When excitement over a tropical fete or balmy weathered soiree simply can’t be mustered, it seems only fitting that a winter wedding date is at the top of your list. From to slope style and midi chic to avant-garde and Grace Kelly core, winter bridal fashion gives you a much-coveted opportunity for versatility in fabric, silhouette and layering. Truth be told, if these winter wedding dresses were competing in the Olympics, they’d all be neck and neck for the gold. But please, IOC, do make it platinum .

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Winter Wedding Dress Fabrics

From November to February, it seems that heavyweight fabrics like velvet, brocade, thick lace and crepe are in cahoots with bridal designers and boutiques around the world. And that’s no coincidence. These luxe, timeless materials offer a level of warmth that others, more suited to breezy climates, do not.

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Winter Wedding Dress Silhouettes

While many winter brides opt for long sleeves and floor-length hems, we’re seeing more and more modern takes on cold-weather fashion. Opera gloves, trailing veils, sleek capes and high necks are all tasteful alternatives or enhancements to more traditional winter bridal gown silhouettes. But really, anything goes. Midis and jumpsuits can feel just as merry if the temperatures are right in your wedding destination!

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Winter Wedding Dress Styles

As with all visual moments for the wedding day, let your venue take the lead. A fringed boho chic caftan gown doesn’t quite fit a ballroom setting, just as a Duchess of Cambridge ballgown doesn’t work in the desert. We shared our best tips + tricks for finding a gown that complements your venue in a past post here – worth a revisit!

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Winter Wedding Dresses We’ve Been Bookmarking

I’ll be honest, we’ve been torpedoing towards this year’s bridal fashion faster than you can say runway. From statement bows to Regency era cuts, this list covers the long and the short of it. Happy browsing!

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Now that you’ve made like Glen Miller and gotten in the mood… get the full scoop on how you can create an unforgettable winter wedding ceremony here next!

Cover photo by LCS Studio with gown by Carolina Herrera via Over the Moon

Shorter days, darker skies and bone-chilling temperatures give the extremities of the calendar year a bad wrap, but the twinkling tinsel, sumptuous textures and cozy comfort foods bring a level of jubilation to wintertime festivities that more than make up for an otherwise melancholic atmosphere. As evidenced by our recent look at winter wedding ceremonies, couples who fully embrace the spirit of the season reap wonderfully sophisticated wedding designs. And today, we’re looking at winter wedding reception ideas that sleigh (all day!) as well. From jewel toned palettes of teal + red to maximalist centerpieces spilling with blossoming branches, these modern winter wedding ideas are a surefire way to make your celebration merry and bright.

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Winter Wedding Escort Cards & Favors

Seating charts, escort cards, place cards and cute little favors are an easy way to add a light-hearted, creative spirit to your wedding design. A few of the standout ideas we’ve seen for winter weddings in particular? Holiday crackers (especially when they’re hand-marbled!), calligraphed logs, mini winter villages, golden hand bells, tartan-bound frames, mulled wine dressed up like the three wise men (the myrrh, the merrier).

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Have Santa hand out gifts, wrapped in paper that matches your palette or custom wedding print. Tie letterpress tags to a patchwork of poinsettia wreaths. Have servers pour signature cocktails into calligraphed lightbulb shaped glasses to surprise guests during Cocktail Hour. Hang vintage ornaments on a multi-colored tree, allowing your guests to take these curated treasures home as a memorable keepsake they can rediscover every holiday season. Truly, the starry night sky is the limit when it comes to winter wedding escort cards, favors and the like!

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Winter Wedding Tablescapes

It’s the Texture of the Season

Like Christmas at Balmoral, tartan is a leading player in the winter wedding texture scene. Then again, so is velvet. Classic and luxe, these table complexions are a Santana kind of smooth. And while we most often see them make their debuts in tablecloths, dresses and the ever-suave tie, there’s much to be said about whimsical swags of velvet ribbon bedecking chairs or cinching napkins and plaid lambswool sleeves safeguarding menus. It goes without saying that cozy blankets a knack for insulation are welcome enhancements to seat-backs and lounge vignettes for outdoor receptions.

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An oft-missed opportunity for tableside hygge is investing in the dining seats. Whether that means splurging a bit more on chairs with plush textures or renting slip covers/sheepskin chair pads to elevate comfort, your guests will thank you for any simple touches that keep their snugness top of mind.

Patterns To Pine For

If we recognize any themes from winter weddings this year, it’s that maximalism is ever on the rise. Layering patterns and going all-in with print-happy china is will quickly show you that there is no wrong answer in the Maxiverse. A good rule of thumb as you approach the design is to consider the kind of mood you want to create. Is it laidback and refined? Funky and colorful? Peaceful and calm? Classic and enduring?

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Start with one focal piece and build outward from there. Consider patterns that strike a perfect balance between breezy and sophisticated without verging on feeling too elaborate or unapproachable. Marry 2-3 textures throughout the table linen, dinnerware, flatware, glassware, candle holders, floral vessels and so on.

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Punch it up with a handful of colors – easily done through winter citrus, stone fruits, foraged mushrooms, leafy greens and seasonal blooms. Get playful and color outside the lines – it’s an instant dose of Yuletide pep for your guests!

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Make The Whole Place Shimmer (overhead)

The perfect way to give ’em the ole’ razzle dazzle? Bits and baubles (of tinsels + glass, respectively). When thinking about your winter wedding reception space, don’t forget to look up! Consider the environment from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. How can you treat the latter in a way that surprises + delights your guests with layers of color, vibrant sparkles and unexpected depth? As for us, we love a good garland festooned with ornaments and icicle-allusive tinsel.

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Winter Wedding Centerpieces

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When on the hunt for winter wedding centerpieces, look no further than these clever remixes on cult classics like hellebore, lilies, camellias and daffodils. Talk to your florist about favoring wild + unruly stems evocative of the natural world. Since there is less nuance in the colors available from winter blooms, creating a sense of movement through intricate layering and unexpected textures will effectively uplevel your winter dining table arrangements with dynamic composition.

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Playful and unfussy winter wedding moods call for a cirque de fleurs of sorts – limes on a trapeze of blossoming branches, fantastic funghi juggling flair, pomegranates trampolining high in the sky… it’s a show we could watch again and again and again.

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While snowy whites and pine needle greens are the most “gravitated towards” color palettes for winter wedding centerpieces, we hope these sugarplum sherberts (our wintertime version of summer’s juicy fruits) offer enough evidence of cheery colors receiving an A++ in floral design briefs all year round.

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Ikebana is another special touch you can employ for accent flowers on your dining tables, wedding bars or lounge vignettes. Gentle without feeling sleepy, these botanic ballerinas offer a poetic continuation of soft ethereality and watercolor hues.

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Burgundies, pinks and muddy browns are called out of their hibernation station during winter months as well. If your design MO is straight out of the wedding aesthetic playbook for “timeless with a twist”, it’s true that this seasonably rich approach feels polished, debonair and effortlessly elegant.

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Winter Wedding Canapés & Cocktails

Spiked eggnog may be dealer’s choice when it comes to winter wedding licks and libations, but the festive season bartender’s bible hardly starts and ends here. Hot buttered spiked cider, pomegranate ginger palomas, mulled wine negronis and chai espresso martinis are just a few of the frosted weather cocktails we wouldn’t mind having on deck – particularly if they’re served with fun presentation like a customized shot ski, birch pattered straw, cinnamon stick cigar or jumbo sized marshmallows.

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Look to sites like Half Baked Harvest, Food52, Martha Stewart and Food & Wine for some of the best winter cocktail recipes we’ve discovered yet!

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As for the grub? These sweet and savory bites never fail to speed up the ski lift and into your mouth faster than you can say Noel. While they say to never judge a book by it’s cover, we can’t help but defect when it comes to food. As far as Cocktail Hour and Late Night Bites are concerned, presentation is everything. So play up the spirit of the season through patterned bowls or souped-up platters, themed stations or roaming carts and tasty treats in emblematic shapes that immerse guests fully into your winter theme.

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A few starter ideas for winter wedding canapés?

• Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Riesling-poached pears, red wine-braised figs, candied pecans, honey, and cranberry toast
• Pão de Queijo: Brazilian cheese bread
• Rock oysters with finger lime dressing
• “Twice Baked” Baby Potatoes with Caviar
• Belgian Waffle with warm chocolate ganache
• Canadian Cheddar and Bacon Soup served with a pretzel roll 
• Braised Beef Poutine: French fries, Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce, cheese curds, and gherkin relish
• Polenta Squares with Wild Mushrooms and Fontina
• Beef and Asparagus Negimaki
• Chicken Tikka Masala with fennel-spiced yogurt and naan bread

Winter Wedding Cakes

All is Green. All is White.

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Park your eyes here for a while, ’cause these green and white wedding cakes have charisma to spare. With frosted tiers marked by bas relief, sugar flowers, nonchalant brushstrokes and gravity-defying angles, these dazzling confections are anything by traditional. Still, there’s a classic sensibility about them. Humble grace and universal appeal. For couples looking for a bit of familiarity or a classic design with a fresh twist, consider enhancing a buttercream cake with natural adornments of flowers, vines, or wintertime berries. And for a more modern vibe, a little bit of monochrome motif goes along way!

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Candy Stripes & Gingerbread Spice

While some wedding cakes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, these candy clad confections certainly are. Gingerbread castles with icicle frosting, strips of fondant taffy unfurling as ribbons, stripe-spangled canes bristling with peppermint… nothing feels quite as mirthful as cold weather desserts like these. Add them to your lineup of wedding sweets, and you’re sure to end the night on a high note!

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Nectar of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Deck your cake with fruits and flowers, fa la la la la la la la la. Straddling the line between understated and whimsical, these high-brow cake designs feel entirely approachable. Gussied up with flourishes of blooms, these playful winter wedding cakes feel like confidence personified. So, of course, do the pavlovas, meringues and spiced sponge gâteaux that we’ve hand-picked for you to peruse below. Nestled in a bed of seasonal berries or perched atop a sleek glass stand, these lively designs feel spry, chic and entirely invigorated.

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Just like toaster strudels, mini cakes, cookies and boozy popsicles are so fetch. Particularly when they’re intricately painted or crowned with elaborate frosting designs!

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One trend we’re unabashedly giddy for? Sugar mushrooms! These darling little toadstools make the jolliest additions to an enchanted forest inspired wedding reception.

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Fondant Flossing x Abstract Flair

Ripples and waves of hand-painted fondant can create the most hypnotic winter wedding cake. Like shards of ice or glimmers of a frozen lake, these sculptural wedding cakes double as artworks + conversation starters. This approach suits couples seeking a modern minimalist vibe, without veering into spartan territory. The velocity of each iridescent swoop draws the eyes upward across a sugar paste mountain terrain, though often, these glazed trimmings frame solid colored tiers through grand curlicue shapes reminiscent of exotic bird feathers. And sometimes, these abstract confections seem to mirror the flirtatious silhouettes of a bridal micro mini with wispy embellishments.

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Winter Wedding Send-Off Style

A word about winter wedding send-offs: DO THEM. Has there ever been a better excuse to hire a horse drawn sleigh, slap a twinkle lit Christmas tree atop a vintage car or dress up a sleek wooden boat with holiday frills? Wedding send-offs technically don’t have to occur at the end of the party either. Your exit from the ceremony can be equally grand, and you can surprise your guests with a clever entrance to your Cocktail Hour or Wedding Dinner if you’re stealing away for photos while they mingle + nosh.

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Ski down the slopes if that’s your vibe (and that’s your wedding setting), or immerse your guests in the fun by letting them take part in the unique transportation element too. Who’s to say the “getting there” parts of the day can’t be novel, entertaining and endearingly memorable? Not every part of the day has to be about efficiency, so consider how you can enchant your guests at every touch point.

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There’s a reason they call it the most wonderful time of the year. So while spring and summer weddings remain ever popular, we hope you consider these brisker months for their infinite opportunities where designs + immersive experiences are concerned. In many locations, you can save big on your investments as well. Off-peak dates tend to offer extreme savings at most wedding venues, and you’ll generally find the same trends across different vendor categories as well (particularly where minimum spends are concerned). Long story short, don’t let the lower temperatures deter you from the exceptionally cozy potential these winter months bring. And if you haven’t perused our unofficial masterclass on winter wedding ceremonies yet, it’s about time you burrowed into that rabbit hole as well. We hear it’s pretty darn hygge.

Cover photo + styling by Martha Stewart Weddings

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the weddings sure are delightful! Winter weddings are festive in their own right, but when paired with Yuletide decor, fashion and experiences, these merry little nuptials become unforgettably magical. Consider this deep dive guide your comprehensive blueprint for planning a winter wedding ceremony. From the aisle ideas and bridal bouquets to the bridesmaid dresses and musician set lists, these winter wedding ideas are sure to spark some creativity for your own!

How To Create A Showstopping Winter Wedding Ceremony Backdrop

No matter what kind of venue you choose for your winter wedding ceremony – outdoor or indoor, grand or intimate, minimalist or maximalist – your mission is to uplevel the hygge vibes. Creating a cozy ambiance for your guests will reassure them that you have their comfort top of mind and set the stage for a laidback and fun-filled party to come. So consider the lighting, create textural interest, play up existing architecture/views, incorporate warm fuzzies as part of the decor… whatever you do, craft meaningful moments for this most important chapter of the day.

Spruce Up The Mantle

Swag is back in the form of eye-catching garlands festooning fireplace mantles and stairwells! Tie them up with ribbon, adorn them with dried fruits, use baubles + bells in lieu of evergreen leaves… this is the ultimate way you can literally deck your halls for an indoor wedding ceremony.

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Put Christmas on a Pedestal

Another idea for your fireplace ceremony backdrop is an oversized floral arrangement to sit atop the mantle (or a duo placed on free standing pedestals to frame yourselves + the officiant). This idea works just as well outside as it does in, and we encourage you to go bold with your color palettes here! Create mountains and valleys through shapes, textures and light to muddy hues of your green, red or wintery white floral arrangements. The starter ideas below offer beautiful real world examples of how you can get multi-dimensional with tall urn floral arrangements that can even be repurposed in the reception thanks to their ingrained portability.

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Fit To Be Tied

Holiday wreaths are another festive way you can theme your winter wedding ceremony to the season without feeling gauche. Work with your event and floral designers to come up with elevated wreath arrangements garnished with dyed baby pine cones, dramatic velvet bows, fragrant botanicals + cinnamon sticks or even uncluttered ornaments that feel classic + clean.

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Glistening Winter Wonderlands

If your wedding venue feels anything like Bedford Falls, WhoVille or Central Park during NYC’s heiday, then it only seems fitting to take advantage of the postcard worthy views! Light up the snowcapped firs, draw the eyes up + out with a grounded floral crescent, embrace the ski country landscape, lead your aisle towards the edge of a cliff where the mountains shine brightly in the distance… there are tons of ways you can play up the natural scenery and panoramic vistas in locations obviously frequented by Hallmark movie scouts.

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Character Arc

True, it’s hard to beat the grand ole’ arch. Particularly when a classic green + white palette is so suitable for wintertime! Whether lush and voluminous or spartan and branchy, floral arches are another classic look for an elegant end-of-year fête. We particularly love the opportunities these structures give you for color gradients and transitional palettes, so talk with your designer + florist about how you want that color balance to feel overall. You might like an ombre effect, a wild + unruly spirit or a more symmetrical distribution of textures and hues – be specific or hold your peace!

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Classic Winter Bridal Bouquets with a Modern Twist

There’s no contesting the radiance of winter bridal bouquets – particularly when they’re hallmarked by interesting shapes, textures and color gradient! With ruby red being the grand dame of winter floral pigments, vanilla cream merits a silver medal – not only for its coy versatility when it comes to layering, but for its harmonious approach to balancing the bold focal hues with grace, softness and fluidity.

Branches, Berries and Sugarplum Fairies

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The two examples above are a perfect real world example of how much range exists between hues of the same color. While the bouquet on the left evokes a more old world romantic feeling, the gathered blooms on the right feel modern and flirtatious – almost a hint of summery brights in the midst of a sometimes tired season.

Artfully tangled clusters of berries are another fabulous way to call on the season. There’s an instant jammy-ness to this festive December bouquet, altogether cementing the bouquet as a primary reference point in the visual narrative that will immerse the couple in this very place + time years down the road.

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Even with all the popularity of captivating reds and dripping berries, we’re seeing wintry whites becoming canon as we speak. The global supply chain for flower markets has made it all the more possible to access a variety of blooms that can be layered to perfection – even in a monochrome palette.

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Another way you can achieve interest in your winter bridal bouquet is to employ flowering branches or meandering vines. Such accents draw the eyes exactly where you want them to go, in exactly the path you want them to take. They also have a way of grounding an arrangement – giving it a raw and authentic energy that an organic wedding style so often calls for.

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Of course, we’ve seen our fair share of muddy, earthy blooms make their debut in winter weddings too. Hellebore, fritillaria, sweet pea… the beauty of modern day florals is that seemingly endless plant cultivars exist within each category, making us all spoilt for choice when it comes to finding that perfect aubergine or caramel colored bloom.

Winter Floral Varieties for Elevated Bridal Bouquets

Florals that thrive in winter are our bread + butter. You may want to bookmark the following list of winter blooms for future conversations with your florist + planner!

Snazzy Bridesmaid Looks for Winter Weddings

We fall prey to velvet bridesmaid dresses all. the. time. Whether it’s the bold jewel tone sheen or the fit + flattering silhouette, we’ll never know. What we are confident about though? Velvet bridesmaid dresses are the epitome of romance for winter wedding fashion.

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You don’t have to be a lone ranger when it inevitably comes to battling the winter chill either. Call upon tasteful trimmings like faux fur shawls to unify mismatched bridesmaid ensembles or simply push the cozy to the max.

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Long sleeves can do wonders in more transitional months or in locations where the frost doesn’t bite as deep… and in some of those cases, you can certainly get away with silky smooth dresses in dark neutrals to fit the season.

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Shop Red & Pink Winter Bridesmaid Dresses

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Shop Green & Sage Winter Bridesmaid Dresses

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Shop Printed & Metallic Winter Bridesmaid Dresses

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Santa’s Little Helpers

We’d never forget the little ones! Crown them with berry-garnished halos, thick satin bows, stockings, smocks and navy cardigans – whatever it takes to feel them feel like the Nutcracker’s Clara pirouetting through the party.

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Shop Festive Flower Girl Dresses for Winter Weddings

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And if you find yourself liking dogs better than most people (come on, it’s a thing!), we’ve got some handsome embellishments for your fur babies too. Gossamer ribbon in crisp icy blue, a ruffled collar + satin bow the color of fresh out the fridge key lime and a blanket adorned sled to pull your Dog of Honor down the aisle. Does it get more darling than this?

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How darling would it be to pull your Dog of Honor down the aisle on their own fleece wrapped sled? “If the setting fits, I sits” has never rung truer.

Just Around Our Merry Little Corner

Keep an eye out for our dedicated post on winter bridal fashion. You know Yuletide bridal glamour is deserving of its own runway! Plus, our roundup of winter wedding groom attire was getting lonely. C’est la vie!

Also in the horizon is a full how-to for creative + fun approaches to your wedding reception. Believe me when I say that we’re rearing up for a holly jolly good time. Stay tuned!

Cover photo by Perry Vaile with planning + design by A Southern Soiree and florals by Watered Garden Florist Raleigh