Recently we took a part in Love My Dress campaign called ‘A Million Moments’
The #WhatAboutWeddings campaign by Annabel from Love My Dress wanted to show that extraordinary, life-affirming occasions like weddings that cannot take a place this year are so precious and never be replicated.
Full video & article here
With all the smiles, conversations, dancing, and laughter, your wedding goes by faster than any other day of your life. Some say it’s a blur. And for a standard wedding, that may be true. But for mirco weddings, you get to spend focused, quality time with your closest friends and family.
Smaller doesn’t make your day any less special. We were so grateful to be able to celebrate our love and commitment to one another in spite of the circumstances. When it all boils down, you realize the love and commitment you and your partner have for each other are what matter more than anything.
We were so grateful to be able to celebrate our love and commitment to one another in spite of the circumstances. After experiencing the roller coaster of being a bride in the middle of a pandemic, our wedding brought a little light into this crazy year we’re having.
Here are my 6 tips to planning your micro weddings:
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Know your options
There are a few different ways you could go about planning your micro weddings. You could have a smaller, intimate gathering close to home this year, and push your original plans back a year or two. Or, you could decide to stick with a small celebration now and cancel your original plans.
For us, we knew we wanted to start our marriage right away, even if it meant celebrating later. Working with our venue and vendors, we decided to have our ceremony this year, followed by a small backyard family get together. Then in August 2021, we plan to have our big reception as a one-year anniversary celebration. Choose whatever feels right for you and your partner.
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Give yourself grace
Remember, as a bride, everything can be figured out in your own time. Your friends and family will want to know what you’re planning on doing, but you need to give yourself the space to reflect on your own and as a couple first.
If you take a couple weeks to decide what you’re going to do, that’s okay. If you’re feeling indecisive, or if you’d rather not talk about it for a few days, that’s okay, too.
These aren’t normal circumstances we’re dealing with, so be kind to yourself and try to take some of the pressure off.
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Communicate with your guests
If you’re like me, you’ll put off making the decision about your wedding for as long as you can. You’re not ready to break the news to your wedding party, or your family and friends who live a plane-ride away. You’re not ready to accept the changes you have to make.
But, the sooner you make a decision and share with your guests, the sooner you’ll feel a weight lifted off of your shoulders.
For next year’s reception, we re-created the same picture from our original Save the Dates, but this time we had masks on. Try to have fun with it! A sense of humor makes this whole thing a lot easier on everyone.
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Start planning early
Once you’ve decided on your micro-wedding and communicated with guests, start working through logistics. Where will you get ready? Do you need to hire a florist? If your wedding is outdoors, what’s the rain plan? Oddly enough, a smaller wedding doesn’t mean less planning! It’s the same amount of planning, just a faster turnaround.
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Prioritize safety
Our guestlist, however small, still included a couple of high-risk individuals. For everyone comfortable with joining us on our wedding day, we provided face masks. The men wore navy blue while the women had a soft floral print (and they made for some cute photos!). Masks might not be ideal, but we’re not living in ideal circumstances. We’d rather everyone be safe.
Another way to ensure safety is with a thoughtful seating plan. We worked with our venue to divide everyone by household. Some high-risk individuals chose to sit far away from the rest of the group—and that’s okay! Try to be flexible and understanding to make sure your day is stress-free, and that your guests are comfortable.
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Capture your story
All the sacrifices you have to make—the tears, the stress, the planning—will all melt away on the day of your wedding. If there’s anything I’d recommend, it’s to have a videographer capture this one-in-a-lifetime day.
Without video, there would’ve been so many tiny, beautiful moments I would have missed. Like my veil moving with the breeze during our ceremony, or the way my partner lifted me up during our first dance. Our laughter while we walked down the aisle. Dancing with our family and singing along to all the early 2000’s hits.
I’m so, so grateful those moments of spontaneous joy are captured for us to enjoy for a lifetime. Not only do my partner and I get to enjoy those memories, but also absent family and friends.
By hiring a videographer, your distant loved ones can feel like they were a part of the day. We’re all living in these really weird times together, and one day you’ll want to remember the beautiful day you had in the midst of a pandemic.
Plan like it’s the only wedding you’ll have
I dream of having all of my bridesmaids beside me and all of my loved ones together in one place; the way it was supposed to be. A celebration of our first year of marriage and the end of the pandemic (fingers crossed!).
But I also know tomorrow isn’t certain. And that’s okay. Because we enjoyed every single second of our wedding this year.
And now, we’ll be walking through the uncertainty together, as a married couple.
Whatever you decide to have a micro wedding or full one make sure you use an experienced wedding videographer to capture all of the precious moments for you? Here at HD Moments, we create beautiful wedding videos that can be treasured forever.
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