Weddings are a day to celebrate your love with your partner surrounded by family and friends. But how do you celebrate when your gathering is limited by restrictions and guidelines around health and safety with the COVID-19 pandemic?

You may have heard of microweddings or minimonies, which are becoming a new alternative to larger events.

A&A chose to have a highly personalized wedding experience with their guest for their microwedding held at Garden of the Gods Resort. Image by Hazel and Lace Photography.

So What is a MicroWedding?

A microwedding is just like a large celebration, but it happens on a smaller scale. It features the same traditions, ceremonies, and celebrations as a larger wedding, but your guest list is significantly smaller — anywhere from ten to fifty people (including vendors).

While microweddings are gaining popularity due to restrictions around large gatherings, they have always been an option for couples looking to have smaller, more intimate ceremonies. Throwing a large party with friends and family can be a blast, but microweddings offer a more personal experience to share with your partner and connect with your closest family and friends

As a wedding planner, I have helped couples plan weddings of all shapes and sizes. Here are three tips to help you plan a microwedding.

Explore Opportunities for Fun Locations

With a microwedding, you have the opportunity to get creative with your location. For a smaller wedding, there’s no worry over finding a venue that can hold 300 people. With a guest list that’s under fifty, you can consider locations with sentimental value that wouldn’t be an option with an extensive guest list. Maybe it’s the backyard where you built a treehouse as a kid or the park where you and your partner had your first date.

Current guidelines in Colorado limit events to ten people or less, but will likely change in the next couple weeks to limit indoor venues to 25% of their capacity and a max of 50–100 people and outdoor venues to 50% capacity and a max of 50–175 people. Wedding vendors and guests will likely still need to adhere to social distancing guidelines even after restrictions are lessened regardless if the event is held inside or outside.

T&D near Willowbrook Amphitheater. Image by MoonDance Photography.

Hire a Photographer or Videographer

With a limited invite list, there will likely be friends or family who aren’t able to attend your wedding. While it can be hard to exclude loved ones from your celebration, the point of a microwedding is to keep the guest list small. To capture memories of your big day that can be shared with family, friends, and kept for keepsakes, hire a great photographer and videographer!

With all the technology available for digital connection, a tech-savvy photographer can easily make your microwedding virtual. With both pre-recorded ceremonies and live-streamed receptions, you can create a virtual production for your guests to attend from the comfort and safety of their own homes! This can be a great option for close friends or family who have health limitations or employer imposed travel restrictions that may prevent them from attending in-person.

Keep it Simple

While it can be tempting to want to go all out on your wedding ceremony — particularly if you are considering a microwedding in place of a larger affair due to pandemic restrictions — a microwedding is an opportunity to scale back on more than just your guest list. A microwedding can mean a smaller budget, less decor, and smaller orders of food and drinks.

A simpler wedding can be the perfect opportunity to get exactly what you want in terms of flowers, food, and drinks without spending as much per guest. And while a microwedding has less guests, it has no less tradition and significance. Include all the ceremonies and unique ideas you would include with a larger wedding, simply scale them to fit a smaller guest list.

Whether your microwedding is out of preference or necessity, a smaller affair doesn't mean it is easier to plan or manage. I’d love to help with your Colorado microwedding, minimony, or virtual wedding. Let’s chat.

Wanda | Colorado MicroWedding Planner