Micro Weddings are all the trend right now, partly because COVID has caused a lot of couples to rethink their large weddings and partly because couples are wanting to celebrate in smaller, more intimate events. Either way, we are totally loving Maine Micro Weddings right now!
There are so many ways to customize your Micro Wedding to whatever you have in mind. Below we’ll cover the Who, What, Where, Why and How of Planning your micro wedding and making the most of your day on a smaller scale.
Planning a Micro Wedding
Who
Who should you invite? Anyone you want! Micro weddings are usually gatherings under 20 people total but you can have anywhere from 2 guests all the way up to possibly 40 people. Think through all the people you’d like to include in your day, who you couldn’t imagine your day without. Those are the people you invite! Don’t worry about the people others think you should invite. We know with planning a wedding couples often get sucked into lots of opinions on their day, especially when it comes to the guest list. Mom’s brother’s coworkers significant other? Don’t feel pressure to include everyone, it’s your day. If you or your fiancé don’t know them, then they can most likely be left off the list. Exceptions obviously for significant others of those who are on your “VIP list”.
What
What should you do for your Micro Wedding? Again, it’s anything you want! The fun part about a micro wedding is you can customize it to whatever suits both of you. We’ve done micro weddings that are just like scaled down larger events and we’ve done them adventure style on top of mountains. If you were originally planning a larger event and decided to scale down, think about your original budget. You can keep your budget the same as it was for the larger event and provide a more customized experience for your guests. For food, instead of offering haddock and rib eye, you can serve your guests lobster and filet mignon, or even provide additional options. For florals, think about custom, gorgeous pieces. Have you been pinning those cascading bouquets? When you don’t have a full 5-10 person wedding party, that leaves more in your budget to splurge on yourself! For your photography, there’s options to upgrade from a full day photography package to a package that includes photo and video – so you’ll have those to share with family and friends who weren’t able to attend. Think about the design of the cake you could get on the same budget but 1/2 the guest count! For your entertainment you can upgrade your lighting, draping decor, etc. Bands typically offer to learn a new song for their couples, especially for that first dance but with your budget you could add-on additional songs – maybe your parents wedding song? What a great surprise that would be.
Basically you can do anything you want on whatever budget you want! It’s all about making memories for the two of you and an experience for your guests.
Where
Where to host a micro wedding? There are lots of venues in Maine and New England that host smaller events and some are even specifically designed for micro weddings. Thinking a bit non-traditional? You can rent out a restaurant for the day or even some vacation AirBnB homes allow smaller weddings to happen at them. You could rent a tent and put it up on the property of a stunning ocean or lake side AirBnB. You could house all of your guests at the same location as your wedding for a full weekend of fun.
Why
Why host a micro wedding? There’s lots of reasons. Some of our couples don’t like being the center of attention on their day and a micro wedding is a good balance between celebrating with close family and friends and not being the total focus of the day. Also, thanks to COVID a lot of our couples are downsizing so they can still have their wedding on their original date. There’s always a reason to celebrate and I know many of us don’t want COVID taking over our lives. Rethinking your event into a smaller, more intimate celebration is a great way to continue on and not let this quarantine drag you down. Furthermore, why not have a micro wedding? As mentioned above in the “what” there’s lots more options if you’re working with a big wedding budget but planning something smaller scale. The experience for our couples and their guests have been amazing at these smaller weddings.
How
How to plan a micro wedding? We always recommend starting with a wedding planner. They’ll be able to help you narrow down venues, ideas, and really pull your vision together. But if you’re not going with a planner the best way to start is to research venues that fit you and your fiancé’s vision and inquiring to see if they offer micro wedding packages. If you’re thinking about going at it on your own with a unique AirBnB or restaurant buy-out start by contacting a few local places and finding out what their policies are. We’ve found that when looking for a rental search by 10+ guests on AirBnB, even 20+ guests – those are the homes that have the room to fit all your guests but also, traditionally, larger lots that make hosting micro weddings on property a possibility.
