Small weddings are standard these days, as scaling down the guest list helps ensure a COVID-safe celebration. However, any experienced event planner will tell you that setting the stage for a cozy, intimate and memorable wedding requires careful thought.
If you’re planning to get married soon and hoping to create a personalized experience – making the big day truly about you and your future spouse — limiting the number of invitees is just the start. Here, we’ve rounded up a few event planner-approved ideas for making small weddings special.
When your guest list is on the small side, event planners suggest stepping outside the box and hosting your wedding celebration at a spot you and your partner love to visit. A favorite restaurant or wine bar might be the perfect fit, for example, or perhaps the backyard of a family home, a local art gallery or a picturesque botanical garden. Keep in mind, though, that some nontraditional venues may have restrictions on decorations.
If you’re planning a small wedding, you have the freedom to have some fun with the seating arrangements. You could rent loveseats for the guests to lounge in as they watch the ceremony and for a comfy space to relax after dinner. As for the reception meal seating, event planners recommend choosing a table layout that allows your guests to interact — a single extra-large round table, a super-long rectangular table or a U-shaped table arrangement works well for a small group.
Do you and your future spouse enjoy dancing? And do the people you’re inviting like to dance? If so, you should absolutely make sure to have enough space for a dance floor. If not, you may want to forgo the traditional reception activity and replace it with one that everyone will appreciate. Event planners have plenty of ideas, such as setting up lawn games, a photo booth, a multiplayer video game station or LED darts.
With fewer guests to worry about and a less sizeable venue to decorate, a small wedding gives you the opportunity to put your focus on the atmosphere. You want your special day to have a certain vibe, and designing the entire space – thinking like a professional event planner and considering everything from the table linens and centerpieces to the wall décor, plants and lighting – will help create the ambiance you’re looking for.
You’ll need furniture, décor, lighting and A/V equipment for your small wedding – and you can find it all here at In the Event. We have a vast catalog of event rental products, and we can also customize banners, displays, centerpieces, light boxes and just about anything else you might have your heart set on.
Best of all? When you get your Utah event rentals from us, you’ll also get the services of our highly experienced team. We’ll help you plan, design and produce your small wedding free of charge. For more information, or to speak with one of our professional event planners, reach out to our office in Salt Lake City, Utah, today.
