No, I Don't Regret My Christmas Wedding!

We live in North London, I'm a freelance interior decorator, Rob works in IT for a major bank which sends him on holidays each year right after Christmas. Since we met 4 years ago, we've always made December our thing. I guess it's our month. Because we're both so busy, we don't take holidays during the year. Our luxury Decembers hold a lot of good memories for our relationship. My work dries up in November and doesn't really start again until February. This means I'm working full time all the months between and rarely take a weekend off. December is when I take a whole month to holiday and recharge myself for the year ahead. It's no surprise that Rob proposed in December whilst we were on a Cruise and I was really happy to set the date for the following December, three days before Christmas.

'are you crazy?'

This is how everyone we know greeted our wedding news. I'll admit it made us both seriously consider eloping (in December of course). But we didn't and now when I tell people that we married 'during Christmas'  they all end up asking me if I regret it! No, I certainly don't!

I've always wanted to wear a red wedding dress without looking medieval and after much trying on of red dresses, decided that they all made me look like an opera singer or an extra in a period play. In the end I settled for a true scarlet sash that would have looked....well, odd at any other time of year. But in December it looked like a little splash of festivity, which I loved.

My two bridesmaids had been squabbling over wearing champagne coloured dresses (which I loved) but after deciding on my red sash, I opted for a twist on the traditional berrry and pine green theme and decided to pair my red sash with a key lime green. I wanted to step away from the dramatic winter wedding look that is usually associated with Christmas brides. It was a fresh, vibrant take on the whole wedding at Christmas' theme.

A big advantage of marrying at Christmas is that our venue already had a huge stash of Christmas decorations including bells, doves and glass baubles. On our request, they agreed to decorate with all their white baubles and trimmings only. Along with our silver service table settings, it looked great.

I had considered going all in and making it a stunning visual display but changed my mind when booking the venue. I work on settings all year and didn't want to be up til 3am on my wedding day making sure everything was just so. That's what I do for a living and I knew I'd never be able to really relax and take in my wedding day if the decorations were going to be a showcase of my talent. In that regard, marrying at Christmas was a masterstroke. The best part was that it didn't cost us anything.

We purchased 60 x  seedling fir trees (on discount from our local nursery) to give as favours and the whole scene was elegantly festive without being over the top.

The only tacky 'Christmassy' thing I had to endure was during my hen do (below) which was a mock early Christmas. Sorry girls.

On the day itself, we had bright morning sunshine, just about 10 minutes worth but long enough to take some great photos. I wore my husband's trenchcoat over my gown to the venue because we first met when he offered it to me in the pouring rain. It was a very emotional journey. Getting married so close to Christmas meant that everyone who was at work was charged up for Christmas and in an excitable mood. And I don't have to tell you how nice it is to be whisked through the airport and given priority plan seating during the chaos of Christmas travel because you're newlyweds. (Tip, I actually wore my wedding dress with said trenchcoat from our reception to the airport, we got upgraded!).

Arriving to our destination and having a hotel Christmas was so lovely and it was romantic to wake up with my husband on Christmas morning and enjoy the gifts we'd bought each other. Speaking of gifts, people were overly generous so don't believe it when people try to discourage you from a Christmas wedding because everyone is apparently broke at this time of year. It's a season on giving and that goes for weddings too!

When we planned our Christmas wedding, a lot of 'concerned' friends mentioned that it was a hectic time of year and that we might suffer from increased costs. Well, nothing could be further from the truth! Not only did we use services at a hectic time of year, but everyone (from the cake maker, to our patisserie baker, our florist and even the broker we bought our alcohol from) threw in a little extra for Christmas! Talk about generous! I was really surprised that Chirstmas cheer still exists. I'll be honest, I really didn't think it did. I was proven wrong.

Bottom line? Don't let anyone put you off a Christmas wedding. We got married during the madness of a Christmas in London and it was all absolutely fine. Like anything, if you're flexible and willing to be reasonable (for instance, I didn't demand the venue take down all their Christmas decor and put up mine) you'll be pleasantly surprised to find people willing to help you. Like our patisserie baker who 'threw in' 60 extra eclairs because she had over supply from another catering event. How great is that?!

I had my yearly Christmas celebration, a Christmas proposal and then a Christmas wedding (with the bonus of yearly anniversaries to boot) and now, all we need is a Christmas baby and I'll have accomplished everything festively possible!

I'll keep you posted on that one ;)

-Libby