Winter wedding

The venue that I am booking (I think) is a barn but it is so cozy and not just a cold open space like you might imagine. It has a huge log fire and heated floors so will be nice and warm regardless of the outside weather I hope lol.

Yeah you're right we do need to please ourselves and not others, I'm just a major worrier and always worry what other people will think. The brolly idea is fab and very unique, I love things that are a bit quirky and different. We will definitley have our wellies at the ready too as the snow up here is crazy.

Oh they are gorgeous did you make them yourself?

I think I'm going to go for browns,golds and creams, this is my mood board which I'm working from.

I have seen these gorgeous pine cone decorations in Primark which were my inspiration behind the colours and would love them as centrepieces with a nice candle in the middle.

Nope I found a lady who decorated venues to supply them. Originally I spotted something else she did but then she created these and I was in love haha. You can easily diy winter weddings and I was going to but my career took a turn so whilst we were in the middle of planning i was manically working so we decided to ditch any diy as I just did t have the time! I would check with your venue about candles as our barn you can't use real candles in but some of the artificial ones can look great. I love your mood board it looks similar to my original one lol. Have you thought about cake too?

Ah great they are really lovely. I want to do a lot of diy stuff - not just to save money but I enjoy doing stuff like that, so hopefully I will have the time to. My venue does allow real candles so long as they are covered - so like the ones in my picture I assume.

For the cake I just want one of them naked cakes which are all the rage haha. But instead of strawberries etc I'm wanting more wintery fruits and berries - more for decoration than anything. Whats your cake like?

I would say early november (but be aware students, teacher, leacturers maybe in the middle of exams or preparing for exams) or february

January is a terrible month as everyone is broke from xmas and new year (plus it may just be my circle of friends but loads of people seem to have january birthdays)

I'm getting married in January... pretty much for that reason, love the venue but it's significantly cheaper in January.

No stress really. One of my bridesmaids is a teacher but I haven't asked her to do anything except try her dress on and come down to the South for my hen do. Not quite sure why it would be more or less stressful than any other time of the year? The only thing that it has affected is my RSVP date for the wedding is 1st December so they don't get caught up in the christmas post.

On the plus side, if it snows it will be beautiful photos, no need to wrry about whether it'll be sunny or raining.... can negotiate with suppliers as it's a quieter time for them. In January it's something to look forward after the rush of Christmas.

Forgot to say... 5th November is a saturday in 2016 so free fireworks!

I love naked cakes but my partners loves fruit cake so was anti them haha. We are having a cake in the UK for dessert and have chosen a cupcake cake with a fruit tier. The cupcakes are vanilla and lemon and the fruit cake has apple and cinnamon marzipan on it and the whole thing will be white and silver with a few snowflakes trailing down.

where is your venue if you don't mind me having a nosey?

I'm not expecting my bridesmaids to do a lot really as some of them have kids so I know they dont have loads of spare time to help me, but as long as they can make dress fittings and plan the hen do that will do me fine.

Snow would make beautiful photos though so I may have a look into the possibility of having January

Ah that sounds lovely, really wintery! I have all these plans but no doubt they will change as have literally only started planning.

My venue is Healey Barn in Northumberland, well its not actually booked yet haha but that is where I will be having once I can decide on a day/date.

Healey Barn looks lovely. Can imagine it decorated for a winter wedding. Stunning

Yeah it is really nice looks much better than the photos when your there. They usually have the reception in the courtyard which probably wont be an option in the winter but fingers crossed it will be dry atleast as there are fire pits to keep peoples hands warm lol

Love the little porchy bit with the fairy lights too.

The other thing I just thought is that if you give everyone plenty of notice (so assuming you are booking for at least the end of next year, early 2017) then no-one will have an excuse that they are skint. Send out the save the dates a year in advance, and give them any accommodation/travel info they might need...

We only set the date at the end of May and no-one has said they can't afford it, at the end of the day it's your wedding and most people will be there if they can. The only people that aren't coming are someone whose baby is due the week before, someone who has a prior commitment for something they can't get out of and a few people we invited to the evening who live quite far away - but even then, some guests are travelling 500 miles to attend the evening reception.

So, pick a date you really want... if people want to make it, they will find a way to be there.

Good luck whatever you decide

I'm going for end of 2017 so plenty of notice, and yeah your right if people have plenty of time it shouldn't be an issue. We do have a really close group of friends and know that unless they were taken hostage the night before they would definitley be there no matter what, and that will do for me! and anyone who isnt that close of a friend is only invited to the evening anyway so would only need to show their face if needs be.

Right its decided, and I'm going for it..... December 2017!!! ?

How exciting! ?️⭐️❤️?️⭐️❤️?️⭐️❤️

Yeah congratulations! Love winter weddings!

Hi Jadexlou, sorry I'm not sure how to reply quoting. Your Venue sounds beautiful, I'm sure it will be lovely, cosy and romantic in the winter. Even if the drinks reception is a bit chilly, it won't be for long and people can get snug inside again. Have you spoken to the venue about their winter weddings?

For our honeymoon, we are hoping to do a week in Maldives which is my choice, laying doing nothing and then a week in Cambodia and a week in Laos which is OH's choice ... so we need to start saving now! x

They haven't actually held any winter weddings yet as it only opened in June. I have arranged to go and see them set up for a wedding in December so I can get a feel for how it will be around the time of year that I am booking.

I'm going to provide a basket with blankets and gloves, similar to those that people have with flip flops in, so hopefully people can keep warm even just for the photos then we can head back indoors.

Oh wow that honeymoon sounds amazing! I can imagine it will cost a lot lol

Ooooh, is that the new barn conversion in Riding Mill by any chance?

That reminds me now, I shot a wedding last year in Feb and they had a basket of hand warmers for people to pick up on their way out, these---

Beautiful venue!! And congratulations on choosing a date! December is a fantastic month to get married even though I'm bias haha

yes that's the one!

ah thank you it is really nice and something a little different. Just need to get it booked now before I change my mind lol

Lush! We looked into that and if we had been getting married in 2016 could well have decided to book it ourselves, however the fact that we couldn't actually view it because it was just a building site when booking our venue last November made us err on the side of caution and book some where else instead. Quite envious ?

I certainly wouldn't have the balls to book somewhere that wasn't built so I don't blame you lol

Where did you book instead? Was it a similar type of venue? I didn't want to go too far as have elderly grandparents who aren't good with travelling, not to mention the unpredictable weather up this neck of the woods lol

No the venue we've chosen is totally different. It's the Gateshead Marriott hotel although we are getting married at my church so just having the wedding breakfast there. We didn't want the journey from the church to the venue to be more than 20/30 minutes, plus it needed to be quite a large venue to cater for up to 120 sit down guests so our choices were some what limited!!! There aren't a huge number of venues in this area. Have you looked any where else?

No the venue we've chosen is totally different. It's the Gateshead Marriott hotel although we are getting married at my church so just having the wedding breakfast there. We didn't want the journey from the church to the venue to be more than 20/30 minutes, plus it needed to be quite a large venue to cater for up to 120 sit down guests so our choices were some what limited!!! There aren't a huge number of venues in this area. Have you looked any where else?

Ah lovely is that the one near metro centre? I love it there

no haven't looked anywhere else yet... I love healey barn and I think it will just make things 10 x harder if I then decide I have 5 places that I like lol. I love doxford barn and there's a new one opening next year called le petit chateau but they are both a good hour away so not ideal really. I'm going to see the black horse at beamish next week and also matfen brewery but I know the black horse won't be big enough and matfen brewery isn't ideal for winter as its outdoor. But gunna go anyway and just see what I think. There isn't loads around here especially considering I'm fussy and don't want somewhere that one of my friends has got married!

Yes, it's the metro centre Marriott :-)

I like the black horse at Beamish but it wasn't big enough for our numbers. Have you looked at South Casey inn? It's lovely, would have considered it but OH sister got married there 2 years ago. Might be worth a look, the ceremony room is really nice. They seem to have quite a few wedding fairs there as well

Yeah it was too small for us too unless we had the whole thing in a marquee which i wasnt keen on. Yeah i love sputh causey but been to 3 weddings there already and got another coming up next year so wanted somewhere different. Im taking the OH along to healey barn next month to see what he thinka so hopefully if its a thumbs up from him we will be booking over xmas i think its definitley the one.