Lemme tell you about our experience with a Micro wedding...
We realised fairly early on that this pandemic thing wasn’t going to be over by September. In fact we both still lived with our parents and were separated for a majority of the first lockdown. I don’t even remember how many weeks it was that we didn’t see each other but it felt long. Really long. And I ate a lot of ice cream and felt sorry for myself.
One morning while doing my ironing and watching the news, I text Josh.
‘I think we should cancel everything and wait.’
I think this surprised both of us at first. I’d worked really hard to plan everything and I’d even cried a couple of times at the thought of cancelling it all. But in a weird way over lockdown we became quickly accustomed to the idea our wedding was going to be tiny, and I was actually pretty excited to replan an intimate wedding.
So we cancelled everything. And we waited.
We agreed no wedding planning until we knew closer to the time what was going on. That was really hard for me because 1) I was super excited. 2) I am a planner.
I can’t say I totally shut up about it but I did try. (Sorry joshy)
Around August we started to plan again. We’d managed to get a date at the registry office so we knew we would be legally wed at LEAST. We had 8ish weeks to replan a wedding. Yikes. Kinda half terrifying and half an absolute dream because I love a challenge.
My main aim became, how can we do this on a budget? I’d already lost a ton of work from COVID, so if we only had a 3rd of our guests - our budget had to match.
My wedding dress cost £125 and I got it off eBay. I bought my veil for an insanely good price because the designer was making a waste material collection due to lockdown. (Bonus points for sustainability!) One of my bridesmaids did my makeup, and another did my hair. We rented the local village hall for £100, and we ordered takeaway from our local wood fire pizza shop. My bridesmaids were waitresses and the groomsmen were sound engineers. We put the ceremony on the internet for everyone who couldn’t be there. The things we spent the most money on were flowers and a photographer (obviously). It wasn’t what I originally planned, but honestly I think it was better than what I had planned. It was simple, and intimate and low on stress and very ‘us’ in a homely kinda way.
We felt so close to each and everyone of our guests even though we couldn’t be physically close to them, if that makes sense. And honestly we still talk about it now like it was the best day ever.
I know Covid has changed a lot of plans. And maybe your dream wedding is with lots of people around you and if that’s the case that’s awesome. But Weddings don’t have to fit a mould. You don’t have to spend tons of money. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Your wedding can be anything you want it to be. It could be fancy, it could be inexpensive, it could be DIY or it could be professionally planned. You could elope in the Highlands or be surrounded by tons of family and friends in a venue (restrictions allowing of course). The point is, it’s yours and you can choose it and it’s all about you and the person you wanna spend forever with.
Covid can’t ruin that no matter how hard it tries!
Now, although stressful is such a unique time to be saying your vows, and I wanted to document it, collect experiences from other brides like myself. How did they do it? So I interviewed some lovely couples who volunteered to answer my questions!
For people who are currently trying to navigate the very weird and wonderful world of micro wedding planning. Maybe deciding weather to wait or do something small sooner. These blog posts are for you. A little bit of experience and advice from those who came before you. And a bit of positive encouragement as we all need that right now!
So please enjoy these lovely experiences from other brides, starting tomorrow with Gemma, one of our own clients! I hope they help you in some way, or even is just a good read.
Lots of love, Beanie x
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