Winter Weddings

[Daniel B]

This is the short story--
Amanda and I are graduating in December 07''. After that we are off to Florida to live the rest of our lives happily ever after in the sun

! But we dont want to get married in the summer of 07'' because then i would have to move in with her and her parents until we would graduate. . . .

ya, not fun.
So we are planning to Bam! graduate, Bam! get married, then Bam! move.

So a Winter Wedding seems to be in our plans-- we dont want to wait until spring or summer 08'' with Bachelor degrees on our hands and live through another winter in Cleveland.

Have any of you gotten married in the Winter (snowy winter)? If you did how was it, would you have changed it for anything? Let me know, Thanks!

 

[sparkly_stars]

Okay, so I haven''t gotten married or anything, but I thought I could give you my opinion on it!!
If there is any season that could be really magical, I think it would be winter. Let me explain, I think a summer/spring/fall wedding would be beautiful, but with a winter wedding I think you could make it so much more magical being able to incorporate lights, gold''s silver''s. I don''t know, but I could definitely see a magical wedding happen.
I think we plan on getting married in the spring, but it''s more for sentimental reasons(we''re not engaged, we just talk..hehehe) but ANYWAYS.
I think a winter wonderland wedding would be great! you could truly pull of something beautiful, PLUS if you take a honeymoon, you get to go somewhere warm. ( I say this because I live where we get freezing cold winters!)


so yeah.. my opinion, I would love a winter wedding, LOVE it. (we also plan on doing a destination wedding- at least thats what we''ve talked and decided on for now- our families can be stressful, so we''d like to get away for it all!!), but if it was done locally, thats what I would want!
Best of luck!!!
I hope whenever you chose to do it, it turns out spectacular!

 

[pebbles]

I didn''t get married in the winter but two of my friends did. I''m near Chicago and I assume a winter wedding in Cleveland would be like a winter wedding here.

I think the biggest thing against a winter wedding would be the weather. Both my friends completely lucked out with that however -- one got married in December about 2 weeks before Christmas and it was around 32 degrees out with no snow. She specifically wanted snow too. The other got married at the end of January with the weather around 40 degrees. I specifically remember the weather because I though that it would suck having to dress up in really cold weather. A few years ago, however, we had a really bad snowstorm on New Years Eve. My neighbors got married on New Year''s Day and she said only half the people that she invited came b/c of the weather. All her out of town guests couldn''t come in b/c the airport was closed. So unfortunately, the weather is totally hit or miss, especially that time of year. Out here, December is usually better than January for weather, so that may be a plus for you.

Now some of the pluses...vendors are usually considerably cheaper. My friend with the January wedding saved something like $30 per personat the hall b/c she had it during the off season. You also usually get your first choice since there aren''t 100 other couples fighting for the same vendors.

My friend that had the December wedding saved a ton on decorations. The hall had holiday lights and a christmas tree and pointsettas as table centerpieces -- all at no charge to her. And it was gorgeous.

You also may have more people able to come b/c there arent'' a ton of other events going on like in the summer, like communions, graduations, other weddings, vacations, etc.

We considered getting married in the winter for the reasons above, but for us it would have been between semesters, so we got married before school started.

Good luck in your planning!

 

[rms]

We had a winter wedding in upstate NY this past February. Many reasons why we had it in the winter that are too complicated to go through, but it was kind of a timing thing like what you are saying for you. Anyway, people told me I was crazy. My DH even told me I was crazy. We had some friends coming in from out of town on different days and a few got stuck in snowstorms on the road one night (Thursday before a Saturday wedding). One couple came from Europe and had actually NEVER seen that much snow, let alone driven in it (they flew to Newark and had to drive 3 hours to my dinky hometown). We worried about them until they called us at midnight after arriving safely at the hotel. They looked at it as a big adventure, and said that it was a lot of fun. They are just a great couple.

On Friday the weather was overall ok except for being pretty cold. Then Saturday morning came and the gals woke up to go to the salon around 8 or 9 am. It was snowing pretty hard with 3 or 4 inches of new snow on the ground. I got a little worried. I have pics my girlfriend from Europe wearing a long beautiful fur coat and brushing the snow off the car. She was having such a good time I couldn''t get her to stop and get in the car.

By the time the wedding started all the new snow had melted and the roads and walkways were dry. So overall I would say we were pretty fortunate. 3 days after the wedding a huge snowstorm came in but most everyone was gone by then. I personally had a great time and after the wedding no one told me I was crazy anymore...hehe

If anything, threats of bad weather during a winter wedding make for good stories after its all done. I don''t regret having a winter wedding at all. Go for it if the timing works out that way.

 

[Daniel B]

Thanks for the replies everyone

I like the idea of saving a bit of cash (for my future father-in-law that is

) and I'm sure Amanda would love to have it decked out in Winter Wonderland style, with all of the iced blues and silvers, icicles, and the like. But i pray that we get an accumulation on the ground so its all white and on the trees too. But the roads i hope are clear so noone has complications driving. Im starting to like the idea, thanks

 

[curlygirl]

I''m getting married in February, 2006 in New York City. Am I terrified about the weather? Absolutely!! But it seems like I''m the only one. My out of town guests will be excited if it snows and they will most likely arrive a day or 2 before the wedding. Fortunately, I''m in a big city so if it snows, nothing really stops. There is always a way to get around and life just goes on as usual. My friends got married this February and it snowed during the reception so everybody was already there and having a good time and didn''t really care about it when they were leaving.

Why February?! Well, although it''s corny, my fiance and I had our first date in February of 1994. We broke up after a year and just reconnected a year and a half ago so we thought we would honor the date of our first date as our wedding date. And yes, the real reason is that it''s less expensive!!! Our reception site drops it''s price by $30/person which is a huge savings. Bands, djs, florists are all looking for work in the off months so you can negotiate better deals.

I''m praying for good weather but I''ll let you know how it turns out in a few months!! But don''t fear the winter wedding!

 

[Daniel B]

Definatly-- keep me posted Curly

 

[snuga]

I think that winter weddings are FABULOUS!! I want to be married in winter (January ''07-hopefully!!) and even though I fear the weather problems, I think it is still more magical than the scorching summers we have where I live.

 

[Blue824]

I don''t think there is anything wrong with a winter wedding - and it will still be beautiful! If you''re worried about people having to come in from out of town, the bottom line is flights can be canceled any time of the year for any reason. So there is always a risk with out of town guests not being able to attend for some freak reason, more often than not, it works out just fine! Go ahead with your plan, sounds like it really fits in with the way you two want to progress with your lives

I wouldnt want to have to wait in move in with her parents either hehe.

 

[synth19]

the negative is outside pictures.. lack of sunlight and weather can impact that. I had an october wedding a few weeks ago....we lucked out and got weather in the high 60''s.

 

[wendyann]

Hi, I am getting married in december of 2006 I know that it is kind of crazy to have a winter wedding living in Louisiana beacuse it does not really snow down here last year was the first time it snowed in 6 yrs. but I wanted a winter theme wedding scence I did not want a christmas wedding beacuse iam using colors like silver blue frost and white so i was woundering if anyone has any sugestions about reception favors or anything else that would help my day be wounderful.

 

[LessThan3]

my fiancee and I are planning an outdoor wedding in February, to match the anniversary of when we became a couple.

Now we just have to hope its not too cold!

 

[diamondfan]

I owuld be worried, if I am in a snowy place, that people will not be able to get to the wedding in case of a storm coming around the time of the wedding itself. Where are you having it? You can risk it, but know the chance of weather causing people to be delayed or prevented from getting to you. Otherwise, I think it is such a pretty time to get married.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

This is an old thread so I am sure you already made up your mind but ohhh...I grew up in cleveland. I would NOT want to get married in the winter there. No way. Icky. Could you get married in FL? Kind of like a destination wedding/but you both get to stay and live there. I think a winter wedding in a warm climate would be fine. But Cleveland? *shiver*

 

[reader]

Getting married in Punxy, Pa 2/2/7 Weather is hit or miss, and we are expecting it to snow a lot this year. Still, the party starts at 3 am and I''m determined to wear a poofy dress through it!

 

[vizsla]

hey-

my sister had a winter wedding in cleveland on new year's eve and it was awesome! one of the most fun weddings i've ever been too. she wore this white fur"like" wrap, looked like a princess.. and her wedding pictures were so beautiful.. they were able to get some outside with the snow falling! plus the church was still decorated from christmas so she was able to save on flowers.... we bought a bunch of white pointsettas after christmas on clearance and it was so cheap and pretty!

if you can swing it.. i'd try for a new year's eve wedding.. instant party! and you wouldn't have to worry about people leaving early

new year's eve is on a monday next year (cheaper than a saturday wedding!) and everyone has the next day off work!

anyhoo.. i'm from cleveland, so i totaly understand the winters... but it can really be beautiful.