Whether your wedding was affected by COVID and you had to re-imagine your entire day. Or if you were already planning on keeping it small, here are some tips/ideas on how to make your day special and run smoothly!

And don’t be afraid to ask your vendors for help. That is what we are here for!

Include your fur baby!

One huge perk of having these small intimate weddings is being able to include your favorite fur baby. Sometimes on these bigger wedding days it is difficult to find a way to include them so you don’t have to worry about them later on in the day. And lots of the bigger traditional venue don’t allow them. Amanda and George had their dog Rory walk the rings down the aisle and their cat Rusty was the star of half the getting ready photos.

Wear What you Want

I think there is something about these smaller celebrations that takes the pressure off of people. Something that makes them feel like it is okay to wear whatever they want! These is true even on a big wedding day, trust me there are no rules, but having a small wedding sometimes gets you to do things you may not have done on a more traditional wedding day, like wearing black as a bride! Michelle and Tim were true to themselves and wore what made them happy. It was perfect for their brewery wedding.

Get Married Somewhere that means something to you

Liz and Ray were unfortunately scheduled to get married right at the being of quarantine and were unable to have their wedding at their venue. So while they may not have chosen to get married in Liz’s parents’ warehouse initially, I honestly loved it. Being able to change plans around so quickly and move their ceremony and reception to the warehouse where she works I think only added to their story. We have had so many small weddings this year happen at locations that were meaningful to their relationship in some way.

Ditch the Things That Make You Unhappy

These smaller weddings typically allow us more time to do whatever the heck you want! Shelbi and Brian shot gunned beers at their engagement session. And then they had a BBQ complete with pulled pork and Mac and cheese after their first dance. We are usually only with couples on these smaller wedding days for a few hours but because of that, we can fit in more things like shot gunning beers that make the couple happy.

Flexibility

This could be interpreted so many ways. Smaller days do indeed equal more flexibility. When you guests lists are smaller and you opt of some of the more traditional aspects of the day, you have more flexibility to decide how you spend your time. With Elizabeth and Mike, they hired me for 6 hours. They only had their moms in attendance of their City Hall wedding. So what did we do in those 6 hours? Whatever and everything they wanted! It was important to them to have fun in the limo they rented so we drove around the city. And location hopped for photos. We took time to hit up all the places on their list before and after their wedding. There was even time to surprised their homes who had no idea this was not a ring shopping day but a wedding day.

Spread Love Not Germs

Even with the vaccine coming ou and over the next few months more people will be getting vaccinated, covid isn’t going to just disappear. I think we will have a few years with this. Smaller weddings may still be popular over the next few years and one thing you can do to help make the celebration a little safer is provide things like hand sanitizer and masks for your guests. You can also have sanitizing stations. For food, consider making it easy-to-grab food so no one is sharing utensils or hovering over a buffet. These little things can go a long way.

Drive By Celebration

Decided on a small guest list but still want to see all of your loved ones? Besides Skyping in, you could have a drive by celebration! Tracy and Eric had one at Tracy’s mom’s house. They reserved parking spots in front of her home and then had favors to hand out to guests who wanted to come walk up and say hello. It was a great way to keep local friends and family included.

Go All Out With Food

Or really anything that is important to you. If you aren’t having huge reception anymore and food is your thing, you may consider going to town on dinner. For Yelena and Jordan, having vintage platware and a fancy dinner was really important to them. So they picked up food from one of their favorite places in Chicago, Boka. They supported local while also having a feast. That made the night all the more special. And delicious.

DIY

While a lot of our couples do have a hand in some of their decor usually, when you have a more intimate wedding planned, sometimes it is easier to try out some of your DIY ideas! Less things to make so you can spend time getting really creative. Hannah made all of her own florals - bouquets and boutonnières. And they were STUNNING. It is even more fun to look back on these detail photos knowing they worked so hard on their details.

Weekday City Hall/Courthouse Wedding

You just want to get married right? Consider a weekday city hall/courthouse wedding. Unfortunately these places are not open on the weekends but this is a fun way to break up the week! I know ti can be difficult for guests to get time off of work, but if the guest list is smaller and you just want to finally be married while you wait for your big celebration, think about this option. Plus, weekday weddings are often more affordable (depending on how you do them) and allow more options for places to have availability like your favorite restaurant or photo locational 2pm on a Tuesday.

Support Local/Small Businesses

This past year has been ROUGH on small business and artists. This might be a great year to not only bring your unique style and personality to your wedding but also support the local businesses you love. Like I mentioned above, do curb side from your favorite restaurant. Or like Nicole, work with an artist on Etsy to create the most perfect accessories that match your colors and your vision. Its a custom piece so no one will ever exactly have this same piece as you but you also get to help support the dream of a maker.