Melt Hearts: The Best Ideas for a Fairytale Winter Wedding

Summer is certainly considered the most popular time of year for a wedding, but there are also those brides who dream of a winter celebration. Just imagine: bright sun, high snowdrifts, light snowflakes swirling in the air... - magnificent fairy-tale scenery for wedding photographs, isn’t it?

Of course, winter weddings have their own charm and magic, but in order for everything to go exactly as you dreamed, it is necessary to take into account some features of the preparation. In this article I will describe several ideas and options, give recommendations, and also provide a list of beautiful places for a photo shoot in winter.

Wedding walk in winter in nature

Peculiarities

Before you decide to exchange rings in winter, you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons.
The objective advantages of a winter wedding are:

• the ability to organize an event in the shortest possible time;
• prices for all services, from restaurant rental to dress rental, are significantly lower than in summer (with the exception of New Year holidays);
• there is no crazy queue to register a marriage at the registry office;
• the presence of beautiful landscapes for a fabulous photo shoot, especially if the photo walk on your wedding day is in a winter forest;
• the opportunity to enjoy unique competitions and winter activities: snowball fights, skating rink;
• a wide selection of decor for the banquet hall, taking into account the theme of the celebration;
• originality and beauty of the bride's outfit using interesting accessories: a fur coat and muff, for example.

On the other side of the scale are the disadvantages of holding a wedding in winter:

• unpredictability of weather, which can ruin plans for a photo shoot;
• the likelihood of getting sick after the event (or before it), if it occurs at the height of a seasonal epidemic;
• the impossibility of a long photo walk through memorable places;
• the risk of getting faded photographs due to the merging of the bride’s white dress with the snow if the photographer is poorly chosen;
• unavailability of some vegetables and fruits.

If you take into account the problems associated with bad weather and look for solutions in advance, it is obvious that there are many more benefits.

Wedding photo shoot in winter in the studio

A great option, especially for a small wedding, is to have a wedding photo shoot in a studio. Now in Moscow there is a very large selection of photo studios with a variety of interiors, but for winter weddings the loft style can be called the most suitable. Simplicity and conciseness combined with an abundance of candles and greenery makes a wedding in a loft an excellent idea for winter.

If you are planning a small winter wedding, you can conduct the entire photo session in the interiors of the studio: the morning of the bride, the meeting of the couple, a joint photo session and the exchange of rings - all this can be filmed in one place.

In addition, you can think through the decor in advance: the registration area, printing, table setting, even sweets and cake, if you want. Organizing such a shoot will cost about 40-50 thousand rubles, depending on the complexity of the decor and your wishes, the process itself will take about 3 hours, during which time you can collect a whole wedding story.

You can see examples of such weddings, get advice and order organization from my team on the page

Tips for organizing a winter photo shoot from a photographer:

1. Choose a spacious room

   To create a full-fledged wedding story, the photographer will need several locations; you should not choose a hall with an area of ​​less than 70 meters. It is important that the studio has large panoramic windows; this will make it possible to work with natural light, which is important for wedding photography.

2. The interior of the hall and furniture matter

   Choose a hall that suits your image and wedding style as a whole. So, for example, luxurious images with a classic tailcoat and a very fluffy dress will not fit into the laconic loft style; here it is better to choose a classic room with stucco molding and crystal chandeliers.

3. Concept and decor will help create a beautiful story

   If you choose a spacious studio without furniture or decor, the pictures will turn out monotonous. To make your story look interesting, think through the details and decor.

4. Boudoir photo shoot

   If you want to photograph the bride's morning and the process of getting ready, be sure to think about the boudoir look - beautiful lingerie, a robe or boudoir dress are just as important as the wedding attire. By the way, you can rent a boudoir dress. You can also pay attention to the groom’s preparations; don’t forget to think through the details for him too.

5. Time to shoot

   As in the case of a street photo shoot, it is better to plan the shooting for the first half of the day, in the interval from 10.00 to 15.00, when there is natural light in the room.

Wedding photo shoot in the studio: ideas, tips, locations

Pros of a photo shoot in the studio:

• The entire wedding day can be filmed in one place
• Saves time, as shooting takes only 3 hours
• You can choose the interior to match your wedding style
• Shooting in warm, comfortable conditions

Flaws:

• For December and early January, it is necessary to book the hall several months in advance, due to the heavy workload of photo studios with New Year's shootings

Ideas for a winter wedding

Place

A truly fabulous feature of a winter wedding, especially for residents of big cities, will be a rented chic mansion outside the city, decorated in a classic style.

Just imagine: a luxurious front door, huge fireplaces and polished mirrors, an oak staircase, walls with pompous stucco and floors with exquisite parquet... You will feel like a king and queen, and you deserve such a feeling on one of the most important days in your life.

An alternative option that is not inferior in luxury is organizing a wedding in Europe , where prices for renting mansions are slightly higher than in large Russian cities.

If you're not willing to spend too much on one day, even if it's a memorable one, consider renting a nice restaurant with an outdoor area.

Wedding in the style of "Game of Thrones"

To celebrate your winter wedding in an interesting and unusual way, organize a celebration in the style of your favorite TV series.

Decor

The newlyweds' chairs can be replaced with iron thrones, and artificial animal skins and swords and shields can be hung on the walls. Make your own family crest like the ones the various houses had in the series. The atmosphere should be harsh, but still hospitable - to do this, hang posters with dragons on the walls, place massive antique candlesticks around the room.

Entertainment

Organize an acting competition for your guests: have them act out famous scenes from the series or make parodies of their favorite characters. You can also take a quiz on your knowledge of Game of Thrones. Include famous memes and funny episodes!

Invite musicians to play covers of music from your favorite TV series, and then have a fun disco.

Food

There must be several types of roasted meat and a lot of wine on the table. Let dishes be served on metal plates and drinks in fancy goblets. The wedding cake can be decorated with dragon figures.

Cloth

A long white dress is ideal for the bride; you can use a crown as an accessory. The groom's outfit should contain elements of knight's armor. A crown, a copy of a medieval sword and a fur cape will ideally complete the look.

Where to mark

It’s best to celebrate a Game of Thrones-themed wedding in a loft: there you can decorate the hall exactly the way you want and create the atmosphere of a medieval kingdom.

Look at this brutal location, which is perfect for celebrating a themed wedding.

Dark loft in the very center of Moscow

The spacious loft can accommodate up to 120 guests. With dark brick walls, metal staircases and a fireplace, the newlyweds will get some cool Game of Thrones-themed photos. The manager is ready to help with decorating the hall, finding a DJ and photographer.

From 15,000 to 17,000 ₽ for 1 hour

"Disco" hall in the mansion on Red October #3270 Kropotkinskaya

10 min. on foot no reviews yet

Area 178 m²

Places 100 people

From the metro 10 min

The loft has a separate stage, a terrace where guests can breathe fresh air, as well as light music, a DJ console and a fog machine.

You can find more dark wedding venues on the BashToday website.

Theme and colors

A winter wedding can be held in one of the following styles:

• rustic : room in a rustic style, classic outfits with a retro twist;
• Russian style : log house in the forest, folk festivals, musicians, drinking tea from a samovar and other original details;
• wedding “Winter's Tale” : based on the scenario of a fairy tale story. For example, Koschey kidnaps a beautiful bride, and a good fellow (groom) must go through serious tests to save her (other fairy-tale characters - witnesses and guests - help him);
• New Year/Christmas wedding , if the event is planned for the appropriate dates: in the room - a fireplace, a tree and socks for gifts, in the images of the newlyweds - an abundance of red, in the bouquet - fir cones and pine branches.

When choosing the color scheme for your celebration, rely on your own taste or use one of the popular trends today :

• a combination of green (pine branches) with red (balloons, tinsel, berries);
• main white color with silver accents;
• a combination of silver and blue symbolizing winter.

Important! The colors of a winter wedding can be any, but with the ones listed above it is easier to maintain suitable stylistic formats.

Why do you need decor?

A banquet hall for a wedding celebration should emphasize the overall atmosphere of the wedding. You need to create a festive atmosphere in the room that will be remembered by everyone present. To do this, it is not necessary to hire a professional decorator - future newlyweds can do everything with their own hands, saving the family budget.

A well-designed banquet hall design will highlight the chosen style of celebration, if any. For themed weddings, choosing the right decor is the most difficult, and the lion's share of it is the decoration of the room in which the celebration will take place.

Bride style

The dress does not have to be white : a silver model also looks expensive and elegant. In this case, it is important to choose the right tone for accessories (gloves, veil) and shoes. Jewelry made of pearls and white gold will harmoniously fit into the image.

If the bride still decides to opt for the classic white color of the dress, she can think about appliqués in the form of snowflakes and exquisite lace imitating frosty patterns.

A silver fur coat and muff will help complement your winter look - this is not only a matter of aesthetics, but also functionality: no one wants to catch a cold on one of the most important days in their life.

Before going outside, you should definitely wear warm white tights under your dress: no one will see them anyway, but the bride will feel comfortable during a photo shoot in the snow, and not shift from foot to foot and chatter her teeth from the cold. Already at the banquet you can change your boots for shoes, and warm tights for fishnet stockings.

Compliments for wedding guests

A wedding is a day when not only the young husband and wife, but also their guests should receive gifts. Most often, the heroes of the occasion present their guests with boutonnieres in a decorative mitten. You can also use other ideas:

• Give each guest a Christmas ball with your wedding date on it. This is a good compliment, because the toy can be used to decorate a Christmas tree.
• A warm blanket that will keep guests warm.
• A jar of chocolate or cocoa powder. Such drinks will warm your loved ones on winter evenings.
• A jar of lingonberry jam.

Groom image

It is important for a man to follow the same health guidelines as a bride. In a winter look, you can’t do without warm underpants, thermal underwear or an insulated jacket.

When choosing a style, you should focus on your own preferences. It will be interesting to look at a version a la 19th century with a tailcoat instead of a jacket and an elongated black coat. Daredevils and originals can add accessories such as a cane and top hat.

A less eccentric and more versatile option is a warm tweed suit with a bow tie. A special highlight will be a corduroy, velvet tie or woolen scarf.

How to dress

You need to choose a long floor-length dress, perhaps even with a train. Fitted models with a narrow bodice or corset and a moderately full skirt will look advantageous. Among the shades, it is better to choose classic white or silver with red or blue accents. If the bride does not like this option, then she can choose a bright dress that will contrast attractively with the snow-white background, for example, scarlet, pink, blue or coffee. Patterns made of rhinestones, decorative embroidery and lace details will look advantageous.

You can emphasize the mood with the help of additional accessories - a fur coat, a cape with a hood, a shawl or a bright scarf. Additionally, it is worth choosing a themed hat, muff and boots or even felt boots. If your choice is a winter Russian wedding, they will look harmonious, and you can change into elegant shoes already in the banquet hall.

Interesting! We have written a separate detailed article about choosing a wedding dress for a winter celebration. Here she is.

It is better to do the hairstyle collected, after straightening the hair, if you plan to stay in the cold for a long time, where the curls quickly lose their shape. If the bride does not have a fur hat, you can use a veil or just a large hairpin decorated with rhinestones.

As for makeup, when creating it you need to stick to one of two options for accents - on the eyes or on the lips. In the first case, the bride will suit thin black arrows in a retro style or the timeless “Smokey eyes”, and the lipstick should be a natural shade. The second option involves lightly elaborating the eyelids with pastel shades and a bright accent of matte lipstick. In both cases, it is better to choose a golden foundation and platinum powder.

Advice! The manicure can be plain, French or decorated with rhinestones and winter or openwork patterns.

A winter wedding is not a reason to give up fresh flowers.

When creating a bridal bouquet, you can use your imagination, but it is better to prepare this accessory together with an experienced florist.

In winter, there are some nuances in preserving the original appearance of the buds. The composition can be in snow-white or bright colors; the contrast of white snow and green details looks expressive. You can complement the bouquet with artificial snow, pine needles and even pine cones; branches with red berries will look organic.

The groom should also think about how to dress for a wedding in winter. Any classic suit is suitable for the celebration, but you can add a twist to the look and wear a tailcoat or tuxedo. For a walk, it is advisable to choose a black coat, a suitable headdress and perhaps even a decorative cane. To emphasize the coziness of a “warm” winter wedding, you can replace a regular tie with a knitted one or even a scarf.

What to wear to a winter wedding? Guests are free to dress as they wish. For women, long evening dresses or more cozy knitted ones are suitable. If you are planning a general photo shoot for everyone present, you should warn everyone about this in advance so that they wear appropriate clothing for the weather. Classic suits are suitable for men, and you can emphasize the winter theme with the help of knitted boutonnieres.

Bride's bouquet and groom's boutonniere with photo

The bride's bouquet is made in the prevailing colors of the celebration. The boutonniere should be a mini version of the bride's bouquet so that the newlywed couple looks harmonious.

Any flowers with the addition of artificial snow are appropriate. If the wedding is in a rustic or rustic style, a bouquet of fir branches and cones will look great. Bright bunches of rowan and viburnum are suitable for those who like brighter options.

In addition to flowers and branches, you can add knitted details to the bouquet and boutonniere if they resonate with something in the image of the newlyweds.

For a photo shoot, you can take a spare frost-resistant bouquet of crystal flowers. Firstly, such a touch is still rare, and guests will definitely be delighted. Secondly, with a crystal bouquet you can take stunning shots outdoors, but return to the standard version indoors.

Flowers for a winter wedding

• A wedding should always involve a lot of flowers. If you decide to celebrate a celebration in winter, this rule also cannot be broken. However, several recommendations should be followed to ensure that the newlyweds are satisfied.
• The wedding bouquet should not contain flowers that freeze quickly. This is why you should give up orchids. It is possible to replace them with lilies, which are more resistant to low temperatures. Roses, callas and chrysanthemums are ideal for a winter wedding bouquet. Fortunately, there are many shades of these flowers, and you can put together the perfect bouquet to complement your wedding style.
• Some brides prefer non-standard solutions. They make bouquets from spruce branches, cones and rowan berries.

Dress code for guests

If your celebration requires a specific dress code, make this known to guests in your winter wedding invitations. Send them in early so that you have time to find outfits.

It will be great if you can prepare boutonnieres for all male guests and small bracelets with flowers/twigs for beautiful ladies, and for the photo shoot everyone can bring scarves and mittens in the same color scheme.

Advice! If you move away from the classic style, you can invite the groom's friends to come in cozy knitted sweaters.

Color spectrum

When decorating a wedding in the cold season, they often choose a combination of white with various shades:

• blue - this option harmonizes with the winter landscape and looks elegant;
• red – shades of red with white and green look cozy and help convey the Christmas atmosphere;
• purple - to prevent the design from becoming gloomy, white, silver, and gold are added to the purple color;
• green - it is better to give preference to darker shades of green;
• black - the contrasting combination of black outfits and white snow looks luxurious. Black color is used to decorate small details - invitations, accessories, decorations for the hall;
• pink – this color in a duet with white is perfect for a shabby chic style ceremony;
• brown – the white-brown combination is elegantly complemented with pink, red, blue and green accents;
• gray - a universal color that harmonizes with a large number of shades, besides, silver in winter decoration looks more interesting than pure white;
• blue - combination with white emphasizes the fabulous atmosphere.

The traditional white color can be replaced with an ivory shade. It will add a light vintage touch to the holiday.
Ivory goes well with gray, blue, purple and pink. You can make color accents using silver or gold shades. Advice! The design necessarily alternates between shiny and matte details. This is necessary so as not to liken the decor to New Year's tinsel, which in large quantities looks vulgar.

Decor for invitations and place cards

All printing is done in the same color scheme as the wedding itself. At the same time, it is advisable to add to the design of invitations and place cards something that speaks of the coming winter, for example, snowflakes.
Winter wedding invitations with a calligraphic font that imitates handwritten text will hint to guests even before the holiday that something special is coming.

Table setting

Winter wedding table decorations have characteristic features. For example, transparent crystal and white porcelain are chosen as tableware, which fit perfectly into the theme of the celebration.

Covers for candlesticks are often made by hand - knitted from woolen threads in the form of mittens or Christmas socks.

To decorate the table, compositions of pine cones and spruce needles are used. They are decorated with sparkles, crystals, braid or cotton flowers. Floristry with viburnum or rowan berries looks original. It can be placed among treats using small vases or candlesticks.

Oranges, tangerines or grapefruits help make an appetizing accent when serving. Bright citrus fruits are used to make garlands, decorate the newlyweds’ table with them, and fill transparent vases.
To design place cards in an original way, the names of the guests are written on snowflakes or paper crystals and secured to tangerines using toothpicks.

Openwork napkins are an indispensable addition to wedding decor. To make the accessory more sophisticated, it is decorated with a lace pattern, braid, and embroidery.

Idea! Serving the buffet on a blanket or bedspread can create the illusion of a winter picnic in the open air, with the chairs replaced with wooden stumps. Such a non-standard technique will add zest to the decoration of the festive table. The backs of chairs are also decorated with warm blankets.

Wedding procession

If you want the walk to the venue to be memorable for you and your guests forever, hire a trio of horses harnessed to a beautiful carriage.

Those who love original solutions can consider renting a sleigh driven by horses or blue-eyed huskies.

If finances allow, and the wedding is on New Year's Eve, you can even rent a sleigh with reindeer , and the newlyweds can dress up in the costumes of Father Frost and the Snow Maiden.

Blankets will warm you up and add coziness

Blankets are designed to resist the cold and create an atmosphere of comfort, so when thinking about design ideas for a winter wedding, include several blankets in your list of essentials: they will certainly come in handy for you and your guests at a photo shoot, will become an interesting part of the decoration of the photo zone, and will be indispensable if you are holding a wedding in a tent or cottage. Often blankets for weddings are rented.

Decoration of the banquet hall

When choosing decor for a banquet, follow these recommendations:

1. Don’t skimp on lighting : in winter, electric garlands and multi-colored LED strips are appropriate. Decorate them around the perimeter of walls, windows and front doors to create a festive mood. If you don't like twinkling lights, order standard drapery with balls and fabrics, as is customary for summer weddings, but this option will look less interesting;
2. If you decide to hold an event in a restaurant with an open area, you can light fireworks there at the climax;
3. Light a lot of candles on the tables - this will make the atmosphere special. The flickering of candles will amazingly transform wedding photos;
4. Choose a restaurant that doesn't skimp on tableware. Crystal is the best choice for a winter wedding banquet.

Important! When planning a winter wedding, pay attention to interesting details and findings and feel free to include them in your wishes to the decorators.

Additional Tips

When choosing from several types of design for a banquet hall for a wedding, you need to take into account that light shades visually expand the space, saturated shades narrow it, and neutral shades can give the room endless borders. All these principles need to be used to your advantage so that guests feel comfortable in the venue and enjoy the winter wedding. The decoration of the hall in the photo is an example of the correct approach to decor.

To emphasize the winter mood, you need to dim the light or make it with a cold tint. You should ask the administration of a cafe or restaurant about this possibility in advance, and it is better to initially choose an establishment that fits such parameters. The use of candles instead of light bulbs must also be agreed upon with the staff in advance.

Menu ideas

You shouldn’t order a lot of light salads and snacks: they are only suitable in summer. Place appetizer rolls with caviar and red fish on the table. For starters, you can serve exotic soups: surprise, surprise! When choosing a second course, give preference to hearty dishes, pay particular attention to hot dishes. An excellent option is all types of meat: beef kebab, goose, duck, roasted pig.

For dessert, guests will enjoy chocolate fondue and hearty, aromatic pies, and for drinks they will certainly enjoy warming non-alcoholic mulled wine.

Instead of traditional ice cubes, you should serve frozen fruit figurines with alcohol : this will pleasantly surprise your guests.

Cake

An incredibly tall snow-white cake decorated with fragile snowflakes would look ideal. The final touch to the menu at a winter wedding should be such that everyone present simply gasps with delight.

Design ideas and important nuances

Ideas for decorating a winter wedding are varied, but regardless of where the celebration will take place, you need to prepare warm drinks for the guests. Even in a heated banquet hall, such a move would be useful, since many will go outside from time to time, especially if outdoor entertainment is provided. You can put a separate table with tea, coffee or mulled wine.

Some newlyweds prefer to have a photo shoot twice - during clear winter weather and at night, when the snow sparkles beautifully and lanterns complement the surroundings.

The menu should be composed of hearty dishes, since in winter the appetite is much higher than in summer. Meat and fish dishes, warm and cold snacks are suitable. Special attention should be paid to desserts - you can place a separate table with sweets. The cake can be made multi-tiered, snow-white with silver or blue patterns.

Entertainment examples

When choosing entertainment, you should start from the given theme.

An example for a winter wedding in the “Winter’s Tale” style: act out the story of the struggle between good and evil in an open area near a restaurant or in the forest (if you rented a mansion). To do this, all guests are divided into two teams and begin a snowball fight. And when good wins (it always wins), the groom launches fabulous fireworks.

If a photo walk in the park before the banquet is planned together with the guests, you can arrange a slide or ice skating.

There are also universal ideas for entertaining those gathered: on the second day, a friendly group can go to the forest on skis or to the mountains to enjoy snowboarding and skiing.

Scenario for an outdoor wedding in winter

• To prevent the wedding from being boring, you can dilute it with entertaining events. Ask guests to go outside for a snowball fight. Just tell them in advance to dress warmly.
• make a snowman or another snow figure together Activities like this bring people together. You can all go sledding down the hill together.
• If you want a more traditional wedding, then do not give up the usual competitions and rituals. However, the above entertainment will definitely be remembered not only by the young people, but also by their guests.

To have a beautiful and memorable wedding, you don’t have to adapt to those around you and hold the celebration in the warm season. A winter wedding is an ideal option for brave couples. Yes, during the preparation process it will take a lot of effort to decorate, select a beautiful place, etc. However, all these efforts will not be in vain. You will definitely remember the celebration for the rest of your life.

Photoshoot

If there is snowfall on the day of the celebration, you are just lucky! You will have many amazing shots: how you kiss in the falling snow, how you throw a handful of snowflakes up in your palms and laugh. Trees sprinkled with snow in the background will complement the fabulous atmosphere in the frames.

You can draw a heart in the snow and take a photo next to it, or if you are not afraid of freezing, lie down in the snowdrifts and make snow angels.

Advice! If there are frosty patterns on the restaurant windows, be sure to take atmospheric shots against their background.

During a winter wedding, photos can be taken in almost any location, and they will be winning. If you have the opportunity to go to Central Park before the banquet, do it. Don't bypass the ice slide there, take a ride! You will get bright, emotional shots.

Wander through the ice labyrinth and skate hand-in-hand on the outdoor ice skating rink. Believe me, when you look back at these photos years later, romantic memories will come back to life again and again.

Forest chamber wedding on a reasonable budget

Lifehacks of a frugal bride)

Hello everyone, my name is Ella, and there is exactly a month left until my wedding (our wedding is on August 18, and the holiday is on August 20). We have a whole year of preparation behind us, which taught us a lot...) congratulations to all the brides who are at the beginning of this path, you have many discoveries ahead of you, but perhaps our experience will be useful for someone.

Perhaps, having read the title, you thought that I would now tell you how to organize a cool wedding in Moscow for 100,000, but let's be realistic. We decided to organize the wedding ourselves financially (without moms, dads and loans), so the amount we determined for our budget was 300-350,000 rubles. At the beginning of preparation, this amount seemed consonant with the phrase “mission impossible.” For Moscow this is a fairly modest budget. I was scrolling through the perfect photos on weddywood with happy and stylish newlyweds, thoughtful design and perfectly matching shades, and my inner perfectionist rejoiced. But my inner Jew clenched his fists furiously, since such weddings often cost the newlyweds (or their parents) six zeros. However, then the upper limit of our budget began to be perceived more as a challenge, because at all costs we wanted to organize not just a wedding, but an unforgettable holiday for us and for our guests. Looking ahead, I want to say that, of course, you can organize a wedding much cheaper (even in Moscow), by lowering the requirements and giving up many things (here you need to understand that a slight saving of some 2000 here and 1500 there, in total leads to more significant numbers). It all depends on your capabilities and priorities (but more on that later). So, as a perfectionist, I had very serious requirements (my future husband once joked that if I didn’t like the floor in the restaurant or the material of the curtains, we would immediately reject this option, but for me there is more truth in this joke, than jokes). Over time, I began to take things easier, but at the beginning of preparation I wanted everything to be perfect! We wanted to move away from the classics as much as possible (with a lush cake dress, toastmaster, an expensive-rich hall and dragging guests to the registry office and to a photo shoot) and have an intimate, cozy wedding outdoors, in a beautiful picturesque place.

This is what we wanted: Location: a site outside the city, ideally in a forest or near a lake, with its own territory, where you can hold an outdoor ceremony and photo shoot; a restaurant with panoramic windows or a white gazebo in the fresh air, but NOT a tent; Number of people: 30 Style: eco, rustic (we called it wood wedding for the wedding) Photo: fine art Bride's image: light, corsetless dress in milky or gray color Live music and a lot of retro light bulbs for the atmosphere✨

If this concept is close to you, read about what we came up with in the end. It worked for us, it can work for you too! Go

Here are the ideas that helped us save money: 1. Set priorities. At the very beginning of your preparation, write down for yourself what you want, what is important to you and what is not so important (an important point: you must do this together, otherwise there will be questions later. In addition, you need to understand that saving is important, but there are things on which you cannot save (for example, high-quality alcohol and food). Setting priorities will help a) to correctly distribute the budget b) not to succumb to the “super offers” of contractors, advice from relatives, prejudices (they will be discussed separately) and “this is how it is” in the end paying for something you didn’t really want, but it seems like “they usually take it.” Ask yourself what you CAN'T give up when picturing your dream wedding. For example: a beautiful restaurant in a picturesque place, a dress from your favorite designer that you have dreamed of since childhood, an ideal photographer whose work will capture your day for the rest of your life. Write it down! Be consistent and be willing to give up something. At first it’s very disappointing, because you want everything and for everything to be perfect!)) and it seems that if this, this and this don’t happen, then that’s it, a tragedy, but remember that this is your day and it will be wonderful no matter how much money was spent on decoration, whether your dress was rented or bought in an expensive boutique; All this gives momentary pleasure, but is unlikely to affect the degree of satisfaction with the holiday for both you and your guests. The amount of money spent is not always directly proportional to the emotions received from the holiday! Remember what is important and what is just stuff. My friend didn’t have a host, DJ, candy bar, flowers or other decor at her wedding; her dress was bought on the Internet for pennies, but you know what I’ll tell you? It was the best wedding I was lucky enough to attend, it was very fun and soulful, everyone will remember this day forever!

For ourselves, we decided that the main thing is the location. So our choice fell on the Pine River country hotel, after a trip to which we did not consider any other options.

This option involved accommodating all the guests, which cost us a pretty penny, but we decided it was worth it. Just look at these sphere houses))

What was not important to us? Video shooting, candy bar, a large amount of decor and floristry. 2. Plan your wedding in advance (6-12 months). Of course, a wedding can be organized in a couple of months or even a couple of weeks. But! Pressing deadlines create jitters and a great temptation to agree to “there’s no time to explain, take what you have, no matter how much it costs, ahhh, quickly,” because you don’t have time to compare, analyze, try, you need to act. In 6-12 months you can: set priorities, make a list of requirements for the site and contractors (I have already written how important it is to understand what you want) and from the whole variety choose those who fit your criteria. In addition, if, for example, you received an offer in the summer or fall of 2022, and are planning a wedding for 2019, it is important to have time to book contractors and a venue at 2022 prices, as the price tag may increase from January. There is only one drawback to this point: in a year you can change your mind about many things 10 times; something that you liked at first, after a couple of months, you may no longer like at all. So one more piece of advice: don’t buy a dress a year in advance, it’s easier to deal with the rest!

3) Conduct market research before saying “yes” to something you really like at first sight and keep notes. Yes, yes, this is an option for nerdy brides, but! It's really more convenient this way. It’s convenient to use Google Sheets, Pinterest, and create separate folders with photo ideas. At first, you either like everything or nothing and you are completely confused: what to choose?! But then everything falls into place, having saved a ton of pictures, you will see that, in general, some trends can be traced that are close to you. After comparing a bunch of sites and contractors, choose the top 10 and describe everything in detail. We started by searching for a site and created a Google Doc in which we made a comparison board with all the suburban sites that externally matched our ideas about the ideal place. The table included ALL the main expense items that awaited us, and this is not only food, alcohol, but also: rent, % for service, corkage fee, distance from the city (this is important to consider, as extreme remoteness may imply additional expenses: accommodation for guests and transfer), additional costs (for example, at many venues you need to pay separately for the exit registration area, pay for the rental of chairs for it, pay for music and lighting equipment) as well as PROS AND CONS. And if at the beginning it seems that the choice is huge, it is very difficult to stop at one thing, then after drawing up the table, everything becomes obvious. All that remains is to go to the site and watch it live)) Which is what we did. It seems like it was back in November...) 4) Forget about stereotypes. Honestly, couples spend 50 percent more because of them. Let's consider a few: - you need to get married in the summer It depends more on your priorities, but if the weather does not matter much, choose winter and you will greatly simplify your life and greatly reduce expenses. Winter weddings are sooo beautiful and the discounts from venues and contractors are incredible; - you need to get married on a day off Summer + day off = say “bye-bye” to your little ones. On weekends, the rental of some sites is simply cosmic! You want your guests to feel good and comfortable, but are you ready to pay an extra 100-200 thousand for it? Believe me, your friends love you, and for most of them, taking 1-2 days off is not a catastrophe on a universal scale. -a wedding without a host is boring. Most likely, when you look at the price list of hosts and DJs, you will be struck by the thought that maybe they are not really needed. But on all platforms you will be intimidated by the fact that either “there is no wedding without a host” or “it will be boring, the guests will not know what to do with themselves”, etc. In fact, a great wedding without a host is possible if: 1) you still have a well-thought-out program and a friend/relative who is ready to take on the main functions of the host 2) you have alternative options for entertaining guests, for example, a cover band. -expensive means good and high quality. This is not always the case. Search. Compare. Sometimes the pricing of wedding services has no logic (even for those who provide these services). Expensive doesn't mean good. Inexpensive doesn't mean bad. It is difficult to objectively assess the difference between a photographer for 100,000 and 30,000 and the difference between a presenter for 40,000 and 80,000. The average fee for a cover band in Moscow is 60-100,000, but you can find guys who will come with their equipment and rock for 30k and believe me, the huge difference in price does not mean the same huge difference in the drive and emotions that their performance will bring. - you need to invite all your relatives, otherwise they will be offended. This is difficult, but admit the fact that it is stupid to invite people for show and spend inadequate amounts on it. Make a list with your loved one and let there be only those people with whom you would like to share the happiest day of your life (and your communication with them will not be limited to this one day). You don't owe anyone anything! About our experience: despite the high cost of the season, we still consciously chose summer, since I am a terrible freezer and we wanted to enjoy all the delights of a country site. When choosing a day, we quickly realized that a weekend was not an option for us. It was decided to hold the wedding on Monday (since it can still somehow be added to the weekend). So we saved about 100,000-150,000 on site rental. Plus, many contractors offered discounts for weekdays. At first, we still had doubts about this and we were afraid that no one would come to us, but a survey among friends showed that if everyone knows about your wedding much in advance, then asking from work for a couple of days is not a problem. Your guests love you, remember that! 5) subscribe to wedding salons, agencies and photographers on social networks! You have a great chance to find out about discounts, promotions and special offers in time. This helped me: -go to a free lecture for brides from “Kate and Leo” (great guys, by the way!), where I was lucky to find the best presenter; -get a free love story photo session and make friends with a gorgeous photographer who told us about the site we chose; - find out about a big discount on the wedding dress of my favorite Piondress, which I didn’t even dream of buying because of the price tag that was twice my budget. (PS I never bought that dress because the groom didn’t like it. Yes, the groom went with me to the fitting!))) But! I bought another one, also at a discount, I’ll write about that a little further, but for now here it is - the dress that I didn’t buy)

6) Negotiate. Wedding contractors are those who work with people and for people. This means that the human factor is sometimes more important than money. Often these are people who are simply in love with their work. Therefore, if, for example, you found a photographer or presenter and “your heart stopped, your heart froze,” BUT you saw his price tag and you almost had a heart attack, do not rush to give up your dream. Miracles happen, it's proven! Get acquainted. When you meet, magic can happen between you, you will realize that you are on the same wavelength, and the photographer/presenter or someone else will suddenly realize that it was you that he was missing for his portfolio, or he has long wanted to work on the site that you chosen, or you are just good guys, but he is still free on your day. The last point is about us ☺️. And we are very grateful to our contractors who offered special prices for our couple. After the wedding, I will write a detailed report about everyone who made our wedding day! 7) Look for compromises. A logical continuation of the 6th point. You really like a photographer, but you can’t afford him - agree on a shoot for 3-4 hours instead of 8. Is the minimum amount of money allocated for the decor of the hall? Think about seating: By seating everyone at one long table instead of separate ones, you can save a lot on flowers and decor. You can refuse the presidium and sit down with the guests, this will also save 5000 thousand of your budget. Deciding that I would be my own decorator, I made a list of what, in my opinion, would decorate the already nice room: candles were bought (in Auchan, by the way, they turned out to be the cheapest, 63 rubles for a 12cm candle), fabric for runners (bought from wholesalers , 25 meters cost approximately 2300) for tables, the rest (for example, retro garlands) we plan to rent. We will also be ordering a garland of greenery for the tables.

By the way, for those who want to order flowers to decorate the hall. Keep in mind that floristry is a very large expense item. The only life hack that I learned for myself is that flower arrangements on an oasis come out cheaper than in a vase. Read more about decor. As I already wrote, all the agencies I contacted quoted prices for hall decoration from 40 to 100. For this reason, I decided to do the decoration myself. To be honest, being your own decorator is harder than it seems (I suspect that it will be especially hard on the wedding day itself), but my future father-in-law helped us out a lot: he took on the making of the arch for the ceremony, plus a few other things. And my mother-in-law, who is interested in gardening, agreed to provide us with flowers to decorate the arch. I don’t know yet what will come of it, but the savings are not bad!) Judge for yourself: renting an arch costs on average 3500 rubles + decoration. Making an arch for your event costs about 15,000 + visiting decorators 4500-7500. Alcohol. We bought it ourselves and here’s what helped us: the Edadil application, with its help, we tracked promotions and gradually bought what we needed. For those who, like me, do not understand wine, I can also recommend the Vivino application. Here’s another point that turned out to be unexpected for us (and here I advise everyone to read the agreement with the site carefully): you need to keep receipts for alcohol to present them at the site. 9) A little about contractors. If you are from Moscow, but are organizing a wedding in the region, then choose contractors from the region, it will be cheaper and not worse in quality. Moscow prices are Moscow prices. Plus, the cost of delivery (or taxi for contractors) can be prohibitive. What did we do? Of the Moscow contractors, we only have a photographer with a DJ and a presenter. But this is only because we immediately fell for a specific photographer and a specific presenter and did not even want to consider other people. The rest of our guys (florist, stylist) are from the Kaluga region. 10) Outfits of the bride and groom. I wrote above that a friend bought a dress in an online store. The Internet also helped me: firstly, with a dress for the ceremony. Initially, the budget for the dress was 20-25,000. At first I wanted to sew it to order in my hometown, since for that kind of money the hope of finding something suitable in Moscow salons for that kind of money was not possible. Then, after looking at a huge number of dresses on the Internet, I found THAT SAME dress in the Mary Truffle salon (one of the most budget ones in this salon). I tried everything: look for it on Avito and other sites where brides sell brand new dresses that have only been worn once, looked for it in other salons and other cities). But in vain. So for the sake of him, dear one, the budget was slightly exceeded; the discounted dress cost 27,000. By the way, when planning your budget, remember that you will most likely need to have your dress adjusted. And this is also not free, as I naively believed) although some salons provide such a service (but this is not certain)). Secondly, I found a very decent registry office dress on Asos. It cost 3700, it fit perfectly!

Shoes. Oh, that's a separate topic. I thought it couldn’t be anything more difficult than finding a good groom and a dream dress, but no. If you wear heels, congratulations, no problem. But I don't go. So I still have another test ahead of me! Among tons of Chinese shit, I managed to find decent shoes in Alba. If we divide all heeled shoes into uncomfortable and very uncomfortable, then these fall into the first category. They have a discreet hidden platform that levels out the heel height a bit, a fairly comfortable last, and are made of soft leather (which gives me hope that they will break in a little) About the price. Here's the most interesting thing. The triumph of the inner Jew. In the store these shoes cost 6000. In the online store 3000. THE SAME shoes. For a long time I didn’t understand how this could be, then they explained to me that the site was selling last year’s collection. But are the shoes the same? Then why pay more?))) I ordered a hair decoration from a craftswoman from Togliatti.

The groom's jacket was found by his mother in some store very far from all the Zars, Mangos and Achenams, Sudars, Handersens, etc. So here's 2 news for you: it is not necessary for the groom to buy a blue suit! For a country wedding, a jacket in the smart casual style is quite suitable, which the groom can wear later, plus non-suit trousers, which he may even already have and don’t need to buy? 2nd news: a good quality item can be found in an inexpensive and unpromoted store. The jacket cost about 6,000. The shoes were bought at an orthopedic shoe store (which is usually not very nice, but we were lucky to find very stylish boots) for about the same amount. That's all for now, I went on to prepare for our wonderful day, and you write if you have any questions)

CONTINUATION

Recommendations

If you have firmly decided that you want to say the cherished “Yes!” to each other. on a winter day, be sure to consider the following important points:

1. Even if the weather forecast promises a clear day, you should not trust it 100%. An unpleasant surprise can be a sharp wind and an unexpected thaw. Plan the course of the event in such a way that the vagaries of bad weather cannot significantly affect the organization;
2. Thoughtfully plan when registration starts, what time the photo walk starts, and so on. Winter days are short, so you need to do everything in time. It will be a shame to end up with dark photos simply because you didn't take this feature of the season into account;
3. Solve the issue with the premises for the celebration , find picturesque places for a photo shoot, agree on the menu in the restaurant and choose a sketch of the wedding cake with the confectioners;
4. Think about the style and color scheme of your winter wedding. Select the necessary accessories, order invitations, a bridal bouquet and a boutonniere for the groom;
5. Decide on the outfits of the bride and groom so that they are not only attractive, but also warm during a walk in cold weather.

If you realize that you don’t have time to solve all the problems yourself, hire a professional organizer.

Colorful winter report

Many newlyweds cannot decide to have a winter wedding because they are afraid of lackluster photos. And completely in vain. Winter photographs can be full of non-trivial ideas and are often even more interesting than summer ones.

Black and white photographs with an emphasis on bright details. An unusual bouquet of the bride, a tie of the groom, bunches of rowan berries in the background - all this can expressively emphasize the solemnity of the moment. A monochrome background allows you to capture spectacular shots that can be stylized as retro photos, which always looks amazing.

The scenery for filming plays an important role. The photographer can photograph a wedding sleigh ride, a walk through a snowy forest, the bride and groom in the scenery of an old estate or a luxury hotel.

The contrast of cold winter landscapes with the passionate feelings of the newlyweds allows you to create a rich wedding report, full of emotions and passion.