What is a Micro Wedding

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

You’ve landed on this page because you’re probably considering a micro wedding, am I right? There are several reasons why couples choose to have a smaller wedding, or an intimate wedding, they’re the same thing. Some of these reasons include:

1. The thought of having to plan a large wedding stresses you out 
2. You can’t honestly see yourself spending $30K on just one day 
3. You’d rather spend that money on a downpayment for a house
4. You want to spend that money to have a destination wedding at your dream location!
5. Or you would spend $30K to celebrate your love and your marriage but on things you’d actually enjoy having like less people which means you have a bigger budget for beautiful decor, florals, and really delicious food, etc.! That one’s for the foodies out there! 😉 

Look, there’s no right or wrong way to plan a wedding, unless you’re planning something you don’t even want then yes, it’s very wrong! The phrase, “It’s our marriage, their wedding” should never even leave your lips! So keep scrolling to read the answer to “What is an intimate wedding, or micro wedding?”

So what exactly is a mirco wedding?

A micro wedding, or intimate wedding, typically means you have about 25 guests or less, plus or minus a few people. This number is not set in stone. It’s usually up to wedding vendor interpretation. As Arizona wedding videographers and photographers, that number for us is less than 30 people. A more traditional size wedding would be 35-60+. And an elopement would be roughly 5-7 people total, including the couple. An intimate wedding could also be a destination wedding if you and your smaller group of guests are traveling out of state. It could also mean having a beautiful intimate backyard wedding. 

Remember, It’s meant to be a very intimate setting with all your MOST important people, the people you would 100% regret not having on your big day. It’s so intimate that you can actually remember everyone that was there! Some feedback that we’ve heard couples say is that they can’t even remember half the guests that were at their wedding. They have to look back at photos for proof of guest attendance. This means that you’ve spent upwards of $50-$100 a plate, which could average at about $7,500+, and you can’t even recall if your mom’s second cousin was there. 

What events take place during an micro wedding?

You might ask yourself, “If I’m planning a micro wedding, do I still plan the traditional wedding events?” Great question! The answer is, it’s completely up to you! Since you’d be having roughly 25-30 guests, you may not feel like it makes sense to do a garter toss, a bouquet toss, or a cake cutting. Instead you can choose to skip those events and in lieu of a cake cutting you can plan to have an assortment of desserts, like mini churros! You could still plan a first dance and parent dances and the dance party if you’d like! You can even have toasts! This day is 100% about you! When we are working with our couples, we help them plan out their wedding timeline and help them decide what things make sense, maybe what they don’t need, and help come up with other ideas they’d like to do instead.

Here are some pro’s and con’s of a micro wedding or intimate wedding

Pros

• You’ve opened up your budget to be able to put that money towards whatever your heart desires!
  • You can splurge on the gorgeous flowers because it’s your dream to have ranunculus and white roses EVERYWHERE! 
  • You can have your wedding at your dream location! 
  • You can have a destination wedding! Wedding and honeymoon? Yes please! 
• You don’t have to stress about unimportant things like seating charts and how aunt Kathy can’t sit next to uncle Bob because they don’t like each other. 
• If you’re more introverted and are not looking forward to soooo many more eyes on you, then having a party with less people is a plus!
• You can still have a dance party!

Cons

• If you really want a big dance party and your group of 25ish guests are not much of dancers, you probably won’t have much of a dance party
• If you choose to do a destination intimate wedding, some of your close family and friends may not be able to make it. Solution: Hire a videographer to put a wedding video together for you so you can share with those who were unable to make it!

Weddings are becoming like family Reunions

It’s been said that weddings are becoming like family reunions and high school reunions even. If you’re considering having a bigger wedding, ask yourself “why?”. If your answer ISN’T “because it’s always been my dream to have a big wedding celebration with ALL my family and ALL my friends no matter the cost!”, and if instead it’s, “well that’s just what people do.”, then perhaps you should reconsider having a big wedding and opt for an intimate wedding. In the months leading up to your wedding day, you don’t wanna feel like you’re just ready for it to be over already. You should feel joy and excitement and be thrilled to celebrate the joining of both of your lives! 

A micro wedding could be a great compromise with family

Often, couples first get excited about planning a big wedding and then later they feel overwhelmed and start to realize it’s not all they hoped it would be or what they even want anymore. Then you start to have to let go of some of those ideas and plans and wants and wishes because everything is costing much more than you thought it would and now mom wants to invite her coworkers because you met them that one time. I KNOW it’s hard, especially if you’re given money by parents or family that want to take control and their excuse for taking control is that they’re paying for it so why not? A micro wedding could be a great compromise. It’s still a beautiful wedding and they still get to be part of your day! Just without all the unnecessary commotion. 

How I remember my wedding day

I LOVED our wedding day! We had a very frugal wedding with about 100 people. But if I could do it all over again, I’d probably do the exact same thing but with MUCH less people. Some of the family that were there, I hadn’t even seen or heard from them in YEARS. Was it nice to see them? Sure! But it would have been the same to me if they congratulated me on Facebook after I shared my photo gallery because we got married in 2015 and I haven’t seen a lot of them since. Then we could have had MUCH better food, the Mariachis I wanted, and I could have afforded a videographer, which I did not have at my wedding. I’m so sad about that! 

Determine what your dream is for your wedding and go for it!

If you need a little help figuring out what your wedding dream is, check out this quiz I created! It’ll ask you questions that will help lead you to some thoughts maybe you hadn’t considered yet and then it’ll show you which wedding option would be right for you!