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Aliimarieesmith
Beginner December 2021

Winter Outdoor Ceremony in Maryland?

Aliimarieesmith, on April 29, 2021 at 7:47 PM Posted in Maryland Planning 0 7

I am having a dilemma with my ceremony. Obviously, every bride is struggling right now with planning in the middle of a pandemic, but I am having a THE HARDEST time figuring out what to do with my ceremony. My original date was Feb 27, 2021 and I was going to have the ceremony at a local church & our cocktail hour/reception not too far at a lodge. With everything thats going on we moved it to Dec 4th, 2021 in hopes that by the end of the year we would have more of a hold on "normalcy". To date, no churches in Montgomery County (that are accepting to our marriage) are taking events so I started to look into other venues around the area. We found a civil church that could work but is about ~40mins away from already booked reception venue with no parking and directly in the city on the street. We also found a beautiful botanical garden available, but not ideal in what we were wanting aesthetically for an indoor ceremony and its on the pricer side; plus, we would have to rent our furniture. We could also with this venue do an outdoor wedding in a beautiful area, but we would need to pay same price plus heaters. Our third option is our reception venue. It has a flat patio available outside for a ceremony for a small fee. We are not allowed to rent a tent, but we can rent heaters. If we were to do a ceremony with heaters, provide blankets, inform our guest we will be outside for 30 minutes, have the cocktail hour/reception ready and cozy with a fire lit, do you think our guests will hate us? I am worried for my grandparents mainly.. My fiancé really is pushing for outside and I am just hesitant because it will be 45ish degree weather and what would be our plan B? Idk what to do but I need to make a decision soon.

7 Comments

Latest activity by Catherine, on June 27, 2021 at 3:50 PM
  • Catherine
    Expert March 2023
    Catherine ·
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    I live in West Virginia about 30 minutes from Frederick so I know the area pretty well. Do not go an outside wedding in December. You have no idea what the weather will be lol. It could be 20 degrees with a wind chill and then you’re stuck having all of your loved ones freezings. You know how unpredictable our weather is. Three days ago in April it was only 50! And yesterday it was 90! Definitely no to any outside wedding. Plus with that you might have a lot of people RSVPing no because of an outside wedding in winter.
    I had my first wedding inside in January and even just the walk from where we got ready to my venue (across the street) was so cold, I couldn’t feel my toes.

    Either change your location of your reception venue and your ceremony venue to somewhere you can find both inside, do your ceremony at your reception venue, or get married not in the winter if you want an outdoor wedding.
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  • Catherine
    Expert March 2023
    Catherine ·
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    Ceremony at your reception venue at a DIFFERENT reception venue I mean lol*
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  • Natalie
    Super November 2020
    Natalie ·
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    An outdoor ceremony with that temperature would be absolutely miserable for guests, even with heaters. While the ceremony may only be 30min., guests always arrive early for weddings and will therefore be outside longer. Standard semi-formal attire is not typically warm, so guests will be left with the question of how to dress appropriately for the occasion and the weather. Instead of focusing on your ceremony, people will be focused on their discomfort, as is natural instinct. Many times once people get a chill, they have a hard time feeling warm again and will then be uncomfortable the rest of the evening.
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  • Cyndy
    Master May 2019
    Cyndy ·
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    I live in Maryland and that time of year can be very cold. No amount of heaters or blankets would make me a happy guest being outside. I think you should reconsider that option.
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  • Aliimarieesmith
    Beginner December 2021
    Aliimarieesmith ·
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    Today & yesterday were both 45-50 degrees. Is there a big difference in December compared to May?
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  • Cyndy
    Master May 2019
    Cyndy ·
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    Most definitely. December can be in the 30’s as the high or even colder.
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  • Catherine
    Expert March 2023
    Catherine ·
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    Absolutely!! December can get to 25-30 as a high for the day. Definitely not “ceremony” outside weather.
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