Lora Murphy's Blog: Cosy Hygge Wedding Styling Inspiration

You’ve probably heard the word hygge, pronounced ‘hoo-ga’ or ‘hue-gah’. It’s basically a word to reflect a mood of cosiness and contentment, and this wondrous hygge wedding styling will get you right into the Christmas spirit.

Created by the magnificent Kirsten, aka The Little Wedding Helper, these ideas give a cosy approach to Christmas and winter wedding styling. The concept also has a rustic feel, and it’s all so inviting.

A dark colour palette of purple and green offers an alternative to tradition Christmas colours, and what better florals to use at this time of year than purple hydrangeas, elderberries, and ivy? These elements combine to create a fabulously styled wedding tablescape. A large trailing ivy table runner creeps around vases of hydrangea and taper candles in glass bottles. So beautiful, it’s an easy way to create a stunning feature of your wedding table, and it’s inexpensive too, as you could forage the ivy yourself.

Wedding place setting with hygge styling

Cosy Vibe

One of the best places to create a cosy vibe is in a country pub, and The Battleaxes in Wraxall, just outside Bristol, provided a wonderful setting for this shoot. Throughout this stunning venue, carefully placed rustic decor creates feature points for the styling. Every little detail, such as the wooden stag head, wicker hearts, vintage books, lanterns, candles and soft blankets, all help to bring the hygge wedding styling to life.

The cosy vibe continues up the stairs of the pub, where trailing ivy is woven around pillar candles flickering between dark purple hydrangea. This looks great, but of course be careful at your wedding venue to place real candles out of the way of people’s path! You can get great artificial candles though, and some venues prefer these, so it’s best to check to be on the safe side.

A wedding wouldn’t be complete without a cake or two, and a wonderful styled sweet treat table adds to the cosy, rustic vibe. Naked wedding cakes, a decadent chocolate drip cake, and the cutest gingerbread houses are all displayed on oak slices. For me though, the pièce de résistance for this shoot is the spectacular hot chocolate bar, sure to give you a warm feeling inside (and leave you wanting one!).

Huge thanks go to Sam Gibson Photography for these amazing pictures of this hygge wedding styling inspiration…

Easy to Recreate

“The Danish word ‘hygge’ has become a bit of a buzz word. I keep pronouncing it as ‘huggy’, because it’s how it makes you feel. Meik Wiking, author of ‘The Little Book of Hygge’ defines it as ‘togetherness, relaxations, indulgence, presence and comfort’.

“It got me thinking about weddings and how this Danish concept can lend itself to the planning and design of a wedding day. Many couples who I talk to often become overwhelmed with everything, all consumed with Pinterest and wanting to create the right look for their day. They can become lost in so many details that they lose sight of what the day is actually about. Don’t get me wrong, I love the details; it’s what my job is about. However, it’s important that they’re meaningful and personal. When your guests walk into your ceremony and reception they should see the both of you entwined throughout. It’s not just about how your wedding looks, but how it feels too.

“After reading more I wanted to create hygge wedding styling that encompassed all its elements and, more importantly, was easy to recreate.

“Thank you to all the suppliers who really got what I wanted to create, and also to The Battleaxes for allowing us to take over a corner of their beautiful venue. It is perfect for any winter wedding, with its log fires, wooden tables, mismatched chairs, and as much hot chocolate as a wedding stylist could drink!”

Small wedding table with hygge styling