Toying with the idea of a winter destination wedding, but not sure you want to hold the most special moment of your life in the coldest months of the year? Maybe it’s time to change your thinking. Winter weddings can be magical events. With a winter wedding you can choose any type of wedding you want. The bride can arrive at the church in a sleigh. Or, maybe she can ski down a mountain slope at a fancy ski resort. Or, perhaps the bride and groom can enjoy a sand ceremony on the beach.

Wait a minute. A sleigh, ski resort, and a beach? Something doesn’t belong here. We’re talking winter, right?

That’s the great part. A winter destination wedding or elopement means you can chose the type of winter you want. You can have the traditional winter of snow, or head off to a warmer destination. So, what kind of a winter wedding do you want?

Snowy Winter Weddings

Let’s face it. To some people there’s nothing more romantic than sitting together in front of a roaring fireplace, sipping hot cider, champagne or red wine. Whether you’re thinking of eloping, or planning a destination wedding with a group of close relatives and friends, a ceremony at a historic New England Inn or ski resort in Colorado or Utah could be just for you.

Many inns and resorts of New England have special winter wedding packages, such as the Stonebridge Country Club in Manchester, New Hampshire and the Interlaken Inn of Lakeville, Connecticut.

Perhaps you and your future spouse are ski fanatics. What better way to celebrate your marriage than to have a wedding at your favorite ski resort? It will certainly give your guests something fun to do after the ceremony. Most ski areas and resorts have wedding packages available, so you have your choice of such wonderful ski areas and resorts all over the country, like Lake Tahoe, California, Vail, Colorado and Stowe, Vermont. There’s even one town in the Adirondacks of New York which offer free skiing at the town-owned Ski Center. Chestertown in the Adirondacks would make a great winter wedding location, offering wedding guests free cross-country ski trails, a rope tow for downhill skiing, a tobogganing hill and a covered ice-skating rink. In addition, Chestertown has numerous cabins and bed and breakfast inns for you and your guests.

If some of your guests aren’t into downhill skiing, many ski areas offer other winter activities, such as cross-country skiing or tubing.

Warmer Winter Weddings

Okay, so you’re from Vermont and you’re sick of snow. You want to get away from the snow for your wedding or elopement. Follow the sun! Florida, California, Arizona, Hawaii and Mexico.

Phoenix, Arizona may seem like a furnace during the summer, but for winter weddings, it offers nice weather, luxurious spas and resorts, as well as the Desert Botanical Gardens in which to host your wedding.

While California beaches may be colder during the winter months, they still are beautiful places to wed. And, during the winter months, you can practically have some romantic beach spots to yourselves.

Winter weddings can offer so many choices. The hard part will be deciding which wonderful wedding destination to choose.