COVID Wedding Ideas: Plan the Perfect Micro-Wedding
I’ll be the first one to admit, when my venue called to let me know that they would not be able to host the wedding I’d been planning for over a year, I recreated the most epic sliding down the wall crying movie scene anyone has ever witnessed. Our wedding date was only 6 weeks away, and I had no backup. Many tissues, exasperated phone calls, and several pints of Ben & Jerry’s later, I decided to put on my big girl pants and come up with a plan. I didn’t know it yet, but what I thought was the worst thing EVER would turn out to be the most incredible micro wedding, and a day I would never wish to change. If you’re a bride-to-be and looking for COVID Wedding Ideas, I hope I can help you by sharing all the details of my special day!
COVID Wedding Ideas: Find Your Venue
The very first thing I researched for COVIDE wedding ideas was micro venues/ elopement wedding venues in my area. I honestly thought my findings would be pretty scarce, but I was SO surprised to find there were many local Michigan properties that already had micro wedding packages put together. The rooftop venue that Colin and I ended up settling on was beautifully intimate and had an amazing skyline view of Detroit. Bea’s Detroit https://www.beasdetroit.com even had a tiny wedding package that was under $5,000 and could host up to 30 people. Their package included
-rooftop venue rental
-bouquet for bride/ boutonnière for groom
-floral arbor for ceremony
-double tiered wedding cake
-3 hors d’oeuvres of our choice
-wedding officiant
Knowing that we had all of these details already planned without us having to do all the work ourselves was a HUGE ( I repeat) HUGE stress relief! The last thing any couple wants to do after planning a huge wedding is find all new vendors, draw up all new contracts, and figure out new details for a whole new wedding in only a few weeks. LESS is more. A micro wedding is all about creating an intimate experience that isn’t going to stress you out to the max with seating charts and flower arrangements. Another great option would be to transform your own backyard for the venue. We used Colin’s family’s backyard for our reception afterward, but it could easily be a one stop shop for both the ceremony and reception. Search for COVID wedding ideas /local micro wedding possibilities AND family backyards at your disposal to see what could be the best fit.
Set Your Non-Negotiables
Once we had the biggest detail out of the way, our venue, we both sat down and made a list of details that were simply non-negotiable. Meaning, if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t feel like we were having a complete wedding. It helped to write these separately so that we could be honest with one another and really see what was important to the other. We compared our lists and saw that
1) photography
2) writing our own vows
3) music were a MUST. Discovering these top 3 non-negotiable helped us figure out the next details to plan and where we wanted to invest our budget.
Decide On Your Splurge
The detail we paid most for besides the venue itself, was for our photographer. And let me tell you, it was worth EVERY PENNY! When you know you’re only going to be able to have a select few people there with you on your special day, you’re going to want to capture the moments you’ll later share with everyone who couldn’t be there. Emily with http://emaleedee.com was the sweetest, creative, and most flexible photographer for our day. She was our originally planned photographer for our larger wedding and was willing to work around our new limitations to still photograph our day! If you do go with a tiny wedding package, you can also check with the venue because sometimes a photographer is included!
Decorations On a Budget
Repeat after me: “Amazon is your best friend.” The amount of wedding specific decorations that are budget friendly you can find in a time crunch are unreal! The core of the decorations I was looking for were candles. I wanted to use candles in different functions throughout the event and it went off flawlessly! I purchased 72 LED moveable wick pillar candles, 200 AA batteries, a package of 72 tea lights, and several strings of LED outdoor lights for just around $350. Throughout the night, the pillar candles were used to create my aisle, form a dance floor, become centerpieces, AND were favors for my guests! I love that the pieces that set the ambiance for my special day are now in the homes of my special people! Linking my decorations below. Other easy budget friendly decor could include, dollar store picture frames, candle holders, lanterns, succulents, and faux greenery.
COVID Wedding Ideas: Find the Perfect Dress
I was lucky to still have my original dress for my micro wedding, but had I planned a micro wedding from the start, I think I would have definitely gone for a shorter tea length dress. Adrianna Papell is one of my very favorite brands for classy, budget friendly dresses. I wore a number of their dresses for wedding events like my shower, rehearsal, and bachelorette party. Linking some of my favorite micro wedding dresses!
COVID Wedding Ideas: Money Savers
!) Make a playlist of your favorite songs and put a friend in chargefriend in charge of being the DJ.
2) Buy silk flower petals on Amazon and scatter on tables/aisle to create a dreamy ambiance for less.
3) Use Digital invitations to notify your guests of date changes/micro wedding details
ABOVE ALL Remember that no matter the size of your wedding, the important thing is adding your special touches to make it feel like you. With a small number of guests, you have more room to say the special speech, dance the important dance, toast the people in your life, and actually eat the food you paid for. Happy planning! If you’re looking for even more fashion and lifestyle inspiration, head to our Insta shop page!
