Jaycee Weaver, Andrea Boyd, and I all joined an anthology collection called Something Borrowed: Christmas Weddings Collection. It’s a story of five friends who each get a turn to wear a tiara from their sixth friend Ruth Ann (inspired by Angela Ruth Strong who couldn’t join our collection this year).
As each friend navigates the relationship waters, we get to see the highs and lows that life brings us. You’ll be blessed with these sweet romances where you’ll get a wide range of faith sprinkled throughout the pages.
So to celebrate the release of Something Borrowed, I thought it would be fun to ask each author to describe their idea of a perfect Christmas wedding.
from Amazon.com
Jaycee: My dream Christmas wedding (paid for by a wealthy benefactor, of course lol!) would be in the middle of a cold spell—not because I like the cold (my husband and I are both desert rats), but because the dresses I would choose would be too hot otherwise! My sister and I would have a double wedding White Christmas style in our matching Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen final scene gowns and muffs. The guys would be in more modern fitted tuxes, since I’m not a fan of the baggy Santa suits. LOL! But I can totally picture a little ballerina dancing down the aisle ahead of us, no other bridesmaids. Growing up, this was our favorite Christmas movie and one of the few things we could agree on. My mom would sing “Sisters” to us when we’d get into it over something, which of course got us joining in (or rolling eyes later). Having her by my side on such a day really would be a beautiful, nostalgic dream!
from Pixabay.com
Mikal: Well first and foremost, if you know me at all, I WANT SNOW! But since it’d be too cold outside for people to sit there for a wedding, it would need to be inside, and real snow inside doesn’t work. Knowing that, I’d make my own! I would hang subtlely sparkling snowflakes all over from the ceiling, bring in a ton of evergreens and spray them (lightly!) with snow. From there I’d line the aisles with lanterns with lit pillar candles in them and mistletoe hanging off them. At the altar, I would have a backdrop of snowed-on evergreens with little white twinkling lights woven through. (I’m dying here!!!)
As for the flowers, I looooooove peonies, but I’d want to save my bouquet! I found a crafter a few years ago that makes flowers out of very thin wood and dyes/paints them. I would have her do peonies in a wine-red, pink, and dyed wine-red sprigs along with green sprigs and maybe some eucalyptus.
Music-wise, all the quiet Christmas music you could think of. The one that would HAVE to be played for sure in some bigger way is “O Holy Night.” It’s my favourite Christmas song ever! And all our family and close friends would be there, and my old pastor (and his wife) from Georgia would marry us.
Can you tell I’ve given this a lot of thought? HAHA! But when it all comes down to it, what would matter to me would be that I marry my best friend and we have that lifelong commitment to one another. As long as I have that, I could get married in a paper bag.
But please don’t make me.
from Pixabay.com
Andrea: My grandmother told me a story about how her grandparents eloped and I thought it was so romantic. If I had my dream wedding, that’s what I’d do. We would sneak off to a tropical beach somewhere right before Christmas and say our I dos. Then we’d show up at the family Christmas gathering all tanned and happy with a story that would be repeated to future generations!
from Pixabay.com
Teresa: My dream Christmas wedding probably looks a lot different at almost 40 than it would if you asked me back when I got married at 21. Younger me would have thought about ornate decoration ideas, clever reception touches that would nod to an elegant holiday theme, etc. Now, the perfect December wedding would include just me and my husband having a super short “I do/me too” ceremony with close friends and family around a Christmas tree. Maybe a few red and white roses with evergreens tucked into a bouquet, simple long-sleeve dress, and Nat King Cole singing “The Christmas Song” on a record (because records sound the best) as we danced just one dance. Then, we’d promptly change and go enjoy Disney World decorated for Christmas, just the two of us. It is our favorite place for the holidays and I think it would make the most fun and relaxing honeymoon.
from Pixabay.com
Me: Honestly, the idea of a Christmas wedding makes me immediately want portable heaters. I could have an outdoor wedding in the mountains were snow has fallen and blanketed the hillside in white. And since we have the patio heaters, no guest would have to freeze for the effect. I’d wear a fur wrap to match my ivory dress (and wear tennis shoes. Heels are for the birds!). My bridesmaids would be in emerald green and fur wraps as well. And I would love a hot chocolate station.
Something Borrowed is 99¢ on eBook and available on Kindle Unlimited.
Old friends, new loves, and a borrowed tiara.
Always Been Yours by Jaycee Weaver — Hanady’s planning her dream wedding, but her injured best friend Keenan isn’t the groom. If she can’t see she’s marrying the wrong guy soon, his leg won’t be the only thing broken.
All the Moore by Toni Shiloh — Leilah Anderson has been living behind the screen to hide her disability, then she meets Reggie Moore face-to-face. Can their relationship survive the truth and distance between them?
A Holly, Bolly Christmas by Mikal Dawn — A dream wedding venue at Christmas? Sign Chahna Kapoor up. Even if her fiancé doesn’t know it…
Somehow, This Christmas by Teresa Tysinger — When not-so-merry mishaps threaten wedding planner Cate Forsyth’s holiday wedding and reputation, will her own happily ever after with sweetheart Noah Bennett melt away?
A Promise So Sweet by Andrea Boyd — Lydia Osborn hasn’t heard from her ex in ten years, so imagine her surprise when he shows up proposing marriage. Tis the season for love?
Reader friends, what would your dream Christmas wedding look like?
Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace thanks to the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior. She writes to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness. She spends her days hanging out with her husband and their two boys. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Find out more on her website at http://tonishiloh.com.
There would have to be snow on the ground and the bride would arrive by a horse drawn carriage.
Sleigh bells and snow – it would be cold, but very beautiful.
I like the idea of the White Christmas wedding Jaycee envisioned! The only thing I’d change would be to bring the outside in as they did when they opened the curtain to show the snow outside! One of my sister’s got married AFTER Christmas, but while the church was still decorated for Christmas, and just had the decorations the church had done, so all we had to decorate was the Fellowship Hall!!
i got married in December in Puerto Rico, so no snow or fireplace :)
That truly sounds fabulous. 22 year old me would have chosen the White Christmas wedding if I’d done it in December, but present day me would enjoy renewing our vows on the beach (next year we hit 20 years, so… maybe I should plan this… hmm)!
Most definitely! I didn’t want to take over Toni’s post with too many lengthy details, but opening the doors to see the snow would be perfect! Unless I flipped a coin and ran off the the beach. Realistically, I could go either way. 😂
A horse drawn carriage sounds perfect!
Sounds very beautiful.
lol
I’m with Jaycee. That sounds wonderful and warm (huge bonus points for warmth)!
I’d arrive in a horse drawn carriage to a beautifully decorated church at Christmas time in a classy wedding dress.
Outside with snow, fairy lights in all the trees, and a horse drawn sleigh.
Since I don’t like cold or snow, I would have the wedding inside a beautiful church decorated like Christmas. I’d be wearing a white dress dotted with sparkling clear rhinestones & a wide satin red silk ribbon around my waist with a bow in the back. My bouquet would consist of snow white & deep red roses and my groom would have a deep red rose in his lapel. My bridesmaids would wear red silky dresses & the groomsmen would wear red boutonnieres to contrast with their coal black suits. There would also be a red carpet littered with snow white rose petals for me to walk up to my smiling groom. My cake would be red velvet with white butter cream frosting and tiny red rose decorations.
Sounds beautiful, Megan!
Lights in the trees sounds magical!
Yum. Red velvet is amazing!
Unless its a location wedding where we go somewhere cold with snow which I wouldn’t like as while I would love to see snow I don’t want to go there in our summer.
So it would be a summer wedding. Would have a white cap sleeve gown. Wear mums veil. Bridesmaids (not sure one or two) would wear a Red gown. Maybe nice to have the wedding itself on Christmas Eve and then on christmas day go to the Christmas day service and have the reception as a Christmas lunch where everyone can relax (and wear more casual clothes for the day) (then head of to Melbourne to go to the Boxing day Test cricket for the honeymoon)
Outside with lots of beautiful colored lights, and the cake would be a pineapple one with pineapple tidbits in the frosting. This anthology sounds like a very good read. Thank you for sharing about it. Have a Great weekend and stay safe.
Congratulations ladies on your new release! I’ve added your stories to my Christmas tbr list. 😊
I loved my Fall wedding. I was in my cousin’s Christmas wedding. We wore green dresses and carried white velvet muffs with sprigs of holly instead of bouquets, but I caught the bouquet at her wedding. And I did get married about 18 months later to the guy I was dating.
My wife and I planned our June wedding together so I’ll weigh in on a subject where the guys are traditionally along for the ride.
My girl loves snow, the more the merrier. The doors to the church would have snow stacked six or seven feet high, like coming in from a winter wonderland. My sister-in-law loved everything to do with Christmas so the church sanctuary would have a huge tree in one corner: lights, ornaments, garlands. The front would have more trees, not decorated but with boughs covered in (artificial) snow, like the wedding party was standing in a small clearing in an evergreen forest. Just for fun, the wedding party would come in in parkas over their tuxes and gowns and take them off when the bride arrived (conveniently collected by someone in the front row :). The reception would have a ski-lodge theme: a (probably fake) fireplace in one corner. Hot cocoa and lattes and, if it’s going to be a meal, big mugs of hearty stew. The cake will look like a mountain and the topper will be two climbers who have reached the top. Centerpieces on the tables will be mistletoe with little skis and snowshoes. And, of course, the background music will be Christmas carols, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums and at least one rendition (probably Steve and Edie) of Let It Snow.
That sounds great!
Stay safe as well, Alicia!
Thanks, Narelle!
That’s so awesome!!
I love the song “Let it Snow.” Love this!
Tropical beach 🥰
I got married in Jamaica, and then honeymooned in Ocho Rios, climbed Duns River Falls and at various places along the beaches and to mineral springs areas. If I could change anything, it would not have poured raining on the day of our wedding, and I wouldn’t have got really sunburned, but 52 years later, I guess it worked.
Very “one horse open sleigh” — LOVE IT!