Planning a wedding is tough. It’s even more complicated when planning your Big Day around the winter holidays. Whether your family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or something else, December and January are popular months for holidays across cultural traditions. It’s also a popular time of year for weddings. Even if you’re not a fan of the cold, winter is a beautiful time of the year for stunning scenery and gentle snowy backdrops that can set quite the cozy, heartwarming scene for a day focusing two people in love.

But it can be a hard line to walk. If you’re planning a wedding for this time of year, you’ll have to contend with family and friends trying to make holiday plans as well as attend your celebration. Not only that, but you’ll also have to find the right way to handle having a wedding around the holidays. Do you go all-out on a Christmas-themed wedding, or do you shy away from anything that would make your guests think of the holiday? If you’re still wading through all the myriad choices for flower arrangements for your winter wedding, keep these considerations in mind:

Seasonality

The question of seasonality isn’t just necessary for winter weddings, but one to consider any time of year. Florists with greenhouses and connections to worldwide nurseries make it so that just about any flower can be obtained any time of year. Even with that, it’s still important to question the seasonality of flowers. For one thing, blooms often cost less when they’re in season. For another, you can generally expect a flower to last longer and remain more fragrant when it’s in season. Consider year-round flowers like gardenias, freesias, and chrysanthemums as well as seasonal blooms like anemones, calla lilies, daffodil, and tulips. There are an abundance of seasonal options in any color so you can choose bouquets and flower arrangements that fit with your color scheme and are also seasonal.

Holiday Traditions

Some winter weddings go all-in and embrace winter holiday traditions, some eschew any nod to the winter holidays, and some split the difference. There’s really no wrong answer, it just depends on what your preferences are. If you do choose to highlight your love of all things Christmas for your wedding, your florist can will likely have an array of already designed Christmas flower arrangements. Or, as with any wedding florist, you can discuss creating bouquets and flower arrangements for your tastes.

Subtle vs. Unsubtle Nods

Even if you do want to embrace your family’s holiday traditions, there’s no rule that says you have to go “all or nothing.” If you love the colors associated with Hanukkah or you really want to bring some traditional Christmas greenery into your centerpieces, that doesn’t automatically mean you need to have a holiday explosion of a wedding. If you don’t want the holidays to be a central focus, consider a more subtle nod like winter-themed centerpieces or pops of color that coordinate with your overall theme and still nod to your family’s holiday celebrations. Something as simple as including holly leaves and berries in your flower arrangements can be a sweet, subtle nod to the season.

Keep It Simple

If you’re unenthused by the idea of a holiday-centric wedding, not to worry! There are some beautiful ways to embrace the beauty of winter without throwing holiday confetti over everything. Maybe it means choosing floral arrangements full of lush white blooms with little pops of green. Or maybe you want to bring a bit of the snowy landscape indoors (without the cold) by way of flowers like Queen Anne’s Lace or Baby’s Breath, which both have an abundance of small white blooms that call to mind the appearance of snow. Of course, there’s also the aptly named snowdrops! Another simple yet wintry nod would be to incorporate holly, evergreen branches, or other greenery associated with the season that isn’t necessarily holiday-specific.

Untraditional Alternatives

If you want to bring in some (or a lot) or holiday spirit to your celebration, you don’t need to stick to the age-old traditions. There are plenty of stunning seasonal flower arrangements out there that may not say “wedding” but clearly say “festive holiday celebration.” If the less-traditional route appeals, talk to your florist about incorporating evergreen branches, pinecones, silver brunia balls, and other elements that aren’t strictly flowers. You’ll be amazed at what a florist can come up with in terms of flower arrangements that don’t feature a spring garden’s abundance of flowers.

The true beauty of winter weddings are just how customizable they can be to your tastes. If you’re thinking about a winter wedding, talk to your South Burlington florist about Christmas flower arrangements, out-of-the-box wintery options, and more. Shop online or connect with Chappell’s Florist to start the process of creating your perfect wedding flower arrangements, Christmas-themed centerpieces, and more!