Hello there,
I started this article when I was on vacation in the mountains. I ate cheese (too much), drank coffee (way too much) and even braved the downright hostile temperatures to go out and take photos (I got halfway through my thighs in the snow because I was looking at my camera instead of where I was going. Rain, shine, snow, my stupidity covers just any situation).
But anyway, all this reminded me that I've been able to work on several “winter weddings” and that maybe it was time to write about them. Few people choose to get married outside the spring and summer months, yet getting married in the off-season can have its advantages.
Low and high wedding season
When it comes to wedding services, many suppliers distinguish between what they call low and high season, the “low” season being the one during which people get married the least, and the “high” season the one during which they get married the most.
There's nothing official about these designations. Roughly speaking, the high season covers spring and summer, and the low season autumn and winter, but each provider defines its high season according to its own activity. Now you're thinking “listen, it is just great you're thinking so deeply about seasonality, but what does that have to do with my wedding?” Actually, it might interest you to compare pros and cons of both low and high seasons.
The advantages of getting married in autumn or winter
Availability of suppliers
Let's start with the most obvious argument: having a choice of suppliers. If you're getting married on a date that's not very popular with other brides and grooms, there's a good chance that virtually all the suppliers you like will be available to accompany you on your wedding day, no matter how late you ask for them.
The search for suppliers can be a difficult stage for future brides and grooms. You're under a lot of stress, because you find yourself in the paradoxical situation of needing time to sort through the vast number of wedding suppliers out there, while at the same time having to make up your mind quickly, as agendas fill up very quickly in high season. In addition to the massive anxiety this can generate, going too fast can also lead you to hire a provider who isn't the one who would have suited you best, not to mention the frustration you feel when providers you've fallen in love with are no longer available.
If you're getting married in December, none of the above applies to you. You'll be free to choose your suppliers even at the last minute, you'll be relieved of the anxiety of having to decide quickly, and you'll have the certainty of being able to book most of your favorite suppliers, since we all work less in the low season. This is all the more advantageous if you start your preparations just a few weeks/months before your wedding (some suppliers are now booked more than a year in advance).
Side note: as far as photos are concerned, it's also possible that getting married in low season means you'll have them sooner. I try to respect the same deadlines in summer and winter, but the fact is that when one event follows another, I may have to extend my photo turnaround times. By getting married in autumn or winter, you're sure to get your photos in on time!
Prices
Some service providers - especially venues - charge low-season prices. This is quite simply due to lower demand in winter than in summer, and the desire to fill their diaries throughout the year. However, this varies from one service provider to another, because just as one photographer may consider it normal to charge a preferential rate in winter to land a contract he or she didn't expect to sign in the low season, another may similarly consider that, since the work provided is the same, a change of rate would not make sense.
Not all suppliers charge low-season rates, but if a few out of the dozen you are about to work with offer you lower rates, you can still make substantial savings in the end.
A low-season wedding will also make it easier for you to stick to your budget, since you won't have to rush any decisions based on the availability of some vendors. You'll be able to take the time to compare the prices, possibly benefiting from preferential options, and if you wish you can start your preparations later, which will give you a better vision of the budget for your event (it can be complicated to know how much you'll be able to allocate to your wedding when you start planning it one year or two before it actually takes place).
Wedding mood and theme
Getting married in autumn or winter offers possibilities that summer and spring weddings don't, especially in terms of atmosphere. Autumn, with its ochre and golden hues, can sublimate a wedding in shades of brown, gold, terracotta... Winter immediately brings to mind snow and a very warm atmosphere that you can make the most of for your wedding.
It's also an opportunity to design an event that's a little different from what we usually see. Of course, this doesn't have to be your main motivation: first and foremost, you have to imagine the wedding that suits you best and that's just like you. Nobody's asking you to do a Christmas wedding just because “it's nice to have a change”. But the possibility of being original and designing an event that's different from the others may be something interesting.
The presence of guests
Side Note : this one may be a very French perspective, because children have a two-months holidays period in summer which leads many families to go away for extended period of time during the high wedding season. If you're planning a Destination Wedding in France though, knowing those specificities might be useful.
Summer is still the most popular season for weddings. The problem is, it's also your guests' main vacation season, which means they may not be able to attend your wedding. If there are several weddings planned for a given group of friends in the same year, some of your guests may not be able to make themselves available for all of them. You don't usually have this problem in autumn or winter.
The weather
I know. When you read “winter wedding”, the first thing you think probably is that getting married in -2 degrees is a big no-no. So why on Earth would I consider the temperature to be an argument in favor of an end-of-year wedding ? Let's just say that, in my opinion, the popular belief that in August you take fewer risks than in December weather-wise doesn't necessarily hold true.
In France, the summer of 2022 was a scorcher. We hit 40 degrees and above all over France and it was not a good experience for neither vendors, couples or guests. It got even worse when the wedding took place in a region where temperatures aren't usually so hot, because no one was prepared for it. I did cover a wedding in a venue that simply had no air-conditioning, because we were on the border between France and Luxembourg, not Spain, so nobody had really considered the possibility of having to run the air-conditioning at full blast in the evening, even in the height of summer. I think quite a few of my 2022 brides and grooms would have happily swapped their 38°C cocktails for an hour of rain below 30°C (you might say: there can both be rain and warmth, but we'll just keep hoping that in France we won't have to endure a monsoon).
The reign of chiaroscuro
During the 2024 season, I discovered and deeply fell in love with chiaroscuro. For a long time, I considered it had no place in my practice, as it didn't fit into what I believed at the time to be the codes of “Fine Art” wedding photography. In the end, these particular images crept into my reportages when I was shooting indoors, and the fact is that the particular atmosphere of chiaroscuro perfectly matches the mood of winter weddings.
Chiaroscuro - at least in the way I personally aim to achieve it - means playing with light and shadow in a setting that's as minimalist and/or timeless as possible, to create images that seem ageless, inspired by both old photographs and paintings. These images are shot exclusively indoors. An ancient château, a Parisian hotel - all it takes is a little architecture, heavy curtains and a window to create that special atmosphere. In the high season, I set aside some sequences dedicated to this type of image for brides and grooms who wish to do so, but they are necessarily limited, as most of the day takes place outdoors. If you opt for a winter wedding that takes place exclusively indoors, you'll be able to get more shots of this type, giving your entire photo reportage a special, timeless vibe I simply adore.
The downsides of autumn and winter weddings
The venues
Here comes my -wedding-planner moment, but the fact is an indoor wedding (which a winter wedding will likely be) involves constraints:
- Indoor cocktail (or at least in a covered and/or heated area)
- Indoor couple's session (because in winter, chances are the wind/rain/cold triad will not make you want to go outside and take photos with your loved ones).
Most estates host weddings in spring, summer and early autumn, and feature a lovely terrace for the vin d'honneur, a pond in the gardens... All these magnificent spaces will be of no use to you if you're getting married in winter, unless the venue have specific arrangements (glass roof, army of braziers - not very eco-friendly).
Don't be discouraged though! With a little research you'll find venues that are perfectly suited to receiving everyone indoors. I refer you to my portfolio and to Marine and Gauthier's wedding, which took place entirely indoors (in the middle of August!) at the magnificent Abbaye des Prémontrés.
Now that I'm working more and more with them on weddings, I do tend to advise couples starting planning their wedding to contact wedding planners. While it's obviously possible to have a perfectly organized wedding without them, their experience is all the more useful if the constraints of your wedding are significant. A winter wedding requiring 100 people to stay indoors for an entire day is clearly a constraint. If you're considering this option - bravo to you, and I applaud your audacity - don't hesitate to turn to professionals who can give you a little guidance if needed!
The light
In France, it's during the low season that the winter solstice occurs, i.e. the shortest day of the year, when the length of the night is longest.
Simply put, the closer your wedding date is to the summer solstice, the longer the daylight hours. Conversely, if your wedding takes place shortly before or after the winter solstice, you'll have to deal with the darkness that falls in the late afternoon. This is obviously something to bear in mind, as most wedding photographers who promote their work on social networks (myself included) highlight shots taken outdoors and during the day.
If you're getting married in winter, you'll have a majority of photos taken indoors (unless you and your guests are all highly motivated and determined to camp outside despite the hostile temperatures!) with, on the one hand, less light and, on the other, more constraining light.
Which brings me to a second very important point to consider:
The impact of the season on photo rendering
I've written several articles about different approaches and retouching in wedding photography. I've already mentioned chiaroscuro, but let's talk a little about the quality of the outside light and the possibilities you have - and don't have - depending on the season.
Winter light, that famous low-angled golden light favored by photographers, is by definition further removed from the soft-white-diffuse light found in Fine Art photos taken outdoors, because it creates stretched shadows and ochre and golden reflections. This particular light should be taken into account if you have a very precise idea of what you want to achieve in terms of photo rendering.
When looking for your photographer, do try to find images taken in the conditions you imagine for your wedding. Projecting yourself into a summer wedding in Italy, if you're planning to get married in December in a Parisian hotel wouldn't make sense: the light, the atmosphere, the outfits, the colors... You won't find anything like what you saw at your own wedding. You want to make sure the vibe you'd get with your pictures would match your dream-photos.
Not thinking about your images rendering before booking your photographer means you could actually make the wrong choice. We don't all have the same skills in such and such light conditions, because our tastes and experience push us towards what we like best. Winter weddings mean special, demanding shooting conditions: you want to make sure your photographer knows those conditions, understands them and can create the images you dream of.
The weather
If you imagine your wedding as a hot summer's day, with people toasting barefoot as the sun goes down, then it's definitely best to avoid a December wedding (or one in the southern hemisphere at least).
The weather will naturally have to be taken into account, and you'll probably have to hold your cocktail in a covered or heated indoor space. Likewise, it's unlikely that you'll be able to hold a secular ceremony outdoors in the dead of winter... In short, you need to rethink your day's planning and adapt it to the weather you're expecting (nothing is never sure when it comes to the weather, but it is still safe to assume December and August won't allow the same outdoors activities).
The cold will also represent an additional constraint for you and your guests when it comes to outfits. God knows I love wedding dresses with sleeves, but you'll probably have to give up that pretty plunging halter top, or risk catching pneumonia.
Bonus argument: your vendors (at least, me) will be happy if you're getting married in the low season
There are two main reasons for this:
1) We don't expect to work in winter, so we're always happy when it happens (the lowly financial argument).
2) We're usually very happy to cover an event that's different from what we usually do. It's a chance to see new things, and it's refreshing in a very codified and standardized sector like weddings.
And you'll fuel my constant and growing love for chiaroscuro so there's that.
I hope this article has provided you with some interesting information if you're planning a winter wedding!
See you around,
Manon
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