is the sort of thing you can get away with when you have an extremely small wedding.

We didn’t have a band or Dj because we were just doing the nice meal

i did my own hair and makeup because that was my preference. That approach would make things easier.

I would guess your biggest barrier will be a photographer. Lots of people are tempted to skip this, but it’s the one thing I wouldn’t skip if you have the budget.

if you do a Christmas Eve wedding (or a Christmas adjacent wedding) you have to give Christmas baubles as favors. It’s a Christmas law. It’s written in the fine print up at the North Pole.

I think it sounds lovely! I guess run it past your family to check they are happy with it, just in case they react like this lot on here 😂I'd certainly go to a close friend or family member's wedding on Christmas Eve!