Small Wedding/microwedding/elopement

I'm planning my elopement now so no pictures but I'm here to follow along!


I specifically picked a photographer that specializes in elopements/adventure weddings so I took a ton of inspiration from their portfolio!

We had a minimony of 35 guests last October during the shutdown! We are still having our big wedding next weekend, but we absolutely loved our minimony! Everything for this wedding was DIY & we planned it in 6 weeks. Here's a few pictures:

View Quoted Comment So did you not feel satisfied with just the minimony? Is that why you are having the large ceremony also?
We are not thinking of doing a Microwedding/Elopement because of Covid (and then having a large celebration later). We only want one celebration, and are contemplating seriously downsizing to something very small and intimate. So I’m curious about how couples who have had only a small wedding or elopement feel about their decision, how it went, etc.

View Quoted Comment

No, I said we absolutely loved the minimony. If I had wore my big dress and used our bridal party & original vendors then we wouldn't be having another wedding. My bridesmaids all had their dresses & I had purchased all of their shoes already, as well as my wedding dress & accessories. But since you are interested in couples who ONLY had a small wedding then disregard everything I said.

I had a ceremony with 15 guests and wouldn’t change it. It was perfect. We got lucky with the weather, it was outside and a beautiful day. Lunchtime rather than evening. Still spent a decent amount because we splurged on great food, wine and tons of flowers. It was very intimate and pretty perfect. Everyone had a great time and still says it was the most beautiful wedding they’ve been to. It wasn’t fuss-free but it was intimate and true to ourselves.

View Quoted Comment So glad to hear your minimony went well! And the pictures turned out great! I know a lot of people chose to have very small ceremonies due to Covid, and are having large celebrations later, so essentially they are getting to have both experiences. I was just curious how people who only have the very small ceremonies feel about it. Like, if they feel they “missed out” on anything, or regret not having a larger event. Or if having the small, intimate event was fulfilling all on its own.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for sharing your experience! Do you feel you are completely content with the smaller ceremony? Did you have any issues with hurt feelings from guests because they weren’t invited?

View Quoted Comment Completely content. No hurt feelings as far as I know, but we set pretty specific guidelines (parents/siblings/aunts/uncles). No cousins, no friends - no one that we would have to “pick and choose” from a group. It helped make sense to my cousins, for example, that none were invited rather than if I had invited 1-2.

I had a small wedding by choice (immediate family only; courthouse ceremony + restaurant lunch reception) with no additional reception, and I have no regrets. It felt whole and satisfying and perfect.

We had a micro wedding with 46 guests and it was the best experience ever. Pretty much the same as a traditional big wedding just with a smaller guest list. I still had my dream dress, wedding party, all inclusive venue, photographer, dj, cake cutting etc. our wedding was truly magical and so intimate. We also offered live streaming to include more loved ones capturing moments of the day like the ceremony, entrances, toasts, first dance, parent dances, bouquet toss, cake cutting and shoe game. I knew a micro wedding was the way to go during this pandemic for me and my husband. I didn’t want to feel any regrets or to put a bigger celebration on hold because the anxiety and stress following this virus was too much to bear while planning that I knew it was no way I could endure that emotional stress again or out family planning on hold. So we downsized and still had the same wedding we would have had with a bigger guest list. We made adjustments like mandatory testing and or proof of vaccination status to make it as safe as we could and did household seating, included sanitizer, hand wipes and masks in welcome bags. We have zero regrets and are so happy we can look back and feel so full with our wedding and the turn out.

I had a small wedding with about 28 guests. No regrets and it felt perfect. We kept the guest list small in order to keep costs low. I don't feel bad whatsoever about not inviting cousins I barely talk to or other people who just aren't a part of our lives on a regular. Keeping it so small I was able to have a restaurant reception which meant no set up of a venue or work whatsoever since we used their single rose centerpieces. No clean up. It was really a chill day. We had a Friday wedding that started at 2pm with the ceremony, 4pm for a high tea vibe over by 6pm. I don't like a lot of attention and my crowd wasn't one that would appreciate a dance party. We got married at the church we attended, which is a "modern" church so the sanctuary is huge. I had our photographer seat people in the middle and up front so that when she took photos it didn't look like it was empty. We also only turned the lights on for the middle of the sanctuary creating a more intimate atmosphere. The restaurant private room was also on the smaller side so things weren't all spread out. I highly recommend it, it was so stress free.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for this! I have an incredibly large family (120+ with just my aunts, uncles and cousins), so we are thinking instead of picking and choosing family members (which just never goes well), we would have only parents, siblings, and close friends; no extended family. It seems like the only way to make it “fair”. But I still worry that some of my family members will be hurt or offended.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for this! 💕

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for sharing your experience! This is exactly what we are thinking of doing also- still having all the “bells and whistles” of a larger, traditional wedding, but keeping the guest list small and intimate. I think the idea of live streaming the ceremony is a good one!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for sharing this! There is definitely beauty in simplicity. I have a very large family (120+) that is very tightknit. Everyone that gets married has huge weddings and invites the whole family, so I am struggling with being the only person who doesn’t do this. I don’t want them to think they aren’t important to me, but I just really don’t enjoy large weddings and never imagined having one. I always see the brides and grooms at those weddings running around trying to make sure they spoke to everyone and it just doesn’t look like they get to have a lot of fun, Time together, or just be present during their celebration.

View Quoted Comment You can’t worry about that. It’s totally out of your control. And as you can see on this forum, people always find something to get upset about - big wedding or small. So what’s best for you - don’t worry about what others may think.

View Quoted Comment That’s a very good point, thank you! 💕

View Quoted Comment Absolutely! I think a micro wedding is the perfect middle of you want the entire traditional experience and only one wedding with ceremony + reception. And my husband and I are both introverts and before covid were worried about having 80+ guests which to many isn’t even a huge list but to us it was. So when we had to make the decision to downsize of course we were sad to have to pick and choose but live streaming gave us a way to connect with so many and we had a great turn out online maybe 50-60 people and they all left such beautiful Supportive messages as they watched along. My biggest motivating factor of having a micro wedding was not having any regrets. So once my husband and I listed what we absolutely could not have a wedding day without it was so obvious that a downsized traditional wedding was for us. Good luck to you and all your planning!

Hi ! Where would you like to elope ? Abroad ?

We had a minimony last year with just parents & siblings (6 guests total). It was great but we still want to have the experience we originally planned for which is quite intimate still with 30 people.