It's no secret, Jenny and I love weddings of all shapes and sizes but we felt compelled to touch on small weddings as we've had a handful recently and for all those involved, it can be an amazing experience! Here are our top 5 reasons you should consider a small wedding!
#1 - Less stress!
Unfortunately, sometimes a wedding can be stressful for a couple. First you have the planning process. Where are we going to get married? will they accommodate everyone? is everyone going to have to travel? What if I forget to invite someone? What if they get upset? What is our theme? How are we going to decorate? I could keep going but I think you probably get the picture. Add this to the fact that in most cases, today's couple is planning and paying for a wedding themselves on top of their full time careers. It can be time consuming and downright stressful trying to plan for a day, time, location, and space that will accommodate 150+ people. So let's imagine for a second you and your fiance have made up your minds and are liking the idea of a small wedding more and more. Now imagine planning a day for 15-30 of your closest friends and family instead everyone you know and everyone they know (and then all the people who end up there you don't even really know!). Sounds better already doesn't it? (Pictured above is Lauren& Michael's beautiful but small destination wedding at Christopher Place Resort in Tennessee)
#2 - Less costs!
For anyone currently planning a wedding on their own, you've no doubt done your research and likely found many places, items, services, etc. to be quite expensive. One of the great things about smaller weddings is you can easily plan one on a budget. Imagine a typical venue that might charge $10-15 a head or more for food for each guest, now imagine you invited 200 people vs 20? It's quite a difference in costs and planning accordingly with a smaller wedding will allow you to put more money into things that you may find more important like the honeymoon, photographer, the venue itself, or maybe the decor. The point is it allows you more flexibility to be financially savvy. Venues will often charge less for a smaller wedding vs a bigger one in terms of number of guests, space needed, and also time allotted for your ceremony and reception. This will also allow you to focus on quality vs quantity and you can be far more detail oriented when planning it yourself when you only have to worry about 2 bouquets vs 12 or 6 table settings vs 25. (Pictured below to the left is Katie & John's beautiful elopement at The Fontaine Vineyards & to the right, Michael & Lauren embracing the moment after their first look)
#3 - More time (for friends and family & for yourselves!)
At the end of the day, every couple wants their friends and family to enjoy themselves at their wedding and they also want to be able to spend quality time with the people that have traveled to be there, spent money on gifts, likely sacrificed a day out of their weekend, and genuinely want to be around you on one of your biggest days. It's human nature (and polite) to want to thank everyone for being there and spend a little time with all of your guests. When you have 150+ people, this can lead to their not being much time for anything else. We often check in with our brides and grooms to bring them water and snacks as big weddings don't always allow time for couples to eat, or even sit down. While some are far more coordinated than others, it's inevitable that the moment you sit down, a dozen or so people from your 150+ guests will approach you and you don't want to be rude so you talk to them. Before you know it, it's time to cut the cake, take pictures, toss the bouquet, etc. The time spent with your friends and family is likely going to be a lot more enjoyable when there are 15-30 of them you can give your complete and undivided attention to, all the while tending to your own wants and needs as well. Time for yourselves during your wedding day is important. Whether it be time alone to take pictures and capture beautiful moments like the ones below from Art and Katelin's destination wedding in Gatlinburg or just getting away for 10-15 minutes to take it all in and enjoy being husband and wife rather than party hosts.
Being in our positions, Jenny and I get to see couples on one of the most important days of their lives! Sometimes we spend a couple hours on location for a small elopement and sometimes we spend all day with a couple at multiple locations from getting ready to the moment they get a sparkler send off. Big weddings can be a ton of fun and super festive! The dancing is usually much better and the reception is usually a bit more lively. But, if your style is a bit more laid back. If you value one on one time vs one on ten. If you think would prefer a slow paced intimate day vs a fast paced one, then a small wedding may be just the thing for your big day! Until next time, cheers!!!
Joe & Jenny