Most couples plan their wedding around venue availability, their favourite time of year or pick a date based on convenience and work commitments and the rest of the planning and styling, colour and flower choices follow, but, what if you had to move your wedding date to an alternative season? How would you update your wedding?
Photography Amanda Karen Photography | Floral Design by The Botanical Shed
I married my husband in spring. I loved spring flowers and was a teacher at the time, as were lots of our family and friends and booking our wedding at the start of the two weeks Easter holiday was the most convenient. I've been thinking about what our wedding would have looked like if we'd held it in a different season. What colour palette would I have chosen and what flowers would I have chosen if I had an autumn wedding? Would I have still had photos of the bouquet toss on the beach at a winter wedding? Probably not.
Couples forced to postpone will have been given a list of dates their venue is available. These dates could be anything from a few months, to a year or more away. Whilst most couples will have secured a date within the same season as their original date, some may be in the position of needing to update their plans to suit a different season. If you have found yourself in this situation or think this is something that could happen to you, you can use the additional time you have to plan to adapt your wedding.
Lets breakdown some things you might like to think about or need to consider when rescheduling in a different season:
COLOUR PALETTE
One of the quickest ways to make your wedding suitable for an alternative season is to tweek your colour palette. If you are moving from a summer wedding, which typically feature lighter and brighter colours or tints, to a winter wedding, try picking the dominant hue in your old colour palette and try adding darker shades or add a warmer hue in a contrasting colour; this works to update a palette as warmer and richer colours are perfect for autumn and winter weddings.
FLORAL DESIGN
After nailing your colour palette chat to your florist about the seasonal fresh flowers and foliage available. You may be surprised at what is and isn't available. If you had your heart set on peonies and your wedding is in the autumn you'll either have to rethink your floral design; choose a peony looking ranunculi or rose; or ask your florist to source a high quality artificial peony to include in your fresh bouquet. Winter wedding bouquets can be absolutely beautiful; although fewer flowers bloom in the winter, you can still year year long varieties such as roses in deep rich tones, and your florist can include berry varieties such as hypericum combined with winter foliage to suit your new wedding design.
DECOR
Surprisingly, even your choice of on the day stationery and linen can help to bring seasonal aesthetics to your day. Spring weddings would suit lightweight, soft fabrics in paler colours and heavier richer and more opulent fabrics like velvet, in darker hues will instantly make tables look more suitable for the autumn or winter months. You may like to look at your furniture choices too. Limewash chiavari chairs would be great for a summer wedding, but oak cross back chairs might suit a warmer colour palette for autumn and winter weddings. If you've hired a bamboo lounge set from for your summer wedding and have had to move your wedding, you may prefer to choose a beautiful vintage velvet arm chairs for your cosy winter seating area.
WEATHER
Whilst there are many elements that you will have control over the weather isn't one of those things. Think about ways to be prepared for chillier weather whilst you are outdoors or in a chilly venue. Depending on the look you are going for you could update your dress with a shawl or a wrap, a full length cape or a personalised leather jacket. You might like to hire some white umbrellas in case of rain or a basket of blankets for chilly church pews in winter.
Another consideration is your timings of the day. Shorter days mean that your ceremony may be better held in the morning so any photographs or video you would like to be taken are done so, before the light starts to fade. Here is some advice from Gemma Giorgio Photography - click the link to read more about winter wedding photography.
With the light hours in the winter being much shorter you may have to plan your day slightly differently, bringing things forward and changing the order of the day to achieve the style of photographs that you love. I would recommend a ceremony start time of no later than 1pm especially if there is travel involved between the ceremony and the reception. Gemma Giorgio Photography
You could look into hiring additional lighting for your ceremony or reception to add to the atmosphere. It would be amazing to create a romantic winter wedding ceremony lit entirely by candlelight or an event space lit by festoon lighting and dinner candles. If you're looking for lanterns, you have to check out my beautiful collection. Click here
There's lots more than just decor to consider when moving a wedding from one season to another. This is just a quick read to get you started, but I suppose the message is don't panic; fall in love with your NEW wedding. Start by reviewing your colour palette, take time to look for inspiration for your new wedding season and if you're struggling to nail your new look, ask for professional help. Stylists can pull together a new wedding design for you and it won't cost you the earth, but it will save you an awful lot of time and decision making.
If you've enjoyed reading this, take a look at this post about making your wedding unique.