How to Plan an Intimate Wedding
What is an Intimate Wedding?
An intimate wedding is classed as a small wedding with up to 30 guests. Other than that the rest is completely up to you and the same principles apply as if you were holding a larger wedding.
Why have an Intimate Wedding?
One key reason is that you can have a lower-cost but higher-quality wedding. Quality over quantity! Spreading your wedding budget across fewer guests means you can invest in a better photographer/dress/menu. If you are undecided on your guest list, then having a select number of your most amazing friends and family is a really special way to celebrate. How often have you been to a wedding with 100+ guests and found you haven’t actually spent any time with the happy couple? Let alone had a conversation with them.
Another great reason to have an intimate wedding is if you are keen on having a destination wedding, or getting married in an area not close to your home. This way you can have a small number of guests to either treat to the whole cost of accommodation and/travel or pay towards some of their costs. With intimate destination weddings, it is also really popular to combine your wedding with a holiday away (or even your honeymoon afterwards). You can then spend more time celebrating with your guests. Intimate weddings are also perfect if you have fragmented friendship groups, you are not marrying for the first time, or you have limited/no family you wish to be there.
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Plan an Intimate Wedding
Set your budget – exactly as you would for any wedding.
Pick your location – whether this is overseas or in the UK.
Think about your guest list.
Decide on the type of legal wedding you would like – registrar’s office/licensed premises/religious ceremony.
What style of venue would you like?
Once you have some ideas based on the above, you can begin working through the rest of your wedding planning. Picking a venue will be pivotal to your day, and with smaller guest numbers you may need to get a little more creative with your options. Unfortunately, many of the more typical wedding venues have minimum numbers, which may be outside of your guest count and incur an additional surcharge.
The Drawbacks of an Intimate Wedding.
One of the main drawbacks of planning an intimate wedding is that you only have a small number of guests to celebrate with. You can always get around this by having a separate party to celebrate at a later date with a bigger group of guests. Finding a suitable venue is also a little more of a challenge, so I would advise you to be open-minded and get creative. Look for venues with private rooms or small function rooms which you could transfer into a suitable celebration space.
Wedding planning in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Anglia
I've been planning weddings and celebrations across East Anglia since 2012, with particular experience in marquee weddings, private estates, countryside celebrations, dry-hire venues and wedding weekends.
I work with a small number of couples each year, providing calm, experienced support from the earliest stages of planning through to the wedding itself.
If you're considering working with a wedding planner, you can explore my Full Wedding Planning service or get in touch to discuss the celebration you're planning.