Due to the current financial climate, more and more couples are planning winter weddings – this can be a significantly cheaper option. If you plan to marry in britain the weather can be very unpredictable. Summer season is peak time for wedding ceremonies. Summer Saturdays can get booked out at popular wedding venues sometimes up to three years in advance.

Couples can expect savings of £5,000 on average by shunning costly summer ceremonies and for the colder months between October and February.  In many cases, couples saved up to 50 per cent on the price of summer wedding for the reception venue, wedding planners and caterers.  The average cost of a white wedding is currently £20,000 although new statistics show marriage has fallen to its lowest level since 1895. The credit crunch and winter discounts had prompted more to marry ‘out of season’.  .

To get the Destination Wedding of your dreams at a castle wedding venue a bargain price in these difficult financial times  think last minute and off season.

Beat the credit crunch and plan a winter wedding, what could be more romantic than getting married against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains or a fairytale french wedding castle, followed by a luxury drinks reception around a warm log fire? Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and Iceland make excellent wedding locations in winter – as they are destinations that not only encompass a magical atmosphere but also places that are guaranteed to leave you with stunning memories.

If you hate the cold you can still get married in winter and enjoy hot weather – so do not despiar. Set you sights on exotic destinations such as the Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. All offer spectacular locations and sizzling temperatures.

So, if your loved one has asked for your hand in marriage, instead of opting for a summer wedding, consider the benefits of a winter ceremony and maybe a castle wedding venue – it is likely to be cheaper and it will give your guests something to look forward to during the long winter months.

Benefits to winter weddings include a more luxurious palette of colors and fabrics to choose from such as varying shades of red, royal blue, deep purple and hunter green. Wedding venues are usually more readily available (Christmas and Valentine dates not withstanding),. Other benefits include the ability to plan on short notice, without being told time and time again that your vendor, disc jockey, photographer or caterer of choice is booked solid.

Other bonuses include flowers that don’t wilt in the heat (as long as you take care not to let them freeze in the cold), cakes that don’t sag, and a bride that is not melting. A great thing is that it is most likely your invited guests will not be on holidays and will therefore able to attend your wedding. Add to that the special quality that comes across in photographs.

Nothing beats a rustic mountain lodge with roaring fireplaces, sleigh rides, and a host of other winter-loving amenities for enchanting cozy ambience. For that winter wonderland effect, choose a grand ballroom with draped fabric walls filled with white, silver and crystal twinkling lights.

For wedding accessories, decorations, and favors, winter weddings offer a host of snowflake themed items in various shades of blue, white and silver. 

Or you could go for a castle wedding venue  a baroque theme with champagne and burgundy colours, velvets and chandeliers and cherubs and church candles. 

The first thing you should consider is the exact time that you are getting married. It is now quite popular to get married around Christmas time. But it is common for prices to be higher at this time, because of their demand as Christmas decorations and presents. Roses and red colored flowers are especially popular. If you want to have romantic red roses at this time of year, you may well find that they are more expensive than you anticipated. 

If you simply want to have your wedding during the winter months, why not go for a fairytale themed wedding with shades of blue as the main color scheme. Snowflakes can play a major part in your decor from the start with your invitations right through to your place name cards decorating the tables at your reception.

You may wish to go out out with romance and get married on St Valentine s Day. With a strikingly beautiful red hearts theme, the guests will have no doubt about the way you feel for each other and your wedding day will remain in their minds as the most tender event they have even attended.  

Choosing the right winter wedding theme is actually quite easy once you think about what you want your wedding to be like.

Love can weather even the toughest economic times, and that means the weddings go on.

Couples are not going to cancel their wedding because of a weak economy — there are plenty of inexpensive options that still end in marriage. Most couples figure that as long as they’re not burying themselves in debt and have enough cash in case of a non-wedding-related emergency, now seems just as good as later.

More than ever couples today are looking to create a unique wedding “experience” for family and close friends by taking their events on the road. Resorts and other wedding venues in exotic locales stand to gain the most from the move towards so-called destination weddings. The top choice for such events? France, the land of romance, 30,000 castles and fine food and wine and fantastic value wedding packages.

Very importantly take out wedding insurance before you engage any vendors incase they do not survive these tough times leaving you out of pocket  and in a bind on your special day. 

You need to evaluate all the parts of the wedding and see what you can do yourself in order to pick the most appropriate wedding package for you. Do you know someone who sings? Plays piano? Bakes a mean cake? Can be your Emcee?

Recession Proof Wedding packages offers everything couples need to host their dream wedding without breaking the bank.  Some wedding planners offer their services à la carte — helping with only certain parts of the wedding to help cash-strapped brides and grooms.

Nearly 15% of couples now hire an outside expert to handle details, up from around 8% five years ago. Driving the trend?

Some tips for the savvy bride:

• Together with your partner prioritize what’s important to each (and both) of you for your wedding day and allocate your funds for your wedding package accordingly. Choose what’s really important to you – - great photos or beautiful flowers – - and put your money toward that, rather than trying to throw money at every aspect of the wedding
• Do not spend every penny you have on your wedding package.  Only spend what you can afford now. 
• Get everything in writing. 
• Pare down - scale back that guest list. Forget Preston Bailey
• Go for quality not quantity  - Order simple floral arrangements. Avoid exotic flowers that are not in season.  ok for inexpensive flowers. The most popular lower-priced blooms are: daisies, freesia, chrysanthemums, gladiolus, and sunflowers.
• Do any DIY you can handle
• Think about a wedding in  October to March – off peak months for the northern hemisphere and avoid Saturdays. 
• Have a worst case scanrio plan.

Wedding Planning Calls For Making Important Decisions

No doubt, wedding planning calls for making important decisions and sifting through myriads of ideas and suggestions; in addition, it calls for dealing with a whole wide variety of choices and dealing with different people. The fun can very easily go out of your wedding planning if you become stressed by all the choices and decisions that need to be made.

It therefore pays to approach wedding planning in a smart way and to be prepared to overcome obstacles. However, before the actual wedding planning begins you need to first of all finalize the date of the wedding and you need to also ensure that your wedding ceremony is not cluttered or too complicated because it is better to keep things simple and straightforward. This will allow everyone to share their most cherished moments without too much elaboration or unnecessary pomp.

Next, you can get stuck with the actual wedding planning. This means understanding the need to know that delegating tasks will make the overall planning more fun and easier. You can make use of internet to get very important, useful and bright ideas for better weding planing. Approach the wedding planning in as organized a manner as is possible and also make an effort to pick the right and appropriate theme for the wedding – one that suits your personality and defines you as well.

Lastly, decide on the bridal entourage and of course pay special attention to creating a complete guest list. Obviously, it is better to learn about how to plan a wedding well before the actual wedding is to take place. Be mentally prepared and make sure you need to abide by your budget. It also means using a wedding planner book and creating a time line within which to get everything done.

Perhaps, the biggest pro of choosing to book your honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination is that you know you would end up at a place that comes highly rated and recommended. Choosing the perfect honeymoon destination can be difficult, as you never really know what to expect. By choosing to honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination, you are usually guaranteed to get good results; results that may help to make your honeymoon memorable.

Another pro or plus side to choosing to book your honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination is the options that you have. When top honeymoon destinations are involved, it is not uncommon for find honeymoon travel packages or vacation packages available. Even if you have never purchased a travel package before, you likely already know that you are able to make a number of your reservations all at once. These reservations often include travel arrangements or at least overnight accommodations. If you are also trying to plan your wedding, you may prefer booking your honeymoon arrangements in the form of a honeymoon travel package, as it may be able to save you a considerable amount of time.

Although there are a number of pros or plus sides to booking your honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination, there are also a number of cons or downsides to doing so as well. One of those downsides is the cost. While it isn’t always this way, it may be more expensive to book a honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination. This is because when something is in high demand, like a particular resort, it is common for that resort to charge a little bit more in fees. Of course, you should not let this deter you from booking a vacation at a top honeymoon destination. With a little bit of research or with the purchase of a travel package, you should be able to find affordable arrangements.

Another downside or con to booking your honeymoon at a top honeymoon destination is that not everyone has the same interests. As previously mentioned, most top honeymoon destinations are romantic. While many want romance on their honeymoons, others may be more interested in having an adventurous honeymoon. If that is the case, you may want to look past top honeymoon destinations that have more of a focus on romance than they do adventure.

When it comes to planning your honeymoon, you are advised to keep your wants and needs in mind. If that happens to include a top honeymoon destination than good, if not, you have a number of other honeymoon destinations to choose from.