Most of us see weddings as an incredibly expensive investment. However, it’s usually justified as it’s one of the biggest days of your life. It’s common to spend many thousands of Pounds on a wedding – there’s all the guests you want to invite, the venue cost and also all of the services you need to hire. If the cost itself wasn’t already off-putting, you also need to consider the long and arduous planning process that it takes to pull a wedding off with military precision. It can take months of hard work to plan a successful wedding and you’re constantly going to find things that you want to improve or change.
The cost and the time it takes to plan are two of the main reasons why people have started to embrace a smaller ceremony. However, as 2020 has shown us, there are now unprecidented reasons to have to go down this route too. David and I had always wanted a smaller wedding, but now that it looks like our second booked date might be under-threat from a Coronavirus washout, that day might have to be even smaller than even we had planned for. We won’t reschedule it again, so if we have to scale down to allow it to go ahead, we will. If the current climate, the cost of a large wedding and all the planning involved in one isn’t enough to convince you that small is better, here are a couple more reasons why you might want to cut down on those numbers.
It’s a lot less stress to deal with
While it can be a lot of fun to browse the internet for inspiration and throw ideas at your wedding planner, it ultimately becomes a lot of stress to have a big wedding. There are expectations to meet and you want to ensure that absolutely everyone has a good time. This is harder than it sounds and can induce a lot of stress. When you switch to a smaller ceremony with the closest of friends and family members only, you’ll know their preferences better and they’re less likely to have complaints if everything isn’t perfect. Coming up with a wedding guest list is stressful, so having a smaller wedding makes this easier.
You can be more creative with your wedding
As you start to increase the number of guests you invite, you tend to make things more stale and boring because it has to appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, this limits your creativity and your wedding can feel extremely similar to someone else’s. When you have fewer people attending, you can be a lot more creative with your planning. You could look at specific dress ideas for an intimate wedding, you can add more unique entertainment that you know your guests will love, and you can pick venues that are more meaningfull to you or more exotic. This is arguably one of the best things about planning a smaller wedding, since it’s more like a party or group event as opposed to trying to appeal to a hundred or more guests. Plus, if you actually plan for a smaller wedding from the moment you set eyes on that engagement ring, you’ll enjoy the whole journey so much better.
The wedding itself is more relaxed
When there are fewer people at your wedding, you’ll typically find that the wedding itself is far more relaxed and laid-back. With a typical wedding, you’ll need to shake hands and greet dozens of guests, some of which you barely know. Keeping up appearances like this can be a lot of work and you’ll find yourself struggling after a couple of hours. It can be extremely exhausting and it’s not for everyone. In comparison, a small wedding with a few close friends and family members is far more palatable. It allows you to spend more quality time with the people you love and you can be yourself instead of trying to maintain appearances.
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