How To Capture Your Winter Wedding

This entry is from our Expert Guest series where wedding and honeymoon professionals share their best tips on creating memories that last a lifetime.

You might not think that photographing a winter wedding is any different to taking pictures in the summer – but you’d be amazed at how much the time of year plays a part in your wedding and how it looks on camera.

If you’re planning to get married during the winter months, there are a few tips and tricks to help you get incredible photos, and handle the different challenges of the season – ensuring your wedding photographer captures some amazing shots.

Timing

 If you are planning a winter wedding, make sure you time your ceremony and photos sensibly. Work out when the sun will be going down on your wedding day and plan your ceremony so you’ve got plenty of time to get to your reception venue and FINISH your photos before the sun sets.

Or alternatively, embrace the night! Instead of racing to get the photos done before dark, plan to have your photography at night, and make sure you’ve got suitable lighting outside at your venue for a completely different look.

Light

The light during winter isn’t just in shorter supply, it’s also lower, bringing in more shadows. A nice way to combat this is by using uplighting and low lights like candles during the ceremony and reception.

These can add a beautiful, romantic ambience to the wedding, and adds that extra lighting for perfect pictures.

Clothing

Please do prepare for the cold! Even if you’re not planning to have lots of outdoor photos, you don’t want to be freezing on your wedding day.

Turn it into an opportunity to add another fabulous accessory to your day, with a faux-fur stole, a wrap, or chunky knit to keep you toasty warm but still looking fab.

Footwear can also become a bit of an issue, so if you don’t want to ruin your beautiful wedding shoes by splashing about in puddles, maybe consider changing into some cute pumps, furry boots or even wellies for the photos.

Most of the time they won’t be visible, but it can be nice to include them in some of the pictures to add a bit of fun!

Styles

There are some aspects of a summer wedding that often don’t quite work in winter – one of the big ones being confetti.

Confetti just doesn’t show up in photos when the lighting is low, so maybe consider sparklers as an alternative!

The other nice thing about sparklers, is that they look best when it’s properly dark, so you can always leave this shot until later in the evening instead of racing the sunset.

Colours are also different in summer and winter. When the sun is low pale, muted colours often fade further, but bold colours make a big splash, so think about how you’d like your wedding colours to work in your photos.

And don’t forget – winter also means Christmas! Some couples choose to give their wedding a Christmas theme, or perhaps feature the tree in some of their photographs.

Indoor Photos

If it’s going to be cold, finding good indoor locations for photos can make a massive difference.

This is where good knowledge of your venue can really help, and if your photographer has been to your venue before, they’ve probably scoped out some great alternative indoor places for your pictures.

This is especially important if you want some nice shots of grandparents or children – it’s not nice to expect them to hang around in the cold!

Outdoor Photos

If you do venture outside, it’s a good plan to keep a couple of people from the wedding party on hand to help.

They can keep your dress out of any puddles  or protect you from the rain without even being in shot – and without you worrying about it yourself. Even if they’re just on standby with umbrellas, it’s definitely good to have a little extra support.

Extra Special Touches For Your Winter Wedding

Don’t forget to include those special winter features any way you can. Snow might be a bit of an annoyance for travelling, but you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it in your photos – even if it is minus two outside!

Christmas decorations are also a big factor in lots of winter weddings, and if your venue has a beautiful tree, wreaths or stockings over the fire, incorporating them into your wedding theme and colours brings another layer of festivity to the occasion.

Winter weddings might be a little more challenging for photos, but these tips (and a good photographer!) can help you capture incredible winter wedding photos.

Help finance your winter wedding with a Honeyfund honeymoon registry.

Biography: Becky Kerr started out with a degree in Photography, and worked for 10 years at magazines including Cosmopolitan, Ideal Home, Marie Claire, and Good Housekeeping. She is now the owner of a boutique photography business specialising in wedding photography and family portraits.