In a nutshell, a micro wedding is a wedding with 5 to 50 people or less for the wedding party, friends and family. Micro-weddings often have the same elements of a traditional wedding with far less cost and planning involved.

Millennial’s are starting to choose these smaller, more intimate wedding days because of the cost savings that they can have with their budget, yet many wedding vendors haven’t adjusted to this newest trend.

Today, I want to chat a little more about micro weddings, what they entail and give you some information to see if having one is right for you and your wedding day.

Overview

Not only is the wedding smaller in nature, but the time-frame is smaller too. Instead of a mid-afternoon to near midnight style wedding, a micro wedding on average is 4-5 hours long.

The couple still dresses up to an extent, they normally still have a ceremony, wedding cake, a photographer, videographer and florist, all the elements of a wedding day, just condensed.

The great thing about this is that the wedding truly turns into a celebration among family and close friends.

Overall Costs

Micro Weddings tend to range in the $7,000-$10,000 range compared to the national average of $38,500.

Sure, you can do it for less or more, but these are the average price points here, every region has different price points so just keep that in mind here.

Here is an example of the cost saving you could potentially do with having a micro wedding with 30 people vs a traditional wedding with 100 people.

Vendors are starting to see that couples are asking for smaller services and products for the wedding and this seems to be an upward trend among couples going into 2020 and even 2021.

Couples see the price savings with a micro wedding and thus lean more towards it in today’s world.

I know that many couples I’ve worked with over the years have asked for more technology within the wedding, like live streaming and many micro weddings that I’ve done in the last 4 years (6 out of 40) have all wanted to live stream the wedding for those they didn’t invite or couldn’t attend.

Truth be told, these style weddings are nothing new, they’ve just moved beyond the drive-in chapel, Las Vegas style weddings into the main stream industry.

Less Is More for the Couple

One of the major benefits of having a micro wedding is the intimate setting that they tend to have. It’s perfect for those that are introverted in nature and don’t want to be the center of attention for the wedding day.

Less is more is a term that I hear a lot of for this style wedding and it’s true.

Speeches tend to be more in tune with the couple at the reception, there isn’t a large crowd trying to break out the cell phones and there isn’t a huge amount of money spent on everything because there is less.

Yet, coupes still spend money where it’s important like the dress and catering.

Just because the wedding is smaller, don’t mistake that for being cheap either. I see many couples that tend to have elevated wedding days, offering better quality than larger wedding days in my own experience.

As a vendor that has filmed a handful of these over the years, I’ve found that the couple is better on camera, I have more time with them and I build a better film in the process too.

From my point of view, I enjoy filming them more so than a wedding with 150 people. (But then again I’m an introvert in nature)

It’s Not an Elopement

A common misconception is that a micro wedding is the same as an elopement, well it’s not.  

Traditionally, elopements were considered spur-of-the-moment and unplanned events involving an element of secrecy. Today, there is still an air of sweeping romance involved in elopements, but couples are taking the extra steps to personalize it too.

The main difference here is that a micro wedding is planned long term as where an elopement is spur-of-the-moment.

Pros of a Micro Wedding

·       Cheaper Cost

·       Still offers all the elements of a full sized wedding

·       More intimate for the couple

·       Guest have a better experience most times

·       Can live stream the ceremony for those not attending

·       It’s an upward trend in the wedding industry

·       Spending more time with guests than you would a larger wedding

Con’s of a Micro Wedding

·       Some family and friends will miss out

·       Might create issues with family or friends not invited

·       Finding vendors that offer or do micro weddings is more challenging

The Problem with the Wedding Industry

Here’s the problem however, most wedding vendors are tailored to doing larger weddings, 100+ people and many do not have the capacity to take on a micro wedding.

Why is that?

Simply put, wedding vendors need and rely on your funding to keep them in business and micro weddings have smaller revenues, thus smaller profit margins and it’s often time not worth the hassle.

Only 8% of vendors in the entire region offer packages for micro-weddings and out of all the vendors in SWVA only 3% of them are exclusive to the micro-wedding marketplace.

Carole and I offer a small micro wedding photo/film package at a discount, but the investment in gear alone, we need to charge a range in order to pay off gear and maintain my level of business.

What you will find is that it’s harder to plan a micro wedding because finding vendors that are wanting to take on these small weddings is fewer than those wanting to take on the normal sized weddings.

I know many wedding vendors however such as venues, florist, catering companies, photographer’s and videographers who are getting on board with the micro wedding movement and are doing quite well at it too.

My good friend Bob Johnston, owner of Silver Hearth Lodge near Roanoke for example, has Virginia’s Smallest church and offers a half day package for these smaller weddings.

What’s great is that many of these weddings can take place during the week in the evening from 5-10 pm for example.

It’s convenient enough for most people to attend without having to take lots of time away from work and life in general.

In Bob’s case, it helps his business because his venue is a 40-acre campus filled with various venues to get married, so having a couple wedding son the weekend with 300 people a piece doesn’t interfere with having say a Wednesday evening wedding with 35 people.

Should You Have Traditional style or Micostyle wedding?

You need to ask yourselves the following questions when determining if the micro wedding fit is good for you.

·       Do you need to have all your family at the wedding or just the immediate family?

·       Are you okay with spending half the day with your wedding or the full day experience?

·       Is it more important to impress or more important to celebrate the day?

·       How important is money a factor in your wedding?

·       Can you find a venue that does these style weddings?

·       What about wedding vendors? Can you find ones that offer micro-weddings?

No matter what you decide, weddings are a celebration of the couple coming together, creating memories and bringing loved ones together in the process.

There is no right way or wrong way to have it, some want 400 people while others want 40.

Cheers~