8 Winter Wedding Ideas for Memorable Guest Experiences

By Kirkbrae Wedding Venue

Groom hugging a bride at their outdoor winter wedding at Kirkbrae Country Club

Winter is historically the least popular season for weddings, with only 9% of weddings taking place between December and February in 2024. However, we firmly believe that a winter wedding is seriously underrated and offer opportunities for more intimate guest experiences you can’t recreate in other seasons. What makes a good wedding is totally different in winter than it is in the warmer months.

Below, discover eight inspiring winter wedding guest experience ideas to provide a unique experience, courtesy of the team at the best Rhode Island wedding venue.

You can use the following winter wedding ideas to get the party started.

8 Winter Wedding Activities For Guests & Winter Wedding Inspiration

Play with Fire

Is there anything cozier than a roaring fire? If your venue allows it, winter is an excellent season to take advantage of outdoor fire pits or light a roaring fire in the hearth. Your guests will have warm, inviting spaces to gather for a fireside chat.

Create A Soup Station

When you’re hosting an event during peak soup season, there’s never a better time to arrange a soup bar. Offer your guests three to four soup options, including creamy and broth-based varieties, alongside toppings and sides like cheese, bread, and herbs. It’s a seasonal spin on hors d'oeuvres, perfect for wintery cocktail hours.

Offer a Hot Coffee Bar At Your Winter Wedding

Winter is the perfect time to indulge in a warm and toasty beverage. You can make cocktail hour interactive for your guests by setting up a DIY drink station, such as a hot coffee bar with flavored syrups or a hot chocolate bar with toppings like marshmallows, sprinkles, and whipped cream.

This winter wedding idea is an amazing option for dry weddings, and a thoughtful way to give alcohol-free guests their own treats. But you could always ask your bartender to add spiked hot chocolate and Irish coffees to your cocktail menu, too.

Offer Board & Card Games

Summer and spring may lend themselves to outdoor games, like cornhole. But while your guests are hanging out by the fire, with their hot drink in hand, board games can provide a cozier way to encourage togetherness.

Setting out games like checkers, chess, or even decks of cards can give your guests a quick activity to pass the time during cocktail hour.

Award Your Best Dressed Guests At Your Winter Wedding

If you’re feeling playful, host a mini competition for the best-dressed wedding guests, offering a prize for the most dapper look or the most on-theme guest attire for winter weddings. For example, if you’re hosting a fairytale-themed wedding, give a mini gift basket to a guest who comes with a fur-cuffed cloak. Or, hand out a small gift card to a guest who wears a vintage dress to an old-Hollywood-themed wedding.

Small prizes like these are a fun way to give your guests a thoughtful surprise and to show that you appreciate them coordinating their guest attire for winter weddings with your theme.

A beautiful photo booth set up for an upcoming winter wedding at Kirkbrae Country Club

Arrange A Winter Wedding Photobooth

Your guests may not care to brave the snow and ice outside, but you can bring the outdoors inside with a snowy photo booth. You can use a photo backdrop or, if you’re feeling extra, use faux snow for a more interactive experience.

This is also a fun time to take advantage of props and setpieces, like snowmen, penguins, deer, or even an abominable snowman or two.

Snow Globe Favor Station

To give your guests a unique wedding favor, consider a parting gift of customizable photo snowglobes. This is a perfect opportunity to display the photo booth snapshots from the previous winter wedding guest experience idea.

Send Off With A Lantern Walk

Before you and your partner metaphorically ride off into the sunset, you can involve your guests in the send-off in a special way through a lantern walk. Give your guests globe lanterns with long handles, which will create a magical, wintry glow as you leave your wedding venue.

Plan Your Winter Wedding Day with Kirkbrae

If you’re ready to host a cozy, inviting winter wedding event that brings your guests together, Kirkbrae Country Club is ready to transform your event.

Our indoor wedding event spaces can accommodate cozy celebrations for a handful of your closest friends and family, to lavish winter balls with up to 400 guests. Our on-staff caterers and cocktail specialists can help you create a mouth-watering menu, while our wedding planners ensure that everything goes according to your vision.