too small a guest list?

P.S. I'm in the Grand Rapids, MI area

I have to be honest, I don't see how you can do the "princess feel" and "small, intimate" at the same time. But good luck to you.

I ran into this same problem when I began my wedding search. Originally we didn't want to top 50 guests - but with the venue searches & caterers we quickly found most places require ridiculously priced miniumums & person minimums for our guest list count. We had to take a step back and think "what are the 3 most important things to us about this day?" Having a big guest list wasn't what we wanted. Spending money on double amounts of food that will probably be untouched didn't make any sense. So - we thought outside of the box.

You can easily have a wedding for 40 in a nice place. Look at upscale resturants. Look at small art gallaries. Outside tented receptions can be beautiful if decortated. The list goes on ... A good thing about your wedding date is that you have plenty of time to do some research & keep your eyes peeled for some interesting places.

You can have a nice wedding with a small guest list, but you have to be realistic. If you invite 45 people, there's a good chance that 10-30% won't come, especially if they're not very close to you. My advice would be to find vendors who are willing to work within your guest list numbers. It may take extra work to find them, but it doesn't make any sense to reserve a space for 500, when you're going to have less than 50.

My wedding is very small as well, about 25 people total. My reception space has room for 100 (at a tight fit), but I have been able to make it work by arranging decorations and furniture to fill the space. You can play optical illusions to a certain degree, but if the space is really large, it will be hard for it not to look empty.

Keep looking for a venue. Since you wedding is small, you can probably even do some non-traditional wedding venues. Local restaurants and bed and breakfasts can be really nice. You might also try looking a little farther from home.

I also have a small guest list. 80 people and the venue requires 100 people to have the wedding there. So what I did was invite every one that i want there and then I made a list of friends that I still talk to and invited family members and friends with big families. So now im up to 108. It will be pretty hard to find a venue for a small guest list & elegant but I hope everything works out!

@Glenn I DONT want a "small, intimate" wedding." I WANT princess feel but I'm concerned that I have to sacrifice that because I don't have enough people to make it so.

I agree with Kimi. K. We are kinda in a similar boat. Does your guest incluce plus ones for everyone? That alone might increase your total.

Also check out yact clubs,country clubs, resturants,private art studios, museums. I'm sure if your sniff around you can find some place really special. By having a smaller guest list you might be able to provide and nicer time for everyone too!

@Kimi I'm getting married Feb 9 of whatever year. Outside is Not an option.

@Lydon J. I know for a fact I cant get married in a church, One of FH 3 requests is that his Father, a minister who preaches in FH grandmother's itty bitty home, officiate. No church would let someone else officiate a marriage in their church.

I have a small guest list as well. We have max 40 people coming. We are doing our's outdoors and some family & friends are pitching in to help out with the food.

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Have you tried local restaurants that have a ballroom or large enough dinning area that can be blocked off. That may help save some money. Or you can do a mid morning wedding and serve brunch, that also cuts costs of things down.

Could you tell us where you are interested in having your wedding/reception so that we can get a bit of a feel what you are looking for?

I agree with others who have stated that you should look into galleries and restaurants or even private homes/estates that you can rent out.

Also, find out from your caterer and/or venue if the 100 person minimum can be broken out and instead do a food/beverage minimum.

For instance, my venue had a $6,000.00 food and beverage minimum for a Saturday night (that equated to about 100 guests). We only had 85 people in the end so the venue allowed me to upgrade other things (chiavari chairs, higher end linens, etc.)

@Magination that includes my parent's friends from work that i have never met's plus 1's

There are plenty of places for small weddings that look elegant! I have a total of 27 people attending my wedding. It's being held in a historical mansion that is absolutely stunning!

Will you find an all inclusive venue to meet your needs- no. But that doesn't mean you won't find a fabulous place! If you're against it- hotel meetings rooms can be done beautifully. Restaurants often do weddings for that size with no problems. Look at bed and breakfasts, or small inns.

You have options- so don't give up!

P.S. Some churches will allow outside officiants of the same religion. They are rare, but they do exist!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a small guest list! Hey, its cheaper on you and FH's wallet (or whoever is paying)!

My guest list was actually too large for a lot of the venues I truly fell in love with, most could only comfortably accomodate under 75... my list is around 150 and if we completely slashed it to bare bones "must have" guests then we'd be at 55 but the wedding wouldn't have the feel we wanted. I agree with Meghan look for historic mansions, estate rentals, basically you need a place that has a very large dining room and then a seperate space for the rest of the evenings events.

Have you looked at having your wedding at a ski resort, I used to work at one (not in your area) and we had beautiful weddings, and when I was engaged to my ex we were planning on having it there .... there was this huge beautiful fireplace and when decorated looked sooo enchanting, and we at the time were only having a 50 person wedding ..... just a thought,

A lot of colleges have lovely venues that are appropriate for smaller groups to have an elegant dinner party, I looked at a few venues in the Boston area that were great but only accomodated up to 60 people =(.

It's very possible to have a small wedding and still have that princess feel - you just have to get creative. You're in an area where there are going to be historic homes, yacht clubs, etc. that are relatively nearby and can accomodate your needs.

Right now we are at 27 people on our guest list that are coming for sure. We have a few more to add depending on a few things but we wont be having no more then 40 people. I didnt want a big wedding..I also didnt want people there that I dont know well. One thing that is a plus for us small wedding gal's is the cost is cheaper..but I do feel your pain about having to find a good location for a small wedding..I think we are going to have the same issue, however my fiance keeps saying that they can make ways to make the rooms fit small weddings and such..idk will see. lol

Good luck!

Oh and I do agree with the other poster about nice restaurants.

I think you can totally do a princess theme with 45 people. Do a search online for "intimate wedding venues". Some of the nicest places we looked at were just shy of accommodating our minimum (at the time, that was 75). It may not be a big ball, but you can still hold court?

@Kelly OK I dont know if you're gonna laugh or cry when you see where I want. The Stairs photo in Amway Grand Plaza's portfolio on here for the ceremony, their food seemed too extravagant for my taste so i was thinking English Terrace gardens their profile pic on here, the ballroom for reception. I would be using Adeline Leigh Catering.