Selecting which season to plan the wedding of your dreams may seem intuitive, but there are many things to consider for each season that uniquely influence the way those plans will come to life! It makes sense to have a look at each before automatically rushing into choosing a date. We took some time to run through the highlights and hurdles of each wedding season for you, so when you do finally decide, you feel 100% confident that you’ve chosen the perfect season for celebrating your big day!

Spring Weddings

Highlights

Spring Weddings! When we think spring, we think of new life bursting forth, fragrant blossoms everywhere, set against a backdrop of emerging greenery, fresh sunlight, and a call to be out of doors. There are many intoxicating things about spring weddings:

• Unlimited dress choices. There aren’t any weather-related restrictions on wedding dresses for spring weddings. The weather is usually a mixture of warmer to cooler, so you can choose whatever style you love.
• Easy traveling. Spring is a good time of the year to expect your guests will make it to your wedding with no issues on the roads or highways
• Romance and amazing flowers. Something about spring speaks of romance and soft color palettes—pastels and neutrals—mixed in with subtle fragrances from spring blossoms and greenery. Think spring blossoms raining down from trees softly blowing in the wind. Sigh.
• Stunning lighting. Lots of cloud cover and spring showers. Not only does cloud cover make for nicely filtered light, but spring rain adds a beautiful element of luminescence to everything, and the combo adds indescribable magic to your imagery.

The Hurdles

Of course, spring weddings also have their share of things to consider as well:  

• Allergy season. For those who suffer from allergies, spring can be more like subtle torture than a beautiful, bright and fragrant season. Even if you don’t suffer from allergies, many of your guests may. 
• Unpredictable weather. Spring can be crazy—weatherwise—with warm sunshine mixed in with high winds, downpours, and sometimes even hail, all in one day. When planning a spring wedding, it’s always safest to plan for an indoor ceremony and reception to avoid being hit by unexpected weather. 
• More expensive and less venue/vendor availability. All those couples who have been waiting all winter to have a spring wedding allow venues and vendors to up their prices to match demand, so you can expect to pay more for your wedding in spring and you may not be able to book your dream vendors (if you have had a short engagement and weren’t able to book a year in advance).
  

Our busiest wedding months in the DC/Maryland area tend to be May/June and September/October. The weather is warm but not hot, floral choices are plentiful, and the sunsets later than in the winter months so our couples are able to have an evening ceremony while the sun is still shining. A typical wedding celebration lasts about 5-6 hours, so holding a 3 pm – 8 pm ceremony due to winter lighting seems like an early end time for most of our couples. They’d rather party until at least 11 pm or midnight!

Summer weddings are always so joyous and vibrant; we love bright pops of color and infusing fun party elements into our designs. Summer food and cocktail options are also plentiful – everyone loves mojitos and margaritas with a Maryland crabcake bite at a poolside cocktail hour. And of course, there’s no light quite like that summertime golden hour pre-sunset.

We love to play around with textures, textiles, and lighting in winter wedding design. There are so many rich tabletop fabrics to choose from that your guests will touch and feel, like velvet and jacquard, and we tend to infuse more luxe patterns like damask to boost the formality. Since our winter events are held indoors, lighting also makes a huge impact and candlelight at varied heights goes a long way to set an intimate mood.

-Elizabeth of East Made Co

Fall Weddings

The Highlights

Fall weddings bring to mind a bold mix of greens, reds, oranges, yellows, and browns; of deep, rich wedding colors and frosty mornings; of mist rising from turning grasses and leaves.  Fall weddings are a popular choice with many couples these days and for good reason:

• Brilliant colors and gorgeous natural landscapes. Fall is the most striking season for striking colors and bold backdrops. 
• Dress accessories. Fall is an excellent season for adding dress accessories such as colors built into the gown itself or a colored shawl or cover-up, bold shoes or hair accessories. 
• Gorgeous scenery. Not only are the roads usually fairly good in the fall, but the scenery is also breathtaking and the guests that have to travel to you will enjoy the drive.  
• Bold color choices. One of our favorite aspects of fall weddings are the flower arrangements and bouquets full of 
• Good lighting. Although the days aren’t as long as in summer, they are still filled with a wider variety of light and often allow for both bright and colorful, as well as moodier, moments throughout the day. 

The Hurdles

Fall also has its share of issues that can crop up when it comes to planning a fall wedding:

• The transition from summer to fall can trigger colds and cases of flu: All seasonal changes can do this, but the change from summer to fall, specifically, transitions our bodies into a “dampness cycle” and this often triggers the onset of colds and flu. If you are a person who seems to be hit with sickness in the fall, it may not be a wise idea to plan a fall wedding. Nobody wants to be suffering through a cold on their wedding day. 
• Less guest availability. Not only can fall be a difficult season for people, financially, but it’s often the time of year that people have used up their vacation time and can’t travel anywhere or take more time off. If there are people that you absolutely must have at your wedding and you know the fall will be tough for them, it is probably wise to consider another season. 
• Unpredictable weather. Like winter and spring, fall can have the lion’s share of erratic weather, so if you are planning for an outdoor ceremony or reception, it’s wise to have a backup plan in case the weather acts up.
• More expensive and less venue/vendor availability. Fall-like summer—is a very popular season for weddings, so fall weddings usually require bookings far in advance. If you are recently engaged or don’t plan on a long engagement, a fall wedding may not work for you.

For outdoor summer weddings, we love to create a pretty display of natural insect repellant on trays with a dish of folding hand fans in a color that matches the design. These sit alongside a welcome drink like berry-infused water or lemonade to keep guests cool and hydrated.

Winter is a great time to make the most of cozy, candlelit romance. With sunset being early in the day, you can have a candlelight ceremony and keep the tone of the evening enchanting. It’s harder to pull off a romantic, candlelit affair in the bright evening light of summer but winter lends itself perfectly to this.

Fall in DC is delicious! Between the local flowers and food that are available and the perfect timing of sunset for magic hour portraits that coincide with your wedding schedule, it’s no wonder that fall is high season in DC. Make use of everything that is in season in September and October and try different color schemes – the trending colors of rust, emerald and burgundy work so well in the fall.

                                                                                                                                             -Aimee of A. Griffin Events

Summer Weddings

Highlights

Summer Weddings! Beautiful sunny skies, warm breezes, flowers and trees in full bloom, and oh those endless summer nights! There’s a reason summer weddings are so popular and here are some of them:

• Gorgeous natural colors and landscapes. Summer brings an alluring array of flowers, greenery, and rolling, colorful landscapes dotted with pristine blue lakes and skies. 
• Light, detailed, off-the-shoulder or open-backed gowns. Warm weather allows for a wide variety of delicate, detailed, elegant, and alluring wedding dress choices. 
• Easy traveling. Like spring, summer is a good season for traveling roads and highways, so guests should be able to reach you. 
• Unlimited flower choices. Local flower farmers and flower shops will always have a large selection and variety of flowers to create your bouquet and accessorize your reception and ceremony site. 
• The Golden Hour. Summer brings more light for longer periods of time and that golden hour—the one before sunset—is the most magical light you’ll ever get for photos. 

The Hurdles

Summer is not always the best time of the year to wed. Here’s why: 

• It’s hot. Really hot. While summer can open the door to fun and adventures with our friends and family, summer weddings can be a little too much to handle. Hot weather can make people tired and cranky and, if you keep in mind that you’ll be dressed in gowns and suits, it can be downright uncomfortable. If heat isn’t really your first love, it’s better to consider a wedding in a different season. 
• More expensive and less venue/vendor availability. Even more so than spring weddings, summer weddings often have to be fully booked a year (or more) in advance if couples want to get the venues and vendors of their dreams. 
• Vacation season. Summer is vacation season for many people, so you’ll have to make sure you get your invitations out to guests well beforehand to ensure they don’t already have vacations planned.
  

Each season brings its own bounty of unique and beautiful blooms worthy of a Wedding day celebration… but if you are counting on a certain flower to grace your bouquet you will want to take a peek at when that flower is available.

Year-round || Roses & Ranunculus

Winter || Anemone, Some Hellebore and Some Dahlias

Spring || All Bulb Flowers, Hellebore, Lilac, Flowering Branches, Peonies

Summer || Peonies &  Dahlias

Fall || Dahlias & Hydrangea

– Kelly of Petals By The Shore

Winter Weddings

Highlights

Ah, winter weddings! They bring to mind landscapes covered in a gorgeous blanket of pristine white or perhaps a focus on Ice sculptures or even a faux snowfall during our first dance. The white tones of winter help color pop, skin to glisten and shine, and dreamy backgrounds to abound. Here are some really wonderful things about winter weddings:

• Wide-open color palette! Not only does freshly fallen snow create a neutral world that works with any color palette, but it also makes all colors pop so any accessories enhance photos.
• Cozy and romantic themes. Winter weddings introduce an entirely new world for receptions and details—think blazing fireplaces, gourmet cocoa bars, comfort food, and fun wedding day activities for guests, such as sleigh rides or skiing 
• Outdoor ceremonies are amazing! Outdoor wedding ceremonies, with heated tents and portable heaters, overlooking sublime mountain vistas make for unforgettable photos and lifelong memory of epic ceremony experience.
• More availability. Winter is a much slower time of year for most venues and the pricing will often be lower, so you will have more funds to invest in the experiences you give your guest on the Wedding day, think more customization, from the elegant calligraphed invitations to the florals that surround you, or whatever else you have your heart set upon.

The Hurdles

Of course, there are other things to consider about winter weddings that you will want to be prepared for:

• Limited dress choices. A warm dress can be tough to find. It’s cold out there and, even though there are many wedding dresses out there that have many layers, a bride will eventually get chilly if she doesn’t have a place to quickly warm-up or something to cover her. It’s not always easy to find a flattering cover-up or shawl to go with a winter wedding dress, so it’s important to have a solid plan in place for outdoor winter photos that allow everyone to warm up periodically. 
• Travelling can be difficult. As beautiful as snow can be, it can also be unpredictable and snowstorms can set in and force you to move from outside to inside (or not be able to reach your wedding location at all). It will be essential to have a backup plan in case crazy weather sets in
• Limited flower selection. If you are a flower lover and have your heart set on certain types of flowers, you may have to change up your ideas to account for winter flower availability. 
• It’s the holiday season. Winter also coincides with the holiday season so it’s important to get invites out to your guests early so they aren’t already tied up with holiday plans.
• Daylight is limited. Winter daylight is also shorter, so it’s important to plan the day to start and end earlier if you want an outdoor ceremony and photos.

As you can see, no matter what season you choose for your wedding, there are many things to consider for each of them. Whatever you decide, be sure you choose the one that speaks to your heart and fills you with excitement and anticipation, and always make sure you have a backup plan.   

|| Vendor Love ||

Thank you East Made Co, Petals by The Shore, and A. Griffin Events for sharing your expertise!

SPRING || Venue – Inn at Perry Cabin, Planning – Rebecca Thomas Events, Florals – Seaberry Farms

SUMMER || Venue – Hyatt Chesapeake Bay,  Planning/Florals – The City Florist by Styled Events

FALL || Venue – Inn at Perry Cabin, Planning – Rebecca Thomas Events, Florals – Steelcut Flower Co

Winter || Venue – Congressional Country Club, Planning – Marriage and Mimosas, Florals – Petals By The Shore

Styling Surfaces – Elysian Market