Enjoy the Intimacy of a Small Wedding
One of the first decisions that you have to make upon becoming engaged is what type of wedding you and your fiance want to have. Many women start planning their wedding when they are young girls, and have this ideal day pictured in their minds. But, when the time actually comes to make the plans and decisions, you may find that your ideas have changed a bit. A large part of the type of wedding you have has to do with how many people you intend to invite. This can range from several hundred down to the bare bones minimum of the bride and groom, someone to perform the ceremony, and the required witnesses. In actuality, your wedding will probably be somewhere in between these extremes.
There are several reasons why you might want to consider a smaller wedding over an elaborate event with hundreds of people. The most obvious consideration is the cost. Weddings can become very expensive very quickly. Starting with the selection of your wedding invitations, and continuing through the venue that you need to accommodate your guests, to the catering and flowers, the more people you invite the higher the cost. Depending on who is paying for your wedding, and what your budget is can be a self-limiting factor in the size of your wedding.
A second consideration with regards to the size of your wedding is the time and stress involved in planning the event. The larger the wedding the more involved the planning. This can lead to stress that can take the enjoyment out of your most special day. This is not to say that there is no planning or stress involved in having a small wedding, but it is logical to assume that it can be minimized compared to an elaborate event with hundreds of people. Most everyone can point to a friend or acquaintance who was so stressed out by the day of her wedding that she turned into “bridezilla” and missed the enjoyment of her day.
As you evaluate the size of wedding you want, and think about cost, time and stress, keep in mind that one reason you are having a wedding is to share your day with the people most important to you. If that is mostly your families and closest friends, then maybe having a smaller, intimate wedding that is a bit more elaborate or elegant is the right answer.