Has anyone experienced any little touches that made a small wedding feel special?

[Blondbombsite]

Like many other people we had to cancel our 2020 wedding and for various reasons are now having something much more low key than we’d originally planned. Overall I’m pretty happy about this as I’m not a big one for being the centre of attention.

I do want it to feel special though. We’ve sacrificed a lot over the past few years and what a celebration that we’ll enjoy as well as all of our guests to have an amazing time.

We’re having 30 guests for a registry office wedding. The reception is being held in a small pub/ hotel where we will have a drinks reception/ canapés in the bar before having the wedding breakfast in a library room, which well then be in all night for a party. We are pretty much free to do what we like so any ideas for lovely touches that will make it special without breaking the bank will be amazing.

We’re having a desert (with chocolate fondue for children) and cheese table set up, which will be there all night. The venue have said that we won’t need any more food but I would like to air on the side of caution so we’ll probably have some sharing platters brought out at around 10 with the wedding cake.

Its in November so we’ve arranged for mulled wine to be a welcome drink alongside Prosecco and beer but we’ll have a tab running to pay for any drinks anyone wants for the whole night. We’ve also hired all 7 rooms in the hotel so the wedding party and close family can all stay and we’ll be having a survivor’s breakfast the next day.

Phone pictures are great but often just stay there. I was thinking that this way they can be instantly printed and stuck in a guest book with written notes.

tbh we have around £9,000 in savings that was budgeted for the original wedding (and lots have already been paid for) and we could afford but our priorities have changed a lot since then and we want to be more choosy about what we do with it. Paying for guests accommodation and an open bar is more important than cars, for me. But we could afford to buy a few cameras and be well within budget.

The free bar would be enough for me

I went to a wedding where the favours were scratchcards.I won £12!

We added some small pots of ice cream which were about 60 p each - tubs with a spoon. They were perfect with cheese and cake in the evening. I did afternoon tea at mine - no evening do or evening guests as I personally think evening guests are made to feel like spare parts. Agree quick food service and a good plateful seemed to keep ours happy.

why wouldn’t you be able to talk to people either side on one table? I think having say 3 tables of 10 would be awkward as there would be a sense of hierarchy. We don’t really want a top table due to MIL’s ill health, plus family dynamics. I think it will be noisy but I imagined it having that celebratory feel like at Christmas. We’ll do the rounds but seeing as it’s small I imagine they’ll be plenty of time to talk to everyone.

I think they’re great fun, but SIL just had them at hers and I’d prefer something different.

I imagine ice cream would have gone down well.

I don't known if this works every time but one wedding I went to they asked their guests what first song they played at their wedding, then interspersed in the music the dj played was everyone's wedding songs which was a lovely touch.

That sounds lovely but there will only be two married couples!

I did wonder, I think it does only work when you are the last of your friends to get married, or there are a lot of the 'older' generation there (and not a load of divorced relatives too!)

Definitely have your maid of honour do a speech it is so sexists otherwise with all men standing up and talking and the little women keeping quiet. My friend who is an awesome public speaker (she's a politician) did an amazing speech at my wedding.

After your first dance let your friends choose the play list, see what they come up with an what memories it brings back for you.

Special for you or special for your guests? (Or special for Insta?)

Feeling connected to the people sharing your celebration is what makes it special, not engraved pencils or whatever.

All the tat and thinking about it distracts you from being in the moment and connecting with everyone.

If I was at my daughter's wedding or best friend's wedding, what's going to make it special is sharing in their moment, seeing their joy, surrounding them with love... not engraved pencils or sticker books or table decorations. The emotional connection is the special part, but you miss that if your head is elsewhere chasing specialness.

Seriously, nobody except you will give a toss about engraved pencils, so is that the stuff you want to pour your energy into?

I had a small wedding and that’s the beauty of a small wedding!!

There is no hierarchy because everyone invited is loved and close to either or both the bride and groom.

30 around a table. How often have you sat like that? Rarely if ever and that’s for a reason. Multiple glass everywhere, can talk to either side or at a push two people down.

round table there is a chance of whole table banter and a lot less hectic and somehow less crazy than a table for 30!

Round table for 10 or under I meant to say

This
with bells on

family
friends
good food
no endless waiting
lots of love and laughs
perhaps ending with a bit of music and dancing

best favours I’ve had were cake pops that looked like the recipient… tasted great and were fun.

We had gingerbread ladies & men as favours for our guests, they went down really well (literally and figuratively).

A relaxed bride and groom able to get round everyone and chat really helps to make it chilled out and memorable

I went to an event (not a wedding) that had this guy www.instagram.com/silhouettist/?hl=en do silhouettes of everyone - dogs, children. He's utterly brilliant (ie, he absolutely captured people), wandered around the room and took about two to three minutes to do each one with black paper and a pair of scissors. I don't know how much he costs though.

This!!

if you have to do favours, they have to be very funny and quirky. No attempt at useful!

Not so loud that people can't talk. Silly card games available on a side table? Good icebreaker for people who don't know each other...

I went to a fabulous wedding a few years back - food was simple but delicious , a kind of ploughman’s lunch with lots of fresh bread and salad. Later on in the evening, loads of pizzas arrived, none of us knew about it and it went down a storm!

They served ice cold Pimms outside for the welcome drinks ( it was a warm day, so very welcome!) then had a soft drinks self service station they had set up themselves in glass kegs, complete with jars of sweets.

They had a photographer, but she only stayed for a few hours - each table had disposable cameras on them for guests to use. It was such a laugh.

The whole day was very relaxed and flowed well, the bride and groom did a lot of it themselves on a budget - they didn’t have a dj but had an amazing playlist and disco set up. The playlist had abit of everything from 70s disco to 90s dance. Literally everyone was up on the dance floor.

Definitely one of the best weddings I’ve been too.

I'd split the group into smaller tables if possible. On a table of 30 you're stuck talking to the people directly next to you, and if the people on each side of you turn to their other sides, you're stuck talking to nobody! If you're thinking of a quiz, I think that would be hard at one big table too. Smaller tables are much better for group conversations and being able to hear your conversation properly.

I love your idea of disposable cameras and a photo book though!

No official photographer. Tedious AF for guests. Free drinks. Really good food.

‘Survival kits’ in the bedrooms with things berroca, ibuprofen, crisps, nice chocolate and bottled water in them and

We weren't allowed to have confetti so we had real rose petals in paper cones and little bottles of blowing bubbles on each seat. Everyone just loved the bubbles.