Planning a Christmas wedding? Then you HAVE to see James and Emily’s real wedding! Even if you're not, there's something so exciting and romantic about their festive wedding, we could swoon over it year-round! Captured by the talented Paula Gillespie, the couple created a winter wonderland wedding wedding  in Antrim Baptist Church, filled with inspiring DIYs and personal touches. We have a feeling lots of you will be borrowing ideas from this chic, cosy celebration!

The couple's choice of wedding date was actually a nod to their first meeting, when the couple got invited to the same Christmas party by a mutual friend. "James was told it was just a casual Christmas get-together, but I was told it was a Christmas Jumper party," explains Emily. "My friend and I turned up in their flashing Christmas jumpers and it turned out that we were the only ones wearing them! Mortified, I tried to hide but James spotted me and managed to get my number. The rest was history and this was the start of what made Christmas such a special time for us as a couple.”  See? Christmas jumpers are always a good idea!

And just wait 'til you hear Emily recall the proposal! This one is seriously cute. “For the proposal James planned ‘Emily’s perfect day’. At each place, I was given an envelope to describe the place I was going to next. It started with a fry for breakfast, then we headed to Glenariff, drove round the coast to Port Muck where we had our favourite picnic (a meal deal from Tesco), then the Rinkha for my favourite ice-cream and finally the proposal was meant to happen at Glenoe waterfall. However, when we got there it was all barricaded off. Where there is a will there is a way... we climbed the muddy hill and hopped over the fence. Despite not being quite as romantic as James had imagined, it meant that there was no one else there! James gave the final envelope and got down on one knee. Well, more like hovered due to all the mud!”

Emily and her leading ladies had a lovely wedding eve together, “As my mum did all the flowers for the wedding she thought it would be fun if the bridesmaids and I made up our own bouquets the night before. So we sat the night before in our pyjamas and arranged our own bouquets (with some assistance).”

For James & Emily, their big day was all about creating a special atmosphere, “Our wedding was a winter wedding with a touch of Christmas. It was very low key and relaxed, a chance to escape from the busyness of Christmas. It was such a joyful day and felt like one big family Christmas get-together,” the couple tells us.

The couple had a few key priorities for their day, “As we are both Christians we wanted our wedding to reflect our love for God as well as our love for each other. Therefore, we wanted to make sure that the ceremony was the main part of our day. We also wanted to spend as little money as possible and create as many things as we could ourselves. We are blessed with so many talented and creative family and friends who we wanted to involve. We wanted them to be part of the preparation as much as the day. In the months leading up to the day we created so many fond memories with people that we love and it made the day so much more special. As it was so close to Christmas we wanted our day to give friends and family the chance to get together and spend time with each other at such a busy time of the year.”

Emily has some wise words to pass on to other couples, “There is so much pressure on couples these days to have ‘the perfect day’. You look at other people’s weddings in pictures and think that everything is perfect. You will remember your day not because it was perfect, but because it was your wedding day.”

Now to hear all about the DIYs! “We designed and created the stationery ourselves. My brother drew sketches of us and the bridal party which we included in the invites and order of services. A lot of the decorations we used for the reception were things that used to belong to my late Granda. He was a doctor and the centre pieces were candles in old medicine bottles of his. We also used his antique TV and radios as decoration in our venue. Whenever I was younger, my mum painted the chairs around our kitchen table with my family members names on them. We each had our special chair and we still have them today. We decided to do this for our top table, so we bought some old second-hand chairs and painted them for each member of the bridal party. Then we gave them to take home as a gift.” Emily tells us.

And that wasn't it for the handiwork, "We also found some old panes of glass and some old doors which we used as the seating plan and cake backdrop. To create a soft seating area, we borrowed second-hand furniture and used some throws, blankets and cushions to make it more homely"

"The reception venue was in Emily’s family church. The building meant a lot to us and it provided a blank canvas for us to decorate ourselves,” says James.

“We realised that without spending a lot of money you can create a day which is just as special. Ask people you know to help out and use their talents. Most people love to be asked- just make sure you show your thanks! Even if you aren’t creative there are so many great ideas online and in magazines.” Well we certainly agree, wink wink!

The couple say it's important to do things your own way, “Don’t let the opinions of others or worrying what other people might think. Everyone’s taste is very different and you can’t please everyone.”

After their wedding, the couple headed off on the perfect winter honeymoon, “We went to Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland and Chamonix in France. We left for our honeymoon straight from our wedding and therefore we were there over the Christmas holidays including Christmas Day. We only had a week so we decided not to go too far away. We ended up waking up on Christmas Day to perfect snow and a real ‘winter wonderland’,” Emily recalls.

Make sure you head to the gallery for more pictures of this gorgeous day! Massive thanks to James and Emily for sending us Paula's beautiful snaps!