{"id":39616,"date":"2016-07-26T00:38:28","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T14:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/articles\/why-you-should-hold-a-winter-wedding\/"},"modified":"2021-11-10T05:01:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T18:01:38","slug":"why-you-should-hold-a-winter-wedding","status":"publish","type":"au-article","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/articles\/why-you-should-hold-a-winter-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby, it’s cold outside: my (awesome) Winter wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Winter<\/a>
Bride Ashleigh and her groom Yossi at South Wharf, Melbourne. Image: CK Photography<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Spring and Summer are, traditionally, the world’s favourite times to wed, Winter is becoming increasingly popular, especially since marrying off-peak can be more affordable than holding your wedding during the warmer months.<\/p>\n

But, is it a good idea to plan a wedding when the weather is almost guaranteed to be, well, terrible?<\/p>\n

Melbourne make-up artist\u00a0<\/a>Ashleigh Gaitz Ben-Danan, 27, chose\u00a0to walk down the aisle\u00a0in the gloomy depths of Winter, but she didn’t let the dark and dreary skies dampen her spirit – and, she says, there are plenty of great reasons to hold a Winter wedding.<\/p>\n

Why did you choose to hold a Winter\u00a0wedding?<\/h2>\n

“I don’t do well at all in the heat,” says Ashleigh who married\u00a0Yossi Ben-Danan, 29, in a traditional Jewish ceremony, which was held outdoors<\/a>. “I melt and, basically, become a pool of jelly.<\/p>\n

“In fact, I actually fainted during\u00a0my sister’s wedding ceremony in Thailand thanks to the extreme Summer heat, so, when it came to my own wedding, I definitely\u00a0preferred to\u00a0be a little bit colder than risk it being 40 degrees and having a horrible day.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back at the photos,” she adds, “it was definitely the right decision to hold a Winter wedding, especially because the\u00a0overcast weather made for the best lighting for our wedding\u00a0photos.\u201d<\/p>\n

[ew-supplier-carousel]<\/p>\n

How did holding a Winter wedding influence your wedding dress?<\/h2>\n

\u201cI would have chosen the same wedding dress <\/a>regardless of the weather,\u201d says Ashleigh who wore a highly-beaded, cap-sleeve\u00a0Maggie Sottero gown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I did have to find a bolero <\/a>to keep me warm throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Holding<\/a>
Ashleigh and Yossi standing beneath a traditional chuppah, the canopy beneath which Jewish marriage ceremonies are performed.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, did the weather impact your day at all?<\/h2>\n

\u201cI’m not going to lie,\u201d says Ashleigh \u00a0\u201cbut the wind was incredibly cold, which made it a bit uncomfortable taking photos after the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the day, my feet became numb from the cold, but it all worked out because the photos and the video are absolutely beautiful.”<\/p>\n

Was it easier to book photographers and venues because your wedding was not held in the peak seasons?<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe booked our wedding venue <\/a>a year in advance, so we were able to secure the date easily,\u201d says Ashleigh whose wedding was shot by CK Photography.\u00a0\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any competition around those dates for either the photographer or venue, because we booked so far in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we had left booking a venue<\/a> and the\u00a0photographer <\/a>until the last minute, however, we would have had some pretty heavy competition.”<\/p>\n

\"winter<\/a>
You wouldn’t know from this photo that the bride and groom were cold. Very cold!<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You held an outdoor wedding ceremony, despite it being Winter? Was that a good idea?<\/h2>\n

\u201cYes it was,\u201d insists Ashleigh who has always preferred the cold to the heat.\u00a0\u201cJoyce Park<\/a>, where we held the actual wedding ceremony, is\u00a0a special place for us because we spend so much time there during our regular walks,” says Ashleigh. “So, it was really nice that it didn’t rain and we could still hold the ceremony outside because of how beautiful it is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a\u00a0traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, but we didn’t feel enough of a connection to our local Synagogue because I didn\u2019t grow up in Australia (Ashleigh was born in South Africa), so we still had had the traditional ceremony, but we did it outdoors.”<\/p>\n

Ashleigh ensured her\u00a0bridesmaids wore full-length dresses <\/a>to cover their legs and keep them warm, and she added shawls to their outfits to cover their shoulders.<\/p>\n

As it was quite cold, Asheligh says she and Yossi didn\u2019t spend a lot of\u00a0time shooting\u00a0photos with their\u00a0bridal party, largely\u00a0because\u00a0they\u00a0tried to get the photos done as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

So, the weather actually helped make your wedding photos better?<\/h2>\n

\u201cYes!\u201d says Ashleigh who was married in Joyce Park in Melbourne’s South-East<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThe photos <\/a>were definitely enhanced by the surrounds of the park in which\u00a0we held\u00a0our ceremony, largely thanks to the gorgeous Autumn leaves and bare trees that contrasted with the sky and added to the romantic feel in our photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the overcast sky does always make for better photos <\/a>than sunny days, and the architecture of the trees was more dramatic in Winter,” she adds. \u201cOh, and it was also great that it wasn’t a Summer wedding where our make-up would\u00a0melt off our faces!\u201d<\/p>\n

Did the season dictate the\u00a0food you served guests?<\/h2>\n

\u201cOur venue, Showtime Events on South Wharf, gave us a variety of food options that would be warm and comforting – but were still special enough to be a part of our first\u00a0wedding meal together,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cWe enjoyed a scrumptious\u00a0three-course meal that included pasta and fish courses as well as dessert.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely a Winter menu.”\u00a0Also, says Ashleigh, the venue<\/a>\u00a0was well heated “so I think it wouldn\u2019t have mattered if it was cold outside.”<\/p>\n

Would you do anything differently?<\/h2>\n

\u201cAs much as I loved the outdoor ceremony,<\/a> if I had to do it again, I would have arranged an indoor location for our photos,\u201d says Ashleigh.\u00a0\u201cAnd, of course, we had to rush the wedding photos <\/a>a little because of the cold\u00a0weather.<\/p>\n

“However, it was great to have our wedding so far apart\u00a0from when all\u00a0our friends’ weddings were held as most of them were in Summer, so it felt like an extra special time of the year for us to marry.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of the wedding <\/a>was absolutely perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing!<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice for\u00a0brides considering a Winter wedding?<\/h2>\n

\u201cI would say to just to keep your options open and ensure that you choose your wedding photography<\/a> locations wisely, because, though Winter offers fantastic\u00a0lighting you don’t want to be stuck somewhere there is no shelter whatsoever – just in case it rains or becomes too cold,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso take\u00a0an extra coat with you for when you are off shooting your\u00a0photos<\/a> but don’t worry if it doesn’t\u00a0match perfectly because it won’t\u00a0need to be in photographs,\u00a0but you’ll still be able to keep warm!”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39617,"template":"","au_article_tag":[512,1430,1010,81,883],"class_list":["post-39616","au-article","type-au-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_article_category-wedding-themes","au_article_category-weddingvenues","au_article_tag-autumn","au_article_tag-cold","au_article_tag-outdoor","au_article_tag-weather","au_article_tag-winter"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article\/39616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article\/39616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_article_tag?post=39616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}