30 Christmas-Themed Wedding Ideas That Will Get Your Guests Into the Holiday Spirit

• Sprinkle Christmas magic in your wedding with creative ideas like Christmas tree canapés and gingerbread house cakes.

• Transform your ceremony into a winter wonderland by using fresh greenery and twinkling string lights.

• Delight guests with seasonal favorites like spiked eggnog and personalized ornament favors to enhance the festive spirit.

Choose Thematic Invitations

Your wedding invitations set the tone for the event to come, so they're a great place to introduce your holiday theme. Green velvet cards with a gold foil tree motif is an elevated, understated combination that nods at the celebration you're planning.

Blanket Everyone in Snow

Want to really wow your guests? If you live in a climate that doesn't regularly get snow—as was the case for this couple, who tied the knot in Malibu, California—surprise everyone with a faux snowfall. Flakes cascaded down as loved ones found their seating assignments.

Play Up Iconic Holiday Colors

Red and green are classic holiday colors, and working those hues into your celebration's floral décor couldn't be easier. At this California wedding, the couple worked with Apis Floral to choose centerpieces of roses and greenery in those signature Christmas tones.

Consider Seasonal Entertainment

While you might not want to forgo a live band or DJ for your reception, your cocktail hour is a great time to get creative with alternative types of entertainment. And for a Christmas-themed wedding, what entertainment could be more fitting than carol singers? Surprise and delight your guests with a group of performers, ideally dressed in traditional caroling garb, singing holiday classics.

Serve Eggnog and Gingerbread

Is there a more fun signature cocktail for a Christmas-themed wedding than spiked eggnog? At this Washington, D.C. wedding, guests were treated to glasses of the classic sip decorated with mini gingerbread cookies.

Frame the Altar With Christmas Trees

What's a Christmas-themed wedding without Christmas trees? Frame your ceremony space with evergreens adorned in lights. This will look especially dreamy if you're getting married after the sun sets!

Set the Scene

Greenery is a natural choice for a Christmas wedding, but that doesn't mean you have to use it in an expected way. We love how garlands were used to line the tent draping, chandeliers, and pool at this wedding. The berry accents and classic red ribbons further help to tie everything together.

Serve Festive Cocktails

Incorporating seasonal flavors like eggnog, peppermint, and cranberry into your wedding food and drinks can be a subtle but meaningful way to add a dose of Christmas charm to your celebration. A cranberry-flavored Champagne cocktail is the perfect option for a Christmas-themed wedding.

Print Custom Napkins

The best way to upgrade a signature cocktail is with a corresponding signature napkin. A simple, elegant design with a fun wordplay—just like this option—is perfect for your holiday-themed nuptials.

Style the Invitation Suite

Just as the invitation suite sets the tone for the big day, the invitation suite will likely set the scene of your wedding photo gallery and/or album. For this reason, it's a great place to embrace the season by styling paper goods with accents like ornaments, ribbon, and greenery.

Make Special Signage

Whether its on invitations, signage, or cocktail menus, you can take your Christmas wedding to the next level by using special language throughout the day. At this real wedding, the couple not only named their signature cocktail "Jingle Juice," but they also made it known by adding a festive jingle bell straw (with a pretty calligraphed name tag) to each crystal-cut glass.

Utilize Ornaments in Unexpected Ways

At this Marie Antoinette-inspired wedding in Michigan, the grooms used ornaments as unique reception place cards. Photos of each guest were placed inside the gilded frame baubles, which guests could take home after the nuptials and display year after year. This idea is proof that you can add even subtle touches of the holiday season to your day.

Serve a Gingerbread House Wedding Cake

Want to really wow your guests? Skip a traditional wedding cake and display a gingerbread house instead, just like this one from Chelsea Buns Cake Design. You can still offer guests slices of cake for dessert, but a statement-making cookie display (perhaps in the shape of your wedding venue) is guaranteed to get everyone talking.

Bring in Bows

Bows—whether topping presents or adorning wreaths—are a classic symbol of the festive season. Bring them into your wedding reception, just as this couple did, to drive your theme home. We love how much texture their delicate satin loops add to the reception's tablescapes.

Serve Tree-Shaped Canapés

Certain wedding dishes can easily take on a holiday form—and we do mean that literally. These Christmas tree-shaped canapés made with cucumbers, cheese, and nuts would be the ideal addition to your wedding's thematic cocktail hour.

Use Evergreens as Table Runners

Fresh greenery is one of the hallmarks for the holiday season, so top your tables with boughs of your favorite evergreens. For more dimension, you can add in seasonal blooms and berries, but there's something so sweet and simple about greens on their own.

Embrace a Holiday Color Palette

Yes, red and green paired together are synonymous with the holiday season, but you can certainly employ a different color palette when planning Christmas-themed nuptials. If you're nervous about your chosen hues feeling too obvious, consider decorating your ceremony and reception with just one favorite holiday color and adding neutral accents and metallics to take it to the next level.

Utilize Seasonal Blooms

Potted amaryllis flowers are a staple this time of year, so why not use them in your winter wedding décor? Whether you use them to decorate an escort card table, as seen here, or your reception space, they're a beautiful, thematic nod to the holiday season.

Create an Ornament-Filled Escort Card Wall

We love an escort card that doubles as a favor, and that's especially true during the holiday season. At this Christmas-themed wedding in Washington, D.C, guests found ornaments and miniature wooden houses with their names and seating assignments.

Don't Underestimate the Power of Potted Poinsettias

Is there a flower more synonymous with Christmas than the poinsettia? Decorate your space with the season's traditional potter flower for an easy, affordable way to invoke holiday vibes, just as this couple did at their New York City nuptials.

Set the Table

A Christmas-themed wedding reception table can be set any number of ways, but we're especially fond of using seasonal greens in unique, unexpected ways. At this wedding, wreaths were placed around each charger, putting the evening's meal on full display.

Decorate With Fresh Greenery

Give your reception space that cozy feel by hanging greenery as you would at home. This wedding's lounge featured pinecone-accented wreaths, a gathering of Christmas trees, and ribbon-wrapped garlands.

Get Creative With Jingle Bells

Jingle bells can pull double duty as escort cards and favors. To play up the holiday vibes even more, have everyone ring the bell at the same time before toasts begin. Trust us: It'll create a moment you (and your guests) won't soon forget.

Hang String Lights

Twinkle lights look magical at weddings all year long, but they're especially fitting during the holiday season. As an added bonus, they can make a huge impact without a big cost.

Make Your Signature Drink a Frozen Hot Chocolate

Guests love a creative signature cocktail, and a spiked frozen hot chocolate is just so fitting for the holiday season. Topped with cookies, peppermint shavings, and chocolate sprinkles, the treat couldn't be more appropriate for the theme.

Gift Ornaments

Here's an idea for favors that your guests will actually want to keep: Have a calligrapher write everyone's names on pretty glass ornaments. There are a million ways to creatively display them for your guests to grab on the way to their seats or out the door.

Set Up a Bourbon Bar

Serving a pre-ceremony hot drink? Let guests spike their sips, just like they would at a family gathering, by setting up a self-serve bar.

Send Guests Home With a Seasonal Treat

It's no secret that wedding guests want something to eat or drink as a favor. Treat your loved ones to small batches of eggnog they can take home at the end of the night.

Let It Snow

If snowflakes aren't in the forecast, make your own in the form of a confetti shower!