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When Sam and I decided to move our wedding forward so that we could travel later in the year it meant we’d be having a winter wedding. We found that although we wouldn’t have the advantages of longer days and warm weather that you have with a spring wedding, it provided us with significant benefits.  1. The price per head, that reception venues charge, is cheaper in the winter. Also, keep an eye out for an added winter discount. Many reception venues advertise price reductions to attract bookings during, the slow months of the year. We saved almost a third on the cost of the reception at Ballara Receptions and were given exactly the same service and quality of food that we would have had in the spring time. 2. Finding a venue that suits you with dates available is much more likely in the winter. Spring weddings for popular venues are usually booked eighteen months to two years in advance but winter weddings are obviously much less in demand.  3. There are no worries about if it will rain and ruin a garden wedding. It probably will rain in the winter, so have a lovely chapel or beautifully decorated space organised to marry in. We chose a venue that had a chapel attached which came decorated with white flower garlands and urns as part of the hire price. I loved the gazebo effect of where we were married.  4. The days are shorter but you get gorgeous twilight photography opportunities. We had a skilled photographer, Peter Layton, take our wedding photos which I'm also using in this post. So far as taking photos outside, on our day it did rain on and off but we were able to gets lots of good shots between showers. I got sprinkled with light rain when Sam and I were having our photos taken after the ceremony but you’d never know from the photos.  5. Winter wonderland charm for your white wedding. In Australia, winter is in the middle of the year so we often have Christmas in July, I took it a step further and had a wedding in July. On Pintrest I saw a picture of a bride wearing a white fur stole and decided that's how I wanted to stay warm. I also really like the lacework of the bare branches on the trees at this time of year.  Gluten free hot canapes for my aunt who is a coeliac like me. 6. You can savor a hot meal when it’s cold outside. We had hot appetizers, entrees, main meals and hot puddings for dessert. The food at our reception was delicious. Our guests raved about how good the food was. The quality was exactly the same as if we’d paid the high season price and we got to enjoy our hot meal more because of the cooler weather in winter.  Sharon Crossman sang heart touching songs at our ceremony. 7. Choosing the desired celebrant, photographer and DJ/master of ceremonies, and singer for the ceremony is easier as they are less booked up in the winter. I have a post on making our wedding plans and who we used and I'll link it here.  Extra Tips
Flowers You can still get lovely flowers in the winter. There are flowers grown in hot houses or shipped in from warmer climates available. It's even possible to put a bouquet together the day before the wedding, like I did. Your florist will be able to advise you. Time of Ceremony Plan to wed earlier in the day. We had chosen a lovely venue whose staff were experienced with winter weddings. They were able to advise us what time to plan the ceremony in relation to the daylight hours we would have, how long it would take for photos. They had a warm reception foyer where our guests were served canapes during that in-between time. On the day, it was perfect timing. If I had my time over, I would still choose a romantic winter wedding. Dora Bramden writes heart-melting, passionate romance.
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 Since finishing the garden landscaping in Autumn, I've been busily planting some Glauca pencil pines and other plants I've been given. But not all the plants could go in. Low rainfall made the clay soil beds very hard. But now that the winter rain is softening the ground I'm looking forward to improving the soil and getting the rest of the pots planted and putting in flowering annuals this spring. Until then I have been planting up pots to make sure I have flowers when everything else is still making buds.
Pansies, a very dear little bloom that bobs it's velvety head in the breeze, are mixed with hard working white Alyssum. The pots are set into wooden crates. They're tiny seedlings now but they'll be overflowing the crates in the spring. My other love, Roses have been planted and I can't wait to see what they do this Summer now that they can get their roots down into the clay soil. Begonias were loved by Mum. She had pots of them on her back patio. They've come to live with me and I've planted most in the front yard. Every time I come in my front door, I'll see them there. She used to say that they were easy care plants. Even if they dry out they hang on until you can get some water to them. I adore the tiny little rose like flowers and the array of pinks they come in. I also love the large rose begonias but I don't have any at home. I go to the begonia shows in March. Keep an eye out for that post next year.  Some of the plants I love most in the garden were already here. A gorgeous Apricot rose that I can't bring myself to prune yet, She still has blooms and buds, as if it were the start of spring. The fig tree and the Liquid Amber tree, an old gnarled and twisted trunk-ed rosemary and a couple of lovely Camellias. Oh, of course I can't forget the huge Fuchsia that flowers for nine months of the year. She has finally packed up and taken a rest for winter but still provides a green backdrop for front of the border plants.  Still waiting to be planted are a Gardenia and Daylias. They are doing it tough in the pots but I think they'll be better off if planted when the soil is more workable and I can introduce some organic matter. My daughter gave me a Camelia which is going to be gorgeous when it flowers and a pink foliage Coleus which creates a much needed bright spot in the Winter garden.
It's hard to wait until everything grows. The larger shrubs will need a couple of years before the make much of an impact, and there are some quite small Hydrangea, Snow Ball tree and Geranium cuttings that won't look anything much for a long time, but they will. Eventually. I hope. But that's part of the joy of a new garden, seeing what works and what doesn't. Transplanting and replacing those that don't thrive. Thankfully, most are hardy plants that can cope with a lot and reward me with lots of lovely flowers which are a passion of mine.
Thanks for stopping by on my blog this week. Feel free to share this post with anyone you know who likes gardening and leave your questions in the comments and I'll answer them as best I can. |
Romance author and lifestyle bloggerMy whole life is inspired by romance. I write romance novels of course but also love creating DIY's and decorating in a romantic style. I'm rejuvenating an old garden, including rescuing a couple of old rose bushes and planting new ones. Archives
June 2020
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