Winter Weddings

It suits some couples enormously and others not at all. Winter gives you availability and value: January is the least popular month to marry in England and Wales, at 2.6 per cent of marriages against 14.3 per cent in August (ONS, 2023), so the venue you want is far more likely to be free. What it takes away is daylight and the freedom to plan outdoors. If your picture of the day is drinks on a lawn until eight in the evening, winter is the wrong season. If it is candlelight, open fires and a long dinner, it is the right one.

Availability comes first. Good venues, photographers and bands that are booked well over a year ahead for summer Saturdays often have winter dates free. Value comes second: most venues price winter below summer and are far more willing to negotiate on a date that would otherwise be empty. Then the advantages couples tell us about afterwards. More guests come, because a winter date does not compete with summer holidays. The low sun gives soft light all day. Seasonal food and hardy flowers suit a long day in a heated room, and outside the Christmas weeks, flights and hotels are usually at their cheapest.

In the UK and mainland southern Europe, usually yes, because winter is genuinely off-peak. The Canary Islands and Madeira are the exception: winter is their high season, so a January date may cost what a June one does. There are also costs that only exist in winter: heating, extra lighting because the room has to work from four o'clock, covered walkways, umbrellas and blankets. They rarely cancel out the saving, but a summer budget simply moved to a winter date will be caught short.

Ask for a complete quotation rather than the hire fee: catering, drinks, staffing, furniture, heating, lighting, accommodation and any minimum numbers. A venue that looks cheaper on hire alone is often dearer once those are added. A venue with an empty January diary will also negotiate in a way it never would for July, particularly on a Friday, Sunday or weekday.

Decide what you want the day to feel like, then choose the country. For a genuinely wintry wedding with fires and dark afternoons, the UK does it better than anywhere, with no flights for guests and no paperwork to translate. For mild sunshine, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve both average around 16 to 17 degrees in January, against about 9 in southern England. For the most warmth, Madeira averages around 20 degrees and the Canary Islands are warmer still. Crete and Sicily are mild options in Greece and Italy.

Yes, with the right choice of place. In Greece, Crete and the Athens Riviera stay open and mild, while Santorini and Mykonos largely close from November to April. In Italy, Sicily is the mildest region and city venues work year round, but several countryside estates, including some we work with in Puglia, close between November and March.

The indoor spaces, which matter far more than in summer. In January the room is where the whole day happens, so you need to like it, and it needs to hold your full guest list through ceremony, drinks, dinner and dancing. Then check whether routes between spaces are covered, whether heating is included or billed separately, when it is switched on, and how early the light goes in that room. Ask to see the wet-weather plan, then go and stand in it.

In the UK, rarely, and we would not build the day around it. In southern Spain, the Algarve, Madeira or Crete it is a real option on a good day, though the evening will be indoors regardless. Choose a venue whose indoor ceremony space you love, and treat outdoors as a bonus if the day turns out well.

Nothing you should notice, if the plan was made months earlier. We put in place an indoor alternative for the ceremony, drinks and photographs, covered routes between spaces, heating agreed in writing, umbrellas and blankets, and a set time in the morning for the decision, made by one named person. The failure is never the rain. It is three people debating at eleven o'clock while the chairs are still outside.

Yes, if the day is built around it. Around the December solstice, southern England has under eight hours of daylight and the sun sets close to four o'clock, so we put the ceremony at midday or one and take photographs straight afterwards. Southern Europe has a little more daylight and far more sunshine: the Costa del Sol averages around 180 hours of sun in January, against about 55 in southern England (AEMET; Met Office).

Tell them, and be specific. If any part of the day is outside, put a line on the invitation asking guests to bring a warm layer, and mention if anyone will be standing on grass. For winter sun abroad, remind them that evenings are cool even after a mild day.

Work with the season rather than against it. Anemones, amaryllis, hellebores and roses, with foliage, berries and dried stems, last far better in a heated room than summer blooms. Deep tones suit candlelight: burgundy, forest green, plum and ivory, or white, cream and gold for something lighter. The real decision is lighting, because how the room looks after four o'clock matters more than what is on the tables.

Slow-cooked meat, root vegetables, rich sauces and proper puddings suit a long dinner in a way a summer menu does not. A warm drink on arrival changes the start of the day: mulled wine, spiced cider, hot chocolate for children, and a non-alcoholic option that is not an afterthought.

Yes. The service is the same as any other time of year, with a few things that matter more: heating and lighting written into the venue contract, a wet-weather plan we have actually stood in, and a timeline built backwards from sunset. Planning is charged at €75 per hour plus VAT, with a 10-hour minimum, and coordination starts at €750 for a half day and €1,400 for a full day plus VAT.

The UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, along with France, Cyprus, Malta and other destinations on request. For winter the shortlist is shorter, because not everywhere stays open, and we will tell you honestly which places work for your date.

Often six to nine months is enough, against well over a year for a summer Saturday. Two things do not shorten: legal paperwork abroad, which takes as long in winter as in summer, and the best photographers, who book up a long way ahead in any month.