As we head into the early days of autumn here in Australia,
I thought it might be timely to write about cool weather weddings. Many brides
are hesitant to marry during the colder months of the year, but an autumn or winter
wedding can be so beautifully romantic, with an atmosphere that just can’t be
recreated in warmer weather. How do I know? I got married in Melbourne in July!
We hadn’t originally planned to marry at that time of year,
but things just fell into place that way; we knew our honeymoon destination of
the Cook Islands would have excellent weather at that time of year (and it
did!), the venue that we fell in love with had limited availability outside of
that time period and best of all, it fit in with the general busyness of our
lives. I was teaching at the time, so the three week mid-semester break in July
worked well in terms of time off from school.
I did have a few concerns about our winter wedding and most
of my anxiety was about the comfort of our guests, and their potential
unwillingness to suffer the frosty weather in attending our day. Most of my
relatives are from Queensland, so these concerns were real, and it was
important to me that people weren’t put off by the season. I decided to openly
acknowledge the fact that it would be cold, and so I just went with a winter
white theme in my planning, and warned my guests that it would be chilly. Our
cake gives a pretty good indication of the styling of the day – lots of crisp and snowy white,
flowers, and a recurring ‘snowflake’ design that we used not only on our cake,
but also on our invitations, place cards and orders of service.
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| The 'frosty' icing on our deliciously decadent cake, by Splendid Servings, Melbourne |
We had lots of
fun with the whole winter theming! I also chose venues that were more suited to
the season – our reception venue was decorated in a very warm and inviting
style, perfect for our cosy guest list of 35 people, and we also
decided upon a church wedding ceremony, rather than a garden ceremony.
I have heard of brides who do choose to go the outdoors
ceremony route who offer complimentary throws and pashminas for their guests
and I think this is wonderful idea. It would really make me feel all warm and
fuzzy on the inside as well as on the outside to know that the couple had
thought of my comfort and offered me a snuggly pashmina as I arrived at the ceremony!
If the venue permitted, you could also go crazy with braziers, candles and
fairy lights to create a bit of winter romance in an outdoor reception venue.
There are a few other considerations that a bride should
think about when planning a wedding outside of the ‘prime’ wedding season. It
is really, really vital to remember that you will most likely be having
photographs taken outside for at least some of the time. I purchased some
gorgeous faux fur stoles for my girls and I had my own snow white wrap as well
(and a muff! Ok, it probably was overkill but I absolutely loved it and it
looked fantastic!). I think all three of us were very pleased to have those to
snuggle into when the chilly winds threatened to cut through to the bone. In
retrospect, dealing with the cold weather during the photography was probably
the only part of having a winter wedding that I really regret and I was certain
that our photos would show us with forced smiles and goosebumps in some of the
pictures, but thankfully that didn’t happen! The biggest benefit of the winter
setting for our photography is that we ended up with some truly striking
photographs, due in part to the softer light and also because the trees were so
stunning without their leaves on.
Check out some of our ideas for a beautiful autumn wedding in this week's featured treasury, A Woodland Wedding.
'Woodland Wedding' by WhitePoppyBridal
 Classic Box - DIY Weddi... $12.50 |  Handmade pop-up book st... $125.00 |
 100 Personalized SAVE T... $85.00 |  Deposit on a spring flo... $175.00 |
 Wild Garden Dress, One ... $1800.00 |  Woodland Needle Felted ... $52.00 |
 ANNA Handmade earthy f... $48.95 |  Sunflower Table Number ... $2.25 |
 Lace Flower Girl Dress ... $185.00 |  14k Palladium White Gol... $1505.00 |
 Orchids & Moss Vine Pom... $29.95 |  Wedding Place Cards, Ye... $30.00 |
 Ring Bearer Pillow Nest... $24.00 |  Men's Beach Wedding... $15.00 |
 Sample Woodland Rustic ... $5.00 |  Just Married Banner $13.00 |
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