Micro weddings, sometimes called a ‘minimony’, are great alternatives to the full days wedding which is more traditional.

Today, we would like to explore in-depth micro-weddings vs traditional weddings and help you decide which is best for your wedding day needs.

First, What’s the Difference?

Most couples don’t know what a micro-wedding is, but it’s basically a condensed wedding in a limited timeframe, usually half the time of a traditional wedding, 3-5 hours.

In a micro wedding, you will still have a ceremony, reception, and pretty much all the elements of the day, just think smaller and faster.

An elopement on the other hand is where you just have a ceremony with less than a handful of people and a pastor or officiant.

With regards to the guests, 10-50 usually is where a micro-wedding falls into place, elopements are usually under 10 and anything 50 or more is considered a more traditional wedding day.

What About the Benefits of a MicroWedding?

You have plenty of benefits with a micro wedding, starting with the costs.

There is a lot of savings with a micro-wedding and it mostly comes in the form of vendors like florists, catering, and photographers.

On average, a couple can spend roughly 40% less on having a micro wedding compared to a full-blown wedding, it boils down to the time spent at the day and the limited number of wedding guests.

For example, your catering bill is usually the most expensive line item.

With roughly 124 guests as the national average, providing them with food and drinks can be quite expensive!

According to TheKnot, the average cost of guests tends to be about $70, that’s cocktail hour, dinner service, wedding cake, and alcohol altogether.

With an average wedding, that’s $8,680.

With a micro wedding, for 50 guests, that same catering $3,500. So, the savings in just catering, cake, and booze alone are $5,180.

For wedding photos and videos, there is usually a cost-saving in that department too.

For example, a full day with Carole and myself doing our complete collection runs about $2,800, whereas our micro wedding package runs $1,200. You don’t get as much with the package in the form of time and services, but you still get a lot of value in it.

In just about all wedding categories you should see some sort of savings.

My point is that savings within a micro-wedding are vast and can be a great carrot if you’re struggling to find the money to pay for the wedding.

Aside from the cost, you have the benefit of being able to spend much more time with your loved ones.

At a recent micro-wedding Carole and I covered, our bride and groom Kristin and Zac did just that, spent the afternoon with friends and family in their backyard. The great thing about having a smaller guest list is that you get to celebrate it with those that mean the most to you.

In the case of this couple, they were able to relax in their own home, spend a lot of time with family and friends and it set the stage as being a very relaxed afternoon.

Spending the afternoon with say 15 or 20 of your wedding guests allows for more intimate time than sharing an afternoon and evening with 100 or more.

What About the Con’s?

While the small wedding day sounds great, there are a few roadblocks to choosing a micro-style event.

Fewer Guests

First, the smaller timeframe means fewer guests to spend time with at the wedding, that’s an issue if you are wanting that ‘full day’ experience.

Fewer guests mean fewer people that get to come to the wedding, celebrate the day with you and get to see you do all the traditional things on a wedding day.

Having a wedding live stream of the ceremony is a wonderful idea that many couples will opt for should you consider having a smaller, more intimate wedding day.

If you’re a bride that wants the larger crowds, then having a micro-wedding is definitely a negative for you.

Less Time to Celebrate

Additionally, you have less time to celebrate with those that are at the wedding. While you might have the reception, you will have less time for mingling, dancing, drinking, and seeing everyone.

Smaller time frames are better suited for elderly wedding guests or guests with small children.

Since the majority of the more common wedding is the reception time, 5-7 hours, generally speaking, the smaller wedding usually allows just a couple hours for the same thing.

That also means you might not have things like speeches or wedding toasts, you might not have the shoe game or garter and bouquet toss either.

In fact, most micro weddings have just a couple of things usually, first dances and a cake cutting.

It’s a Faster Experience

It’s very true what wedding vendors say about the wedding day flying by at lightning speed and that’s for a full day’s experience. Imagine what half a day will do, it will go by even faster.

For those wanting to celebrate the day, it can be a bit of a letdown not getting on the dance floor until the last call with your friends, so that’s also a negative with the smaller wedding day.

How to Determine if a Micro Wedding Is Right For Me?

A lot of couples have been trying to figure out if the micro wedding event is right for them, so here are a few things to consider when determining that.

• If you want to save money with regards to your wedding, then you should consider it.

• If just the closest of friends and family are more important than those you don’t know as well, you should consider that factor too.

• If you’re not really the center of attention, this may be a better alternative for you to consider.

• If you have a videographer that can live stream the ceremony, then having fewer guests may be an option.

Micro-Weddings are not for everyone but having that as an option in 2021 and through 2022 is definitely something worth looking into as many couples are opting for that for their own wedding day.

Finally, I can tell you that I did a bit of research on one of the Facebook Wedding Groups that I run and asked them if they would consider a smaller wedding as an option.

From the image above, 36 couple’s stated that they would consider a micro wedding event, 12 said they might but were not sure and not a single couple opted for just the full wedding day.

While these are COVID-19 times, the idea of a smaller, more intimate wedding with far less cost seems to be fairly ideal for couples planning their wedding daydreams.

The best part about what you decide is there is no right or wrong answer here, every wedding is unique and you are in control of what YOU want within it.

Take the 5-second poll below and let us know.