What is a micro wedding?
We’ve all heard a lot more of over the last few years about micro weddings. You’d be forgiven for not quite knowing what constitutes a micro wedding, considering there now seem to be a fair few titles for them: we now seem to have a minimony, a sequel wedding, an intimate wedding, a small wedding, elopement, and probably a good few more that we just haven’t come across yet!
We don’t think there’s any real distinction between most of these names, with the exception of ‘elopement’. Although they used to be about secretly running off to marry your forbidden lover, elopements generally mean an adventurous, romantic wedding in an epic destination. Whilst they are also traditionally weddings with only a few guests (if any at all!) the thing that brings elopements together is more the style of the wedding and the plans.
In comparison, micro weddings, intimate weddings and small weddings are usually small days with a few guests. There’s no specific number that separates micro weddings from ‘wedding’ weddings – it’s more of a mindset of intimacy and closeness, rather than a tipping point on a numerical scale.
We’ve been very lucky to shoot lots of small weddings so we wanted to talk to you a bit more about them and why you might want one too…
Why have a micro wedding?
There are loads of benefits to a micro wedding. By definition, they’re very personal and intimate, with more of the focus on you as a couple. This means you can also invest more on certain parts of the wedding, due to saving money elsewhere – just because you’ve not gone big on the guestlist doesn’t mean you can’t go big on the areas that are important to you.
Also, the likelihood is that you’ll have a wider options of venues, as a smaller guest list means you can hire a wedding venue with a smaller capacity. This potentially opens up loads of unique and unusual venues that would have otherwise been a no-go but are perfect small wedding venues. It also gives you the chance to really spend time with the guests you have there on the day; you can have a meaningful experience with all of them, rather than feeling guilty for only having flashes of time here and there to snatch a hello whilst you fly between your other guests too.
Should you have a small wedding?
Well, the question is: do you want to? Working out your priorities as a couple is a really great place to start – then, from that, you can see if a small wedding might fit the day of your dreams.
There’s so many reasons that you might want a micro wedding – but if the main priority for you both is just the legality of finally becoming a married couple, and maybe a gorgeous bunch of flowers and a killer trouser suit, a micro wedding might be perfect for you! Conversely, if the main focus for you is celebrating surrounded by reams and reams of your nearest and dearest, a micro wedding might not fulfil all of your wants and desires. And, of course, you can have both!
How to plan a micro wedding
The first steps to planning a micro wedding is to identify your priorities, which you’ve already done above, so congratulations! Micro weddings generally have a shorter planning time, as there’s less moving parts to coordinate, so you might be able to put something in place fairly quickly (check out our non religious wedding ceremony guide if you like the idea of a humanist ceremony).
And remember: micro weddings have no rules, so make sure it still includes what you want to include. Still want a world-class meal for just a few of you? Then book that fancy restaurant. Still want to go all-out on the flowers, even though you’re not having bridesmaids? Go ahead with a huge bouquet. Also, if you need a bit of inspiration then a little googling will turn up plenty of great micro wedding venues and ideas to spark your imagination.
And of course, still fancy a professional photographer to follow you round…even if it might not be til midnight like at a bigger wedding? Then you definitely should. Of course, we might well be biased, but a micro wedding is no less special that an all-out extravaganza of a wedding, and it’s still absolutely worth documenting. Actually, if we were going to pitch the idea of having a photographer there, arguably a micro wedding is even more important to have documented, as fewer people will be there to witness it with you! And at the end of the day, the number of witnesses don’t even matter – the moments are just as meaningful, whether in front of 2, 20, or 220.
Hopefully we’ve shed a bit of light on what micro weddings are but if we’ve missed anything then drop us a line. If you’re planning a small wedding day then we’ve also got you covered, just get in touch and we’ll get get back to you asap.
L&T x
