A Chrismas day wedding?!

[Ember]

I know a couple who are getting married this December 25th. Obviously we aren't attending, as I'm not spending what will most likely be my last Christmas with my mother at a wedding. But it got me thinking, even if there weren't the circumstances there are this year, I still wouldn't attend a Christmas Day wedding. That's family time to me.

Now I don't know what the couple's expectations for attendance are, other than about 200 or so were invited. I also get that it's their day and they can do as they like. But all in all, I can't say I think a Christmas day wedding is an overly great idea...

What do you think? Would you attend a wedding on Christmas?

 

[Carly_Roach]

No. We probably wouldn't attend a Christmas day wedding. But I can see how non-religious people might decide to do a Christmas wedding. Perhaps the bride wanted an anniversary date that she'd be sure her future husband would remember?

 

[Rafiki31]

I usually work on Christmas, so I would say no. I imagine it would make airline costs SUPER high if anyone had to fly in.

I think it would be nice for the immediate family if it were a small wedding, since they will all get to see one another, but I cannot imagine extended family actually attending. Stinks to be in that bridal party! lol. I guess it depends on the family. Most of my family would not go.

 

[minkydog]

I would not attend a Christmas Day wedding unless it was being held in my backyard. Or if it were one of my kids and they were getting married in Jamaica.

One of my sisters got married on Dec.31 at 7pm. We really didn't like having to drive 400 miles on a holiday, but we did it. We didn't have children then. But I didn't relish spending New Years Eve in a podunk little town when i could have been whooping it up in Atlanta!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

DH and I don't have kids (yet!) so I would at this time in my life, as long as I didn't have to fly to get there. I'm even refusing to fly to my parents' house this Christmas (instead choosing to drive through 3 mountain passes in the winter!), because I've had to fly at Christmas the last 5 years, and I HATE all the delays and congestion.

So, yeah, I would do it.... for my family, Christmas Eve is more fun than Christmas Day, anyway. However, as soon as I have kids, I wouldn't even consider it.

 

[MrsPete]

I wanted a Christmas Eve wedding. I thought it'd be lovely: Poinsettas and candlelight decorating the church, dark green velvet dresses for the bridesmaids, red roses and holly in the bouquets. My mother talked me out of it, saying it wasn't practical because people have so much going on. Instead, we had a lovely summer wedding.

Know what? I still wish I'd done what I wanted, even if some people hadn't come. My daughters can have their weddings on whatever outlandish day they choose.

Back to the question: Would I go? Yes, if I wanted to attend the wedding -- that is, if it was someone I cared about -- I would go. I'd assume that it's not Christmas morning. By the evening, the presents are open, and there's nothing that'd prevent me from attending a friend or family member's wedding.

 

[clh2]

I would be hard pressed to go to a wedding on Christmas day. Sorry - that is not what the day is for. (Besides, I stay in my jammies until about 5 p.m. on Chrimstas. )

My only exception to this would have to be extremely extenuating circumstances...so extremely extenuating that I can't think of one. (And..."poor plannng" is not an extenuating circumstance.)

I agree - the day is about the bride and groom. If a Christmas Day wedding is what they want, they should be able to have it. But then it is up to each individual guest to decide if they can make the wedding or not. And...they cannot whine that "noone is comming to our wedding!".

I know someone who got married between Christmas and New Years, and once the kiddos started coing, they really regretted this decision. It is harder and harder to celebrate their anniversary, because of everything else going on.

 

[PatsGirl]

Mrs. Pete ~ just thought it was funny that your wanna-b-wedding is very similar to what I actually had. We had a holiday wedding (January), bridesmaids in dark green, red roses and holly for flowers, and groomsmen with red accessories on black. The place we held it is always decorated beautifully for the holidays which they keep up until mid-February so it worked for us.

To answer the OP, no I probably wouldn't attend a Xmas wedding unless it was close by and for a very good friend or family member.

 

[Carly_Roach]

My only exception to this would have to be extremely extenuating circumstances...so extremely extenuating that I can't think of one. (And..."poor plannng" is not an extenuating circumstance.)

I can think of a couple.

Husband or wife being deployed the next day. Christmas is the only date they can get married on before he or she is overseas for a year or so.

Family member dying and they got broken out of the hospital for just one day to spend with their family.

Only time of year that the whole extended family is together.

Jewish. Not a Holy day for them.

 

[FireDancer]

I know someone who did this because they didn't want a big wedding but their family was kind of pushing it on them. Very few people showed up so they got the small wedding they wanted while still inviting everyone their parents wanted them to invite.

If I were invited and it was close to home I'd go to at least the reception. We are done by about 1:00pm with our family holiday anyway and the evening is spent with friends. At the reception it would be spent with friends anyway.

 

[MIGrandma]

No, I absolutely would not attend a Christmas wedding unless it was one of my own children's and they were getting married in Hawaii or something. But just a regular wedding of a distant relative (cousin) or even friends I would not think twice about attending. I think it is kind of rude of the couple to get married on a major holiday like that and invite 200 people. It would be interesting to know how many of the people they've invited actually show up!

 

[MIGrandma]

I wanted a Christmas Eve wedding. I thought it'd be lovely: Poinsettas and candlelight decorating the church, dark green velvet dresses for the bridesmaids, red roses and holly in the bouquets. My mother talked me out of it, saying it wasn't practical because people have so much going on. Instead, we had a lovely summer wedding.

Know what? I still wish I'd done what I wanted, even if some people hadn't come. My daughters can have their weddings on whatever outlandish day they choose.

Back to the question: Would I go? Yes, if I wanted to attend the wedding -- that is, if it was someone I cared about -- I would go. I'd assume that it's not Christmas morning. By the evening, the presents are open, and there's nothing that'd prevent me from attending a friend or family member's wedding.

I dreamed of a similar wedding, and DH and I talked about it before setting our date and my Mother also talked me out of it, saying my grandparents wouldn't be able to come (they spent their winters in Florida) so we changed it to a late September wedding. I don't really regret it, but I still think it would have been such a beautiful wedding during the holiday season. But I wouldn't have chosen Christmas Eve or Day as the date, but maybe the weekend before so the church would be decorated already for Christmas, but I wouldn't be imposing on others to come to the wedding on a holiday. I wanted my bridesmaids gowns done in red and green velvet (probably red for the maid of honor, then green for the others) and with hoods trimmed in maribou fur.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I have attended one and it was great! Friends and family together, the church looked beautiful.

There were over 300 people there.

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[bballmom56]

It would depend on my relationship to the couple getting married. I could see myself going to one for close friends or family.

 

[okeydokey]

If I had to travel for it I would not attend. We have young kids that we stay home with on Christmas. Are kids invited? Kind of hard to find a babysitter on Christmas day if they are not.

 

[disney1990]

Unless the couple does not celebrate Christmas, I would think twice about getting married on Christmas Day. Years from now, they are going to want to celebrate their anniversary and will find that restaurants are closed. Also, if they have children, they will want to be home with their children on Christmas, but will be torn because they also want to celebrate their anniversary.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I would not attend.
That being said I would have loved to get married Christmas morning. Of course I would have wanted it to be a quiet ceremony with just our immediate family there. We would have been spending the day with them anyway. Christmas is my favorite holiday.
We did get married in December but not on Christmas. It was still beautiful.

 

[Ember]

Are kids invited? Kind of hard to find a babysitter on Christmas day if they are not.

I don't know if children are invited. We don't have any, so I didn't even think about it.

 

[disykat]

Yes. They got married immediately following the Christmas Day church service. Their family, guests, and anyone who attended the service was there. I was planning on attending but was grounded by a snow storm. I think it was a lovely idea.

To me, it's just like a destination wedding. You have it where you want/when you want. You should never expect guests to drop everything for your wedding and understand that some locations and dates will be even harder for guests. Weddings invitations are an invitation not a forced commitment.

To me, if your family is planning on being together for Christmas anyway it totally makes sense as a time to have the wedding.

 

[golfgal]

I MIGHT go if it were an evening wedding but I doubt it. I wanted to have a Christmas time wedding-there was a weekend between Christmas and New Years the year we got married but DH said no. Our church was always so beautiful at Christmas and we wouldn't have had to pay for any floral decorations in the church. We got married in February instead-I still had my green velvet bridesmaids dresses though.

Now, if this couple is Jewish and their family is as well....