Small Wedding Sadness

My fiancee and I planned, an ultimately had a very beautiful, very small wedding. We were both very happy with the day, and only had very very minor things we'd change, if we had it to do over again. Still, it got me thinking about a few things that might turn some bride's (and groom's) off when it comes to having a small wedding.

The biggest and hardest obstacle to overcome when you decide to have a small wedding is how to handle the large part of your family and friends that you won't be inviting. These guests may feel (and may be) left out of the wedding, but remember, you can always host an open house later where you can invite and include everyone under the sun. Most people won't be first-hand witnesses to your stunning beauty as a bride, so if you have a small wedding, do yourself a favor and invest in a quality wedding photographer.

Such a small wedding isn't ideal if you're planning to have a lot of attendants. We had only my fiancee's three boys as groomsmen, and no bridesmaids. The boys sat on a bench near us, and rather than looking off balance, they looked to be part of the ceremony. Having 4 girls and 4 guys on each side would've felt too heavy in the front in comparison to the number of guests attending, and would've felt like a waste on the girls dresses and hair without a dance to follow.

Do you love to dance? Do you dream of your first dance, or father-daughter dance? If you're thinking YES YES YES!!, a small wedding might not be ideal for you, unless you plan a small ceremony with a normal to large reception, meal, and dance to follow.

Professionally printed invites and thank yous often come at a quantity discount, and if you don't need a great quantity, the discount doesn't do you any good, you may end up paying more per invitation/thank you than you intended.

It can be difficult to find a cake design that looks the way you want it to, without ending up with an excessive amount of leftovers. We were able to find a cake that suited our needs perfectly, but it did take a bit of searching, and we definitely had more cake than we needed.

Reception halls are commonly set up for larger parties and can become pricey for smaller parties when considering a head count. Food is often sizable in relation to the actual number of people you're feeding, but what I found in looking at reception halls was that there is generally a standard fee for the room that you'll pay whether there is 2 or 200 guests.