I asked a recent couple "Why did you choose a smaller wedding over a larger one?" And this is what they shared...
Weddings big or small are a joyous celebration of love and the beginning of a new chapter. Whenever given the opportunity to join our friends or family on their special days we feel privileged and honored to participate. We have the utmost appreciation for large traditional weddings. With that said, we both knew early on it wasn’t part of our vision for how we wanted our special day to manifest.
Both of us come from giant, tight-knit families which we’re incredibly grateful for though, in reality, it makes it easy to get to a 200 person guest list in the blink of an eye. The planning time, cost, expectation management, and stress of execution felt like massive burdens that detracted from our ability to enjoy a very personal day for one another. We wanted to be present, with each other, commemorating a monumental milestone in our lives and relationship together… that’s all.
We initially set expectations with our families that we were intending to elope. Though difficult for them to accept, they endorsed our decision and encouraged us to follow our hearts. Upon months of deliberation, Mary and I decided that our future selves would regret not being surrounded by the people who brought us into this world, and the people who have been by our side every step of the way… our parents and siblings. Once we circled the date on the calendar the rest of was easy.
We wanted nothing more than our day to be low stress, surrounded by our most cherished people, in a beautiful setting which we would look back on with loving memories forever.
