Money, stress and tinsel - why couples are opting for winter weddings

Michael and Sinead Lysaght initially thought their wedding might cost £40,000

Sinead and Michael Lysaght thought their wedding might cost as much as £40,000 - such were the expectations of others.

"Ten years ago our vision would have been a big, contemporary tuxedo wedding with 120 guests," he told the BBC. "Given the cost of living crisis, we kind of asked ourselves 'who are we doing that for?'"

A survey of 1,800 couples by the wedding planning app Hitched found the average cost of a wedding was £20,000 with around half saying the state of the economy affected the budget for their ceremony.

Michael recalls one caterer telling him it would cost £25,000 to provide food and drink to all their guests at the wedding he and Sinead had originally envisaged.

Data collected from Hitched users also shows that hundreds of couples have organised their nuptials to take place over Christmas and New Year in each of the last four years.

This is part of the wedding off-season, which lies between December and February, when only 11% of nuptials take place, according to US wedding planning website The Knot.

For Sinead the prospect of organising such a large and expensive event was daunting - it was her idea to get married in a forest instead.

Fairy lights and candles guided guests to the forest clearing where Sinead and Michael married

"I thought she'd gone absolutely bonkers," says Michael, upon first hearing the suggestion. After Sinead won him over a few days later, the pair began organising a surprise wedding to take place on Christmas Eve.

They lured 13 unsuspecting loved ones to the Forest of Dean with the help of her mother.

Under the pretence of going to see a light show in the forest, the wedding party happened upon a clearing adorned with candles and fairy lights.

A celebrant appeared to conduct the marriage ceremony and, while the surprised guests regathered their wits, Sinead and Michael did a quick costume change.

The couple, who have been together for 11 years, exchanged vows before an array of conifer branches and lights - their two young sons had front row seats.

"We've created a unique memory that a £40,000 wedding wouldn't have created," says Michael, 41. "It wouldn't have had that surprise element, that moment in the forest."

Planning the wedding took five weeks and the cost was about a tenth of what they had thought they might have spent on a more conventional wedding.

The Lysaght's ceremony was held in front of an array of conifer branches and fairy lights

"My primary reason for the idea wasn't to save money, though that was important, it was more to do with the actual planning of a wedding attended by so many people," says Sinead, 40. "It was just overwhelming."

The couple credit enthusiastic staff for going "above and beyond" in arranging the clearing at such short notice.

They weaved in Sinead's favourite Christmas themes, made mulled wine and played songs from the film Love Actually.

"It felt like the stars were aligned," Sinead tell us. "Everything just fell into place."

The love of Christmas was also partly why Lucy Holliday, 36, chose a winter wedding - Father Christmas even turned up to the reception.

She and her partner Lee, 46, have been together for 18 years and have three sons. "It was a long engagement," jokes Lucy.

They decided to wed on 21 December because they didn't want to wait until 2026 for a date at their preferred venue.

It allowed them to save some money on the booking fee and infuse their nuptials with Christmas spirit.

Father Christmas arrived for the reception during Lucy and Lee Holliday's wedding

A decorated tree and sleigh greeted guests at the entrance to the country house which had holly, ivy, mistletoe and lanterns hung throughout.

The three flower girls were dressed as Christmas tree angels for the marriage ceremony and the wedding favours at the reception were shaped as crackers.

Father Christmas was announced to guests by an elf - the couple's youngest son.

Mulled wine and cider were available and the reception DJ was armed with a string of Christmas hits, including Lucy's favourite Fairytale of New York.

"It was absolutely fantastic," she tells us, saying the day couldn't have gone smoother. There were 80 guests for the wedding with another 40 at the reception.

"I think the adults enjoyed having Father Christmas there more than the kids!"

Wedding venue and supplier costs were cheaper in winter but, given the number of guests, the expense of the event meant Lucy and Lee's children received more modest gifts on Christmas Day than usual.

"They did say that me now having the same surname as them was the best present they could have asked for," says Lucy.

A decorated Christmas tree was set up at the Holliday's wedding which guests posed with

Sam White, 48, is a celebrant who acts as a master of ceremonies for milestone family events like weddings.

She says the festive period has been her busiest time for work this year and thinks people are increasingly considering winter weddings for several reasons.

Historically it was quite common for people to wed on Christmas Day with couples in inner-city areas of Britain married off in batches during the Victorian era.

There could be up to 40 weddings on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day at the turn of the 19th Century, according to research by Reverend Kelvin Woolmer.

Writing in the Church Times, he explains there were so many because for lots of working class people they were the only days they had off work each year.

Sam thinks the reasons today are more to do with hiring wedding venues at discounted rates, loved ones less likely to be away on holiday and weddings becoming more personalised.

"They want more warmth and joy and love - and their story incorporated into the ceremony," she tells us.

"We talk about what they love about each other and, through that, we're able to evoke so many different emotions."

Another benefit of her winter wedding, says Lucy, is that it's also helped her single friends embrace Christmas when they haven't wanted to previously.

She says one of her bridesmaids has never much enjoyed it but that the wedding prompted her to put up lots of Christmas decorations in her home. "She's been so excited," says Lucy. "It's really brought us all together."