Seasonal Wedding Themes
A couple's preference for setting their wedding date might be dependent on a favourite time of year or season. Perhaps you are dreaming of a white winter wedding in the snow, or a bright and sunny ceremony on the sand.
Once you have decided on the when, it makes perfect sense to design your wedding theme to suit your personalities and the time of year! Here are a few tips for your favourite wedding season;
Summer Wedding Ideas
Summer is the most popular season for a wedding, when the sun is shining and the weather is beautiful! Make sure that you book your venue well in advance to avoid any 'Bride Wars' style shenanigans!
For a relaxed and casual style beach wedding, choose a long flowing sun dress, kick off your heels and go naturally barefoot to your ceremony. Make sure that your invite states that 'thongs' and sandals are welcome and that you have plenty of water bottles in an ice filled bucket on hand at your hot beach location.
Provide some sun shades for your guests - grab individual umbrellas or parasols, these are available in a wide range of colours so you should be able to find something to match in with your colour scheme.
Make sure that you wear a foundation with SPF and keep your wedding make-up light and natural for that 'beachy' look. Don't forget to wear SPF lip balm under your lipgloss too or the Cancer Council offer their own range of lipsticks and glosses that carry a SPF 30.
Provide personalised sunscreen for your guests, buy your own bottles of a brand that you trust and then have labels or bottle wraps made up with your names and the date, all in line with your colour and theme.
Try to stay out of the sun before your wedding, that way you will avoid embarrassing red skin or strap marks on your big day. If you are after a bronzed look, consider getting a spray tan a couple of days before your wedding - make sure that you have a trial a few months earlier so that you know you are going to like the way that it looks.
When choosing your flowers make sure you consider types that can withstand the heat, like orchids or Calla Lilies or perhaps you could go for a seashell bouquet.
When choosing your summer wedding menu, consider the summer produce available, fresh fruit platters are a great idea and provide plenty of colour. When making your wedding cake choice, think light, rich chocolate cakes have become very popular in recent years, but lighter flavours will be best for summer.
Autumn Wedding Ideas
The warm colours of autumn can provide a spectacular backdrop for your wedding, with the leaves on the trees bursting with color and the orange and red hues from an Autumn sunset will make for some stunning photographs. Be sure to look up the time for sunset and plan your wedding carefully around that so that you make the most of the day!
Choose a theme that matches the time of year, go for a woodland rustic country style with teal, duck egg blue and natural browns and coppers.
Decide on a venue where you can capture the essence of the season and its natural beauty, some great ideas for an autumn wedding are a vineyard, farm or botanical garden.
The weather will be turning cooler so choose a fur wrap, stole or shawl to cover your shoulders so that you don't get cold, or you can go for longer sleeves on your dress.
Choose your bridesmaid dresses by selecting from colors that you naturally see occurring in the fall season - go for burgundy, apricot, mustard yellow, dark greens and warm browns, they will really help to reflect the beauty of Autumn..
There are also some stunning flowers that you can match into your theme, it would be better to consider flowers that are in season as these are likely to be less expensive - such as holly, amaryllis, daphne, iris, winter jasmine and cotoneaster. You can also include dark green leaves, or red berries to finish off your bouquets.
Design a leaf logo or pattern that you can include in your invitations, place name cards, wedding favors and bomboniere gift ideas - this is a really nice way to add a touch of the season's theme into your stationery and decorations.
Winter Wedding Ideas
While winter weddings are less popular there are many advantages to being a winter bride, the main factors being the cost and that it will be easy to book your venue with less competition for dates, but also the unique style that you can explore for your frosty theme.
Indoor locations tend to be the best for a winter wedding just in case the weather is not great. Traditional churches, grand hotels, reception rooms or inviting bed and breakfasts with open fires are all perfect for a warm and cosy wedding.
The colder weather may mean you can choose heavier fabrics for your dress with a fake fur wrap, stole or shawl to cover your shoulders so that you don't get cold, or go for a long sleeve gown which are becoming increasingly popular.
Some wintery colours to consider for your theme, your dress and make-up are shimmering silver, icy blue, or pale grey.
You can choose some great food for a wintery wedding - warm soups with seasonal vegetables, and a white chocolate or frosty iced wedding cake.
Spring Wedding Ideas
Spring is the traditional season for a wedding - the weather is warmer but not too hot and it is a beautiful time of the year to say your vows.
You can choose an outdoor location at this time of year such as a vineyard or botanical garden with their flowers in bloom, but also somewhere that you can spend the evening indoors should the weather still be slightly unpredictable.
White wedding dresses are always popular and it should be warm enough for a strapless, or short skirted number. You could go for something a bit bolder in colour or with floral embroidery on the bodice or train, a splash of colour in a sash and light floaty fabrics like chiffon will reflect the spring light perfectly.
Spring is also the season when the most beautiful flowers are in bloom, you can have the pick of the bunch with some fantastic colours to choose from, consider stunning yellow daffodils, brightly coloured tulips are in abundance and paler posies such as sweet pea and lily of the valley.
Be sure to go for a spring feel in your hair too, you can add a little flower to your up-style, maybe a frangipani, or some pink diamantes for some extra sparkle.
The sun can still be very strong in spring time so be sure to use a foundation with an SPF and add pastel colours for a fresh look.
Once you have said "I Do" and walk back down the aisle make sure that your guests have some seasonal rose petal confetti to throw, that will make for a wonderful photography opportunity.
Food at your spring wedding can be fresh and light, choose dishes with herbs and leaves for a garden feel. Fish, chicken or lamb for your main with seasonal vegetables, for your dessert maybe go for a light cheesecake or fruit tart.
Match elements of the season in your wedding cake too, you could try white chocolate, raspberry, lemon, orange and carrot, they are all great wedding cake flavours plus you can decorate with seasonal colours to match your theme.
Whichever season you choose you can be sure that there are some fantastic ideas and themes out there to match, just make sure that you do a little research to see what the trends are and what is in season at your favourite time of year.
Happy Wedding Planning!
