One ♥ Time is precious
The most obvious reason to choose a bank holiday wedding is that the extra day / days off work gives both you and your guests more time. Time to travel to your wedding venue, time to stay and relax without worrying about going home straight away, and time to carry on the party if you want to.
In all reality, your wedding guests may have to travel some distance to join you on your day. A long weekend gives them more time and space to do just that, without taking extra time off from work, allowing for a weekend break if possible! It also creates time for the wedding party, time to relax, be pampered and prepare. It’s a win-win situation.
Increasingly popular for weddings in 2024 and 2025 is to have a wedding at a venue where all your guests can stay, such as at Higher Holcombe in Devon www.higherholcombe.co.uk where there is space for ten people in the farmhouse to stay, with luxury glamping for twenty two people, shepherds huts and a secluded hobbit house for the wedding couple.
Why not make the most of the extra day and have your guests stay over to carry on celebrating? Just make sure that they arrange all the celebrations and breakfast the next day.
Two ♥ The bank holiday wedding venue is not more expensive
It’s a myth that venues are more expensive. They may get booked up quickly, but overall should be no more expensive than any other weekend. The trick is to book ahead and always question if they are charging a surcharge.
For the Easter and Spring bank holidays many outdoor venues are just beginning to open and are frequently at their most beautiful, with spring flowers, blossom (plus often a new lick of paint, facilities).
‘Cottage Core’ is another dreamy look which is emerging strongly for British weddings with a host of gorgeous venues celebrating the best of the British garden aesthetic. Pennard House is a fabulous quintessential English country wedding venue in Somerset.
Or think marquees, tipis, tables on a lawn festooned with flowers, open spaces outdoors to hold your wedding ceremony. Hareston Manor wedding venue
There really can be no better season to embrace the beauty of a garden wedding. Remember as well that with a celebrant holding your ceremony, you can have it anywhere, so outdoors is a viable and popular option. 8 southwest wedding venues I love
Equally, if you are thinking about a summer beach wedding or an outside ceremony, August Bank Holiday is delightful for a destination wedding and why not have that destination in the UK? Newsflash!! Unbelievable wedding ceremony options at licensed venues
Three ♥ The benefit of seasonal light
When you talk to your wedding photographer, ask them about the best light to shoot your photos and the chances are they will say ‘the golden hour’. Photos as the sun is starting to set, in the spring can be truly magical. Equally, the spring light, rising, warm, sunny rays and that golden glow heralding the beginning of longer days, can be gorgeous for your wedding photos.
At a spring bank holiday wedding, you almost definitely won’t get that harsh glare of full sun which could see you and all your guests squinting at the camera. Which means you can have photos taken all day long, rather than just when the light is right.
And for a winter wedding, on New Year’s Eve, the light glimmering from candles inside is mysterious, romantic, evocative and flattering!
The photos on this blog have been taken by Laura www.freeformimages.co.uk Katherine www.katherinenewmanphotography.com/wedding and Emma www.frecklephotography.co.uk, three highly talented women who use their cameras and skill to enhance the light, natural or otherwise at your wedding.
Four ♥ Bank holiday flowers – in season and sustainable
Spring flowers can be a sustainable and budget conscience choice for weddings. With advance warning you can find a flower grower such as Pick your own flowers at Abbotsbury, who can plan to have them grown in advance for your wedding day. Or why not grow your own for a summer wedding? The bright, bold colours of high summer are ideal for an abundance of British grown flowers, giving a sustainable natural feel to your floral arrangements.
Even over New Year, you can choose succulents and leaves to lift your tables and bouquets.
Five ♥ Traditional bank holiday enjoyment
Historically, Bank holidays have their roots anchored in our popular culture and memory. They herald the beginning of summer, the end of long hard winters and are traditionally a time for fetes, village fairs and family celebrations. We associate them with stalls selling food, beer tents, music. Maypoles, Morris Dancing, fun games are all part of our collective recollections of a good time. Incorporating these into your wedding would be a charming way to personalise your wedding day.
Elements of a country fair can easily be incorporated into a bank holiday wedding with traditional games, dancers or even stalls. A wedding planner, such as Antonia www.honourandpop.co.uk can help you with fabulous ideas to make your outdoor venue feel like a country fete or there are specialists who hire our props from maypoles to sweetie carts and ‘tug-o -war’ games. Fun and festive for the little (and big) ones to celebrate your day.
Traditionally New Years Eve is a time of celebration, to party and dress up. Have you considered the idea of a winter wedding over New Year? A return to glamour and sparkles, glitz and dressing up? Live music and champagne with an evening ceremony by candlelight?
Six ♥ Symbolism over a bank holiday
Symbolism and rituals, many lost in time are at the heart of our spring bank holidays and many celebrants today will weave them into your wedding ceremony with ribbons for hand tying.
Seven ♥ Delightful white wedding dresses
White dresses are deeply reminiscent of spring and summer frocks, floaty, ephemeral and deeply romantic. Today brides and grooms often chose bolder or different colours, equally stunning and special. However, there is something quintessentially British about a spring or summer wedding, held outside in a floating, romantic white dress. Tie ribbons and flowers in your hair and have the wedding day you always dreamt of.
Think of summer fetes and outdoor gatherings to gather inspiration for your bank holiday wedding day. Take inspiration from old vintage photos and paintings of summer fairs and pageants. The advantage here is surely that traditionally, white is the color of spring and summer brides over the last two centuries and you can completely let that romantic atmosphere take over in your choices
