Is It Ok To Want A Small and Simple Wedding?
One of our brides recently emailed us asking: is it ok to want a small and simple wedding?
There are many valid reasons to want a small wedding. For introverts, the more intimate the wedding, the more meaningful it will be. For others, their personal style is very simple, and they want their wedding to reflect that.
As couples age, they tend to want more intimate weddings. So weddings for couples in their 20s tend to be larger than weddings for couples in their 30s, whose weddings tend to be larger than those of couples in their 40s, and so on. As we age, the desire for the fairy tale experience ebbs away a bit, and couples want to experience the more subtle joys of a wedding. Also, our friends are less likely to be in the party stage of their lives, so the rager that ends so many weddings isn’t as appealing.
Or perhaps you do, in fact, want an extravagant experience, but you want to do it on a more reasonable budget. Cutting the guest list is the easiest way to cut the wedding budget. So a luxury elopement in the Seychelles with 15 days of gourmet food, wine, and experiences could cost the same as a single day with 50 guests. Some couples invite 20 of their closest loved ones and allocate more budget to the quality of the food, specialty linens and dishes, and give their guests an experience that looks like it popped out of a magazine.
Whatever your reason for wanting a small wedding, we know just how few good resources are really available for you. I mean, look at how drastically different the weddings described above would be.
The critical point is that any wedding, no matter how small or simple, can be just as epic as a large one. As long as the event reflects your authentic selves, your guests will feel comfortable celebrating you fully. Your wedding should be a reflection of who you are inside and should reflect the context in which your guests experience you. That is the most important part of making a wedding epic. If you’re a couple who loves to travel, but your loved ones don’t generally go with you, then a wedding abroad with those guests may not produce epic results. But if you and your closest loved ones often go camping or hiking together, then a wedding in the woods will bring out the energy that makes an event spectacular. Start thinking about the context in which you authentically connect to those you love, and you’re halfway to the perfect small event.
If you’d like more guidance on how to plan an epic event, no matter the size or budget, our Wedding Foundations course guides couples step-by-step through the beginning stages of planning their own wedding. One of the first steps in your journey is identifying what makes you and your partner uniquely you. This includes defining your personal brand, noting the elements of you that are recognizable to your close family and friends, and whether you are more introverted or extroverted. It then helps you develop a planning timeline, a perfect guest list, a fully researched budget (hint, we do most of the research, so it’s plug and play), an understanding of what services you’ll want from vendors, and a detailed guide to researching, selecting, and finalizing a wedding venue. It’s fully guided, incredibly easy, and results in a wedding that is more meaningful, more enjoyable, and more authentically you.
