‘Tis the season for all things Christmas! If you are dreaming of a white wedding, now is the time to start gathering the holiday inspiration that you need to plan your special day. Christmas weddings have a unique way of combining the most magical time of the year with a warm aura of romance. Our Charleston wedding planner has compiled a few of her favorite festive decorating ideas to help you get in the spirit for a merry and timelessly elegant holiday wedding!
Dreaming of a White Christmas Wedding
Incorporating holiday-inspired touches will provide a classic yet personalized feel to any of our Charleston, SC wedding venues. But before you begin decking the halls for your winter wedding, make sure that you avoid going overboard with the faux snow, glitter, and red stockings. For the perfect wintry wedding, it’s best to keep it minimalistic but merry with these timeless designs:
Subtle Holiday Palettes
Instead of using the traditional bright red and green holiday scheme, consider breaking the mold with a more subdued palette. Our Charleston wedding planner recommends using a muted color such as navy, blush, cranberry, sage, or a casual blue paired with a white tone.
You can also incorporate glints of gold and silver to accent your color scheme to provide a more natural look and feel. If you prefer not to have one specific color palette, you can place little pops of color throughout your wedding, with white or dark being your base color.
Snowy Scenery
To avoid overdoing the holiday decor, opt for more natural accents like red berries, frosted pinecones, simple wreaths, lacy garland, and other delicate greenery. Combine these rustic elements with elegant white linens, upscale lights, crystal chandeliers, and metallic candlesticks for the perfect blend of decor styles.
You may also want to incorporate white, leafless birch trees or olive trees, either real or artificial, hung with simple ornaments or lights. Last but not least, stage a magnificent Christmas tree adorned with elegant ornaments that match your color theme to embrace the season.
Holiday Greenery
Our Charleston wedding planners are obsessing over the orange and cranberry garlands that have made an appearance in a number of homes this year. They are simple to replicate and will diffuse a spicy, warm scent, making these garlands the perfect handmade touch for your Charleston, SC wedding. Just grab a couple of oranges from the store, cut them vertically into thin slices, and dry them out in the oven for a few hours.
Then weave a piece of twine through the center of the slices, adding a few cranberries in between each section. There are endless possibilities to make your garland unique, but one of our favorites is adding a star anise seed to the center of each orange. These garlands can be their own spotlight piece or woven throughout your other holiday-inspired decorations.
Frosted Mason Jars
Mason jars are versatile pieces that can always be incorporated one way or another, but this might be one of our favorites. Grab some jars from your local store (any size will do), Epsom salt, glue, and strands of mini, battery operated lights or candles to recreate this classic look.
You can also attach twigs of greenery, berries, pinecones, or small red bells with a piece of twine or thin burlap for an added flair. Voila, you have a snowy scene that can be placed around the venue!
Scenic Holiday Backdrop
This minimalistic statement piece from Bridal Musings will serve as the perfect backdrop for any winter wedding. Even if you aren’t the craftiest DIYer, this versatile wall hanging is fairly easy to create at home. Head to your local craft store for some transparent ornaments (or opaque white if you want to go for a frosted look), a glue gun, nylon thread, gold or silver wire, and a wooden dowel which will be used as your hanging structure.
Note that the length of the dowel is essentially how much of the wall your hanging will cover. You will want to find little knick-knacks to place into the ornaments like velvet ribbons, dried seasonal florals, greenery, or little bells. Use these to incorporate your theme colors into the wall hanging. Some of these elements can even be found right in your backyard. Now it’s time to hang this elegant piece up in the perfect spot at your photo station, the ceremony altar, or basically anywhere else at our Charleston, SC wedding venues.
Bunches of Hanging Mistletoe
Winter weddings fill the air with romance, and what better way to spread the love than with mistletoe hangings around our wedding venues in Charleston, SC. Place a bunch over the altar at your ceremony or above the exit way to share one last kiss before heading off on your honeymoon.
You can find mistletoe at your local hardware or garden store and fashion an elegant bouquet with holly, berries, and maybe a few jingle bells. To keep it more minimalist, simply tie a bow around the end of the bunch.
Playful Place Cards
Bunches of holly and berries are a timeless holiday staple that can easily be incorporated into your place cards. Once you have securely fastened the bunch to a piece of twine, collect neutral-colored placement cards with a kraft background and punch a hole in one of the corners. Take care to avoid accidentally covering your guests’ names and table number. Then, pull the piece of twine through the punched hole and tie it all together in a little bow.
You can also pick up inexpensive, miniature Christmas trees while you are out Christmas shopping and place them inside a small, cork-topped glass bottle with a bit of faux snow or glitter. Then add the name and table number to the bottle exterior in gold or silver calligraphy lettering for a memorable guest take home. Now you have simple but classic holiday place cards that will look gorgeous next to the seasonal bloom centerpieces at any of our Charleston, SC wedding venues!
Festive Wedding Favors
There are countless gift options to give your guests that will leave them feeling warm and fuzzy. One way is to put together your favorite holiday cookie recipe that everyone can enjoy baking at home later! Measure out the dry ingredients in aesthetic layers inside a mason jar and, using a twine or ribbon, attach the recipe on a decorative piece of paper with your names and wedding date.
If you are feeling crafty, you can create some holiday ornaments that incorporate the color scheme of your wedding. Grab your paintbrushes and paint your names and wedding date on the ornamen. That way, your guests will look back fondly on memories of your special day for years to come. These ornaments can also double as decorations on your Christmas tree at your Charleston, SC wedding!
Cheery Send-Offs
Though the end of your dreamy winter wedding may be drawing near, don’t let your holiday-inspired theme dub down just yet. Create little send-off cones using thick pieces of tan paper or cardstock and fill them with Christmas confetti or powdery, artificial snow which can be purchased almost anywhere online.
Invite your guests to grab a cone from the basket at the end of the night and give its contents a good toss as you and your partner leave the reception. If you don’t want to worry about cleaning up a mess, opt for bells into your send-off instead. You can grab little gold and silver bells at a party store or dollar store around the holidays, and make a basket with them for guests to grab one and ring in the celebration.
With so many holiday-inspired decoration ideas to choose from, you can stylishly bundle magic, romance, and a dash of holiday spirit for an elegant celebration at our Charleston, SC wedding venues.
Your winter wonderland wedding is sure to leave you and your guests with evergreen memories that last a lifetime. Whether you’re celebrating a recent engagement or already in the process of planning your wedding, the Seabrook Island Weddings team is ready to help you plan your special day. Reach out to our Charleston wedding and event planners to learn more about our South Carolina wedding venues, as well as upcoming availability in 2021 and 2022.
