29 Festive Ideas for a Christmas Wedding (2024)

Looking to deck the halls at your December wedding? While getting married during the holidays doesn't necessarily mean you have to have eggnog or a green-and-red color palette, it is fun to get in the spirit with a few festive touches. Here, a collection of our favorite ideas to tastefully incorporate the season into your Christmas wedding.

Festive Save-the-Dates

Send save-the-dates by Cheree Berry Paper featuring silver foil-stamping on a red backdrop.

Christmas Wedding Invitations

Set the mood with stationery that borrows from a traditional holiday color palette, but is elegant enough to distinguish itself from a Christmas card. For this San Francisco wedding, Alan Hillsheim Letterpress created a simple red and charcoal suite with a subtle wreath motif.

A Warm Welcome Treat

Before the ceremony starts, greet guests with mugs of mulled wine and ginger cookies.

Christmas Wedding Bouquet

Walk down the aisle with a pop of Christmas flowers, like this bouquet of red garden roses created by Winston Flowers.

Green Velvet Shoes

Add a bit of seasonal texture to your ensemble, like this bride did for her nuptials in Jackson Hole. She wore a pair of green velvet Gucci shoes as her "something new."

The Bridesmaids' Bouquet

Have each bridesmaid carry a petite bouquet of amaryllis flowers surrounded by pine branches, red berries, and silver leaves.

The Flower Girl Blooms

Arrange your flower girl's blooms in an ornamental cone, subtly accented with a red ribbon, like the bride and groom did at this end-of-the-year celebration in California.

The Boutonnieres

Incorporate Yuletide hues in an understated manner. This elegant boutonniere for a Christmastime wedding comprised white freesia, green seeded eucalyptus, and red pepperberry.

The Programs

Borrow an idea from this Oregon celebration and festoon programs with cedar twigs—or boughs of holly—tied with brown taffeta ribbon.

Velvet Ring Pillow

Present it like a gift, adding a red velvet bow to the ring pillow.

Christmas Wedding Decorations

Dress up the ceremony space with a spray of vines, evergreens, anemones, and persimmons, like this one floral designer Sullivan Owen created for a Philadelphia wedding.

A Special Surprise

Go caroling, or invite a group along to do so, like the staff did at this San Francisco wedding. They surprised the newlywed couple with a boys choir that sang Christmas tunes as the pair exited the church.

Jingle Bell Exit "Toss"

As guests exit the ceremony give them bells to ring as the couple makes their way out.

Gingerbread House Card Box

Instead of using a typical card box, why not use a gingerbread house like this couple did at their Christmas-themed wedding?

Champagne co*cktail

Make a toast to the special time of year. The poinsettia, served in a coupe glass, was the custom libation of the night at this real wedding. The seasonal drink was made with Champagne, cranberry juice, and Cointreau.

Candy Cane co*cktail

For your signature co*cktail, serve candy cane martinis made from strawberry vodka, crème de menthe, cranberry juice, and the minty holiday candy.

Cranberry Escort Card Display

Fill gold trays with cranberries to prop up escort cards (calligraphed by Arney Walker).

Reindeer Place Cards

For a playful touch originally used at a barn wedding held in England, accent each escort card with a toy reindeer. If you're really getting into the holiday spirit, replace traditional table numbers with the names of Santa's helpers (the head table would be Rudolph, of course!).

Christmas Wedding Centerpieces

Follow this couple's lead and set your reception tables in red, white, and green bountiful arrangements of ranunculus, roses, grasses, and berries.

Festive Table-Settings

Curate your reception tables with candlelit lanterns and red-and-green plaid runners, like Stacey and Eric did at their Beaver Creek mountain wedding.

Wedding Wreaths

Spruce up the ceilings and chandeliers of an event space with eucalyptus wreaths, like these ones created by Branch Design Studio for a South Carolina soirée. Wreaths are not only a classic Christmas decoration, but also a symbol of everlasting love.

Christmas Candy Favors

Steal an idea from this mid-December affair and label muslin sacks with "naughty" or "nice" to leave out for guests, near a sign reading, "Please conduct a brief self-evaluation of your behavior this year, and choose one accordingly." The naughty bags held chocolate "coal"; the nice bags were filled with peppermint sticks and peppermint-chocolate bark.

Christmas Ornament Favors

Guests at this English wedding received ornament versions of the couple's getaway car as favors.

Christmas Flower Favors

Send guests home with individually wrapped bouquets of Christmas ilex, winter greenery, and amaryllis as a takeaway favor from the flower bar.

Christmas Wedding Cake

For a twist on a traditional wedding cake, try a version of millefoglie, which was given a festive touch with red fruit and greenery for a winter celebration in the Rocky Mountains.

Christmas Wedding Cake Alternative

Skip the wedding cake and instead serve a classic Christmas dessert, like a homemade bourbon pecan pie, which looked scrumptious on the table at this snowy wedding in Vermont.

A Late-Night Treat

Take a cue from this Chicago wedding and serve hot cocoa with peppermint stirrers for a perfect end-of-the-evening pick-me-up.

The Turndown Gift

While guests are at the reception, have the hotel staff place gold Christmas ornaments on their beds as a surprise for when they return to tuck in for the night.

The Getaway Car Wreath

Decorate the front of a vintage getaway car with a wreath of evergreens, pinecones, and a big red bow.