An Intimate Affair: Small Wedding Planning Tips

While big white weddings can be fabulous, not everyone wants one and intimate weddings are becoming more popular as couples choose to surround themselves with only their closest friends and family to share in their special event. In this post I’ll be sharing some ideas and tips for planning a wedding that may be small in the number of invitees but big on love and intimacy. Having a slimmed down guest list, will allow you to focus on creating a more personal experience for everyone.

The images featured in this post are taken from the gay wedding of two fabulous ladies: Jolene and Lauren. Their wedding and ceremony were held at a luxurious Garden Route wedding venue, the Cloud 9 Luxury Villa, located in the Sedgefield.

From the very moment I connected with Jo and Lol, I just knew we would hit it off. While Lauren is efferevescent, funny and talkative, Jolene is shy and quiet. Together they are a delight: playful, affectionate, easy going and fun to be with.

They invited 10 guests made up of their closest friends and family and the entire venue was booked out for three nights giving them and their guests time to relax, enjoy the stunning venue and spend quality time with each other. The atmosphere was laid back and relaxed, even my brief for the wedding photographs was, images that would would capture their love for each other without looking too staged or posed. Exactly the way I like to work.

The ceremony was held outdoors under a canopy of trees, seated guests formed a supportive semi circle around the couple and the charming wedding officiant, Ecclesia de Lange, conducted a most heartfelt, inclusive wedding speech while overseas family watching the event via an iPad. Love was most definitely in the air!

It was a wonderful day shared with wonderful people, my only regret being, I didn’t get to feast on a slice of the decadent chocolate wedding cake, which incidentally Jo and Lol munched for breakfast the next morning before heading off to Mauritius on honeymoon.

CREDITS: Photography: moi du toi photography • Ceremony & Reception Venue Cloud 9 Luxury Villa, Sedgefield, Western Cape  • Hair: Tania at Changes Hair Studio  •  Makeup: Mariska Herselman at MH Makeup and Makeovers •  Catering & Cakes: Jenny at Kilzers Kitchen •  Officiant: Ecclesia de Lange from IAM Ministries

WHAT IS A SMALL WEDDING?

A small or micro wedding is an intimate celebration with fewer guests than a traditional wedding, typically you’re looking at 25 guests or less. Remember though just because the wedding is small it doesn’t mean you need to forego all the trimmings of a big wedding, you can still include any detail that’s important to the two of you; cake, flowers, invitations whatever your heart desires but just on a smaller scale.

ADVANTAGES:

• It makes space for a more intimate and close-knit gathering of the people you love to be with.
• Great opportunity to create a warm, inviting atmosphere and a relaxed and intimate ambiance.
• A small wedding costs less, which means you’ll have more budget for the things that really matter to you. Perhaps you want to create a more meaningful and personalized experience for your guests, or splurge on a more sophisticated menu and premium alcohol at the reception dinner, or even hire live musicians.
• Fewer guests means less stress.

WEDDING PLANNING AND CO-ORDINATING

• Focus on elements that are meaningful to you and your partner.
• Skip traditions or elements that don’t resonate with you.
• Emphasize personalisation and ambiance in the design of the space.
• Consider hiring a wedding planner or at least some competent person who can coordinate everything for you on the day to ensure a stress-free experience.
• Create a lounge area for guests to relax and interact.
• Plan pre and post-wedding events or activities to spend more time with your guests.
• Focus on making guests feel appreciated and special.

WHO TO INVITE?

• Include immediate family members, close friends, and people you can’t imagine not being at your wedding.
• Consider who you’ve been in recent communication with and the closeness of your relationships.
• Prioritize those people who matter most and with whom you would normally spend significant time with outside of the wedding.

VENUE CONSIDERATIONS

• Consider non-traditional venues or locations like restaurants or lakesides.
• Look for venues with smaller spaces suitable for intimate weddings, like Cloud 9 mentioned above or a luxurious large home that can be hired on Airbnb or a similar rental site.
• If you have a beautiful home and garden you could consider having it there.

WEDDING ATTIRE

• Wear an outfit that reflects your personal style and preferences.
• Don’t be afraid to choose non-traditional options like pantsuits, embroidered dresses, or bold colors.
• Explore different options for finding the perfect dress that aligns with your vision.
• Jo and Lol wore semi-traditional outfits juxtaposed with colourful Gay Pride High Top Sneakers.

THE CEREMONY

• Choose your officiant carefully, working with them before the wedding to create a deeply personal ceremony.
• Having a small number of guests makes it possible for the officiant to involve them in the ceremony too, helping to make the whole event more intimate and meaningful.

THE WEDDING FEAST

• Use personalized and detailed elements to enhance the intimate atmosphere.
• Consider monogrammed napkins, small terracotta pots with herbs as place settings, and handwritten menus, Pinterest is a wonderful site for inspirational ideas.
• Design a beautiful place setting for each guest.
• Opt for a long reception table or banquet-style seating to foster a sense of togetherness.
• You can still have a traditional wedding cake, simply order a smaller one. Alternatively you could follow Jolene and Lauren’s example, each one chose their favourite cake: one chocolate and the other carrot.

And there you have it! A few ideas for you to explore while planning your intimate wedding affair.

Looking to book me as your wedding photographer? There are a couple of things you need to know first; I’m a lone ranger, so only photograph small weddings with a maximum of 25 guests, the smaller, the better! It’s also important to note that my photography style is all about natural lighting which excludes the use of flash, once the sun dips below the horizon, I wrap up my photography and evening photography is not possible.

If it seems like we’d be a good match, click on the contact tab above and reach out. Let’s have a conversation and see how we can create something wonderful together.