Couples are finally realizing the truth to great nuptials—it’s not the size that matters! The best idea in weddings may be the smallest. That is, small ceremonies. They are ‘growing’ in popularity for good reason, as you are about to find out if you’re smart and keep reading on. While other brides are throwing big bucks at their wedding ceremony to get ahead of the pack, discerning brides are realizing that quality stands out over quantity.
1. Celebrate with those Closest to you
Celebrate the biggest day of your life with those you truly appreciate and love. These are the special people in your life that are more concerned with the ceremony than with the production. You want your wedding to feel extra personal for everyone invited? Then keep it small and intimate. It may be hard to pare down the guest list without feeling like you’re upsetting people, but they should keep in mind that this is your day and you’re happiness is what truly matters.
2. Save Some Moola
Save the money you would have spent for a bigger wedding. It seems everyone has to outdo each other these days. This also applies to weddings. Brides seem pressured to outdo one another. If you start down this road on your wedding day you will always be trying to “keep up with the Jones’” for the rest of your marriage. Start the marriage off with the habit of smart budgeting and you’ll never find yourself eternally involved with payday loans or frantically attempting to stave off bankruptcy through debt settlement companies.
3. Be Different, Be Unique
Why start your marriage off striving for the same ole ‘bigger is better’ lameness. Do you want your wedding to stand out or would you rather have your guests someday wonder “was her wedding the pink one or the teal one? They all seemed the same that year.” Sure, you can be like every other bride and have your reception favors arrive in a box in the mail from a budget party store, maybe even splurge for some customized napkins. But is that really an expression of you? Don’t be a clone bride. Keeping you wedding small gives you so many more avenues to explore and stand out. Get creative-be unique!
4. Spoil Your Guests
The “go big or go home” principle doesn’t apply here. If you have a fixed budget, it is far better to cut guests than to cut corners. Fewer guests equates to more lavishing per capita, so to speak. By just cutting some of the ‘clutter’ off the guest list you can shoot for that high end, jealously inducing ceremony. Instead of the typical chicken and taters meal indulge in a gourmet meal representative of the occasion.
5. More Venue Options
Want to have a couple hundred guests at your ceremony? Then get in line behind every other bride this season for available venues. Since you won’t need all that space to accommodate your guests, you will have your pick of many small wedding venues. Think bed and breakfast, art galleries, botanical gardens, etc. Your only limitation will be your imagination.
6. Make it your Own
With a smaller wedding you’ll have more freedom of expression. You’ll get to customize your wedding to your tastes instead of working a theme or creative idea around a function geared to please a crowd. Money and energy that would have been spent on a large venue, food, or other crowd pleasing expenses can now be directed solely towards your creative expression. Make the wedding a reflection of the bride and groom’s commitment.
7. Spend Time with Guests
Don’t let your special guests feel like they are lost in the shuffle. You’ve been on that end of a wedding before, where as a guest you felt more like you were filling a social obligation more so than sharing in a sacred event. A small wedding won’t allow for that. Your guests will be right there enjoying every moment along with you. You will be able to spend time with each of them, making them feel welcome.
8. Get your Guests Involved
This day is important to the bride and groom. But it should also be equally important to everyone involved. That’s right. Change things up. In large production weddings, you have a small cast and lots of observers. In a small wedding everyone can be part of the cast. It is way easier to pull off a DIY wedding when you don’t have an army to plan for. Besides, remember any school plays you were in as a kid? How about ones you just watched? Enough said.
9. Have a Wedding they will remember
Not only should your wedding day be a special event in your life, it should hold equal importance with everyone lucky enough to share it with you. You may think people will be awed by showy glitz and glamour, but they will forever compare each wedding they attend to the one that made them feel wowed on a personal level. This is only possible at a small wedding.
10. Relax and Enjoy Your Day
This day is meant to be about you. Would you rather remember it as being relaxed and intimate or more akin to a chaotic circus? I think you know the answer to that one. You will feel more relaxed with your friends, family, and uhh, of course, that groom guy.
