Why I DON’T Recommend Planning Your Wedding Between Christmas and New Year

Festive weddings really do seem like the perfect way to bring even more joy to a special time of year, don’t they? If you’re thinking of getting married in December, don’t skip this read – whilst I absolutely love a winter wedding, there are several reasons I don’t recommend planning your wedding between Christmas and New Year. Before you think me grinchy, hear me out.

A wedding between Christmas and New Year doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

First and foremost, let’s be totally honest about this – anyone with a late December birthday knows that everything else ends up playing second fiddle to the festive merriment. It’s Christmas – people already have so many plans, often including well-loved annual traditions, and are looking forward to some precious time off to celebrate in their own special way. 

Planning a wedding between Christmas and New Year can put a dampener on things, for both you and your loved ones – your special day doesn’t feel like as much of a celebratory occasion as it should. Why not avoid this particular time of year and really give your wedding the attention it deserves?

As I mentioned, I’m not against winter or even December weddings at all. I absolutely adore them, I just think the sacred festive family week should be allowed to be, and your wedding should be a separate shindig. 

Read my guide on throwing the perfect winter wedding.

Everything is harder to get and sometimes more expensive – for good reason.

So much shuts down between Christmas and New Year. If your local M&S foodhall is closed, you can be sure the wedding industry is too! The knock on effect of this is that sourcing different items for your wedding becomes much more challenging, and can often incur higher costs. Let me give you an example – Covent Garden flower market closes from 25th-27th December, so if you’ve planned your wedding on the 28th then your florist has quite a job. They can’t source any flowers for your wedding in the days before, so their only option would be to buy them on the 24th and then spend Christmas day conditioning them to make sure they look fabulous for your big day. With all things considered, it’s not surprising that suppliers charge more during this period.

Most suppliers will not take on weddings between Christmas and New Year.

That leads me nicely on to the fact that finding suppliers is a lot harder for festive weddings. Your wedding industry favorites work so hard all year, and the time between Christmas and New Year might be the only week they take completely off in the whole year. Suppliers with teams often choose to give the whole group this week off, so most will decline to work on weddings and just enjoy the merriment with their families. Of course, there are still suppliers who will say yes to your event during this time, but they’re likely to charge a premium for it.

The wedding and events industry is built on late nights and antisocial hours, so we’re no strangers to working when our loved ones are not – but Christmas is special, so I really recommend thinking twice before booking in a  wedding date between Christmas and New Year.

BROWSE WEDDING PORTFOLIO

Road closures can disrupt plans

I’ll never forget a New Year’s Day wedding I once planned at The Ritz – Piccadilly was closed for the parade, and it caused no end of problems throughout the day! The poor florist was literally carrying flowers around London on foot to be able to cross the parade route .Road closures are not uncommon at this time of year, and for me this is just another reason to avoid planning your wedding between Christmas and New Year.

Discover the best hotels in London for your wedding.

It might be hard to hear, but very few people involved or invited to your wedding really want it to take place during those sacred festive family weeks. Your loved ones want to visit family they hardly ever get to see, enjoy a turkey sandwich in front of classic christmas telly  and spend cosy days in their Christmas pjs in front of the fire, and you want a wedding that is celebrated completely, enjoyed thoroughly, and given its own room to live and be fabulous. 

I’m saying this out of kindness and experience: pick a different day for everyone to get excited about, and be assured it’s the right decision. 

If you’re planning a December or winter wedding, I’d love to hear from you – I’m here to help you create the perfect celebratory atmosphere at your favourite time of year.

You might also be interested in:

M&N’s central London wedding: multisite, multicultural, multi-fun

S&A’s cosy autumn wedding in Scotland: the epitome of seasonal gorgeousness

Images in this blog taken at Two Temple Place by Barker Evans.