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.

I agree about forgetting the favours - never taken any home. Waste of money - use what you would have spent on better wine / drinks

I have sat a a large table for 30 and you really are limited to talking to people either side of you. They are usually rectangular although some are bowed slightly, but it means it's very difficult to talk to anyone other than those to your left and right. The person opposite is too far away and the volume level can be quite loud. And if you have flowers / table decorations you're forever dodging around them to see each other. Smaller round tables mean your guests have a much better chance at talking to each other and you can mix more easily after the meal, when the dancing starts. You don't have to have a 'top table' you can have a table just for you and your new spouse. And like others have said - keep friends and family in their natural groups and avoid the social engineering of mixing them all up - which always dampens proceedings in my experience.

I understand what your saying completely but I think (and perhaps I’m reading a tone that’s not there- if so I’m sorry!) this is a touch harsh. Of course the connection is the most important thing and the number one thing that I think we already have covered is no one will be out of pocket, people will be comfortable and we’ll fed and watered, no long periods of waiting around or listening to speeches. That said, I’ve had house parties that have felt amazing and I’ve had some of the best times of my life, but this is an occasion we’re only planning to have once so I can and some ideas to elevate it in a way that guests (and us!) will appreciate.

btw, I didn’t say we’d have engraved pencils, just that if we decide to do favours it would be something that would tie in to the rest of the day, like that 😊.

That’s definitely the kind of vibe we’re going for. Lots of food, lots of drink, no pressure, relaxed and fun! I just want to think of any little touches that will be appreciated.

A brilliant idea, thanks!

we did activity packs for children. Books, colouring pencils, little lego, some of those travel game sets like connect 4. Plus some disposable cameras just for them which was brilliant- adults did not seem to notice 4 year old taking photos of them and we got some wonderful candid shots.

We can’t have round tables as we have to use what they have but I’ll defiantly chat with the venue about how best to arrange them so guests can chat.

I do think nowadays people are more conscious of waste etc though and quite a lot of these touches do generate waste (favours, baskets of flip flops, emergency baskets in rooms, surely most people bring comfy shoes to change into and have sanitary products, headache tablets etc of they are staying). I'd be going more for the experience type things eg quiz, cartoonist etc instead.

I've always loved weddings when even non-wedding party guests get a gorgeous buttonhole flower.

It's made me feel very included and special.

Went to a wedding where the B&G had bought some games for the children, giant jenga, snakes and ladders etc. It was fun seeing all the glam 20s and 30s playing happily while the children just ran round.

Lots of food, drink, flowing conversation and good music. And somewhere you can chat without having to shout and mimic what you're saying..... as someone whose DH is going deaf (and won't get a hearing aid) I dread nights where there is a disco as he can't hear a thing.

Don't bother with favours, they're naff. Or anything personalised for your guests - most just want to see you having a good day.

We had a November wedding, so had mulled wine as our welcome drink. We were really lucky with the weather (had assumed it would be rubbish) and the day before and after were awful but the sun shone on our day. Although it was freezing, so most of the outside photos have me wearing DH's suit jacket, which didn't exactly go with my dress! So maybe factor in something warm to wear

We had a small wedding and thought that personalised wedding favours would be fun, after seeing a little gift that exactly suited one of our guests. Regretted that after about the first 10 guests as began to run out of ideas. Guests said they loved them but do wonder if they were just being polite.

We didn't have a top table and went round our guests' tables as the evening went on, so made sure we chatted to everyone

If you have a dj or what not. We picked a favourite song for each guest (or couole) (or as close to what we thought) for instance my parents first dance song, my nephews mad song all sorts of eras 😆

At my friend's wedding, the bride and groom moved to a new table for each course, which would work really nicely if you only had three tables.

Champagne rather than prosecco!

At another wedding I've been to, the place settings all had a photo of the person who was meant to sit there, one taken at their prime, which was lovely.

On a practical note, I printed everyone's menu choice on the other side of their place marker, as it's really easy to forget what you've asked for if you did it months before.

Friends of mine had a small wedding, it was about 20 to 25 people to the reception, maybe 5 had been at the registry office. What made it special is they booked a private room in a Michelin starred restaurant and we all sat around 1 horseshoe shaped table for lunch and they booked taxis on their account to get everyone there and back.

Now this is a well off couple with no children, so it might sound extravagant. But there was no church, flowers (apart from table decs), photographer, bridesmaids or pageboys, ushers, best man, evening entertainment, favours etc.

Just a late morning wedding, luxurious boozy lunch, easy journey there and back. The perfect wedding IMO!

Things we did at our wedding:

• where’s Wally nooks in the kids gift bags. They spent ages looking at them
• later in the evening one of that chaos dressed up as Wally and appeared in the bar
• we had a piñata in the evening

Canapés with the welcome drink have gone down well whenever I've seen it done

We’re doing that. We’re getting married at 2.30 so some people may have had an early lunch.

Instead of portable cameras, why not set up a group WhatsApp for the wedding and ask everybody to put photos on there?

Similiar idea to @HollowTalk - set up a Google photo sharing album, invite guests into the group and ask everyone to add their photos. We did one for my sister's wedding. We started using it the day before and people added photos of them getting ready, arriving to hotel, etc. Got a fabulous collection of happy photos of everyone's prep and random ideas.

We hired a casino for between the meal and evening do. Games for the kids. Limited photos. Sweetie table.

We’ll only do them if I can think of something useful for the day (so if we do a quiz I’ll get some engraved pencils, that sort of thing).

please don’t bother with “useful” favours.

Quirky and funny (ie the cake pops that look like the guests but for 30 that would be extortionate! Although could be bride and groom?!) or don’t bother as you will survey the scene at the end of the night and “useful” favours will have been left on tables