Many couples are choosing to trade in grand weddings with hundreds of guests for smaller, more intimate celebrations – and for good reason! Small weddings offer a number of fantastic benefits – they allow you to create a more intimate and relaxed atmosphere, help your wedding budget go further, and give you the opportunity to create the wedding day you’ve always dreamed of. With this in mind, here’s our top secrets for planning the perfect intimate wedding.
Photography Credit Art and Story Photography
Keep it Tiny!
One of the main advantages of planning an intimate wedding, is that you’ll only have your closest friends and family with you on your special day. Weddings are emotional events and many couples feel uncomfortable showing affection or emotion in front of a large group of people, especially if they don’t know some of them that well, and we can guarantee that your day will be emotional! Keeping your wedding guest list small helps you create a more personal atmosphere and eliminates the risk of you feeling awkward or uncomfortable on the day. Having a smaller wedding also allows you to splash out on extra luxuries, treat your guests, and make the most out of your budget. For instance, you may be able to afford a delicious 3-course meal with canapes and champagne if you invite 30 guests, but would have to opt for more basic buffet style catering if you invited 100 people to your wedding. Limiting your guests list is the perfect way to create the day you’ve always dreamed of, even if you have a smaller wedding budget to work with.
Focus on the Details
Planning a smaller wedding allows you to really focus on the details and create the day you’ve always imagined. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that an intimate wedding equals less time and effort to arrange. Even the smallest weddings take careful planning, so it’s important to get organised early and have a detailed wedding plan with a checklist of tasks, along with a realistic timeline to get everything done by. This is especially important if you’re opting to plan your wedding without the help of a professional wedding planner. Make sure you remember to get your family and friends involved in the planning process and delegate tasks to help take some of the pressure off of you – Mum will be more than happy to help. If you’re planning your own wedding day and don’t know where to start – don’t panic! There’s plenty of useful advice and tips on how to organise the perfect stress-free wedding.
Invite the Right Guests
Creating the guest list is often one of the most stressful parts of wedding planning. With an intimate wedding, your guest list is even more important as there will be less people to create an atmosphere and you’ll be restricted on numbers. Planning a small wedding means you obviously won’t be able to invite everyone, so it’s important to be selective about who you include in your special day. Popular wedding blog theknot.com lay out a few essential rules for creating a small guest list:
- Rule 1: Don’t invite anyone you’ve never spoken to or met before.
- Rule 2: Don’t feel bad about planning an ‘adult only’ celebration.
- Rule 3: Don’t invite anyone included on the list just because you feel guilty about not inviting them i.e. you were invited to their wedding, so feel obliged to return the favour.
Don’t Overthink It
It’s easy to become swept up in wedding planning and start obsessing and panicking over the smallest things. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these minor details are unlikely to have any negative effect on your day – no one is going to notice if you choose flowers in a shade of rose instead of blush, or if your wedding cake is three tiers instead or four. Try not to overthink the planning process or become stressed and worried over minor details that most probably won’t make any difference to you or your guests on the day.
Enjoy the Important Moments
Never let the stress of planning a wedding get in the way of the true reason for your celebration – the love between you and your partner. Most couples will tell you that your wedding day passes in a quick blur, so it’s crucial that you try and take in the day and enjoy the important moments. One of the best things about an intimate wedding is that you don’t have as many guests to greet and entertain. This gives you more precious time to spend with your new husband/wife and allows you to truly enjoy and appreciate your special day.
