How Did You Make Your Minimony Special?

You can still get a customized cake, check with your local bakeries. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular. Have you and your fiance considered getting an uber after the night so that you can spend time alone? I definitely get not wanting to be around others the night of your wedding. You can switch the spa weekend to a spa day with your bridal party and maybe do brunch or dinner afterwards. Just a few suggestions.

You can definitely still get a customized cake! My fiance and I are planning to do tiramisu as our main wedding dessert, though we will have a small two-tiered cake for us and our wedding party that will feed up to 15-20 people. Our cake is being made by a local bakery.


As for the night of your wedding, I totally agree with Yasmine's comment. Is Uber or a taxi available in your area? That way, no one has to drive, and you can still spend the night alone with your husband.
For your bachelorette party, are you able to switch plans from a spa weekend to maybe a trip away somewhere? You can rent an Airbnb, and you all can bring things to do your own spa day, go wine tasting, do a beach day, visit a zoo, or setup yard games and have a bonfire. Or setup a mimosa bar. Otherwise, you could always postpone the bachelorette party until after the wedding, once COVID calms down a bit.

So I am having a minimony (truthfully I love it and as things add up makes it easier financially) and here is what I am doing:

Venue is a bed and breakfast near the water for amazing sunset pics. Church is a great idea.

I am getting a two tier cake and with photographers and bed and breakfast people and officiant a two tier is more than enough. We decided to keep the top tier for our first anniversary. We are getting the flavors and fillings we want and I got a cake topper.

I am having a bouquet and I am having my MOH stand by my side and she has her dress and I have mine.

We have photographers and my officiant will drape the gate at the place we will marry.

We are taking our two friends to a rooftop dinner afterwards. This is the only plae that might be the wild card if the state were to go back into lock down but I doubt it. Back up we go out to another restaurant or take out at our house or eat at the venue since they have a beautiful porch backyard.

Make it special and forget what others say...if you have the money for it get what you want.

Could you get a hotel? We rented an Airbnb for ours. My mom, sister and I will stay there the night before and my husband and I that night and the next. And you can definitely get a custom cake!!!

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Yeah, I think I was more concerned with finding a bakery, as I am not too familiar with local businesses in FILs area, and also wasn't sure about pickup, like getting the day before and then storing it somewhere. Uber life is not too great in that area, I know that much, so we might need to spring for a limo service to take us to a hotel or something that night. I do like your idea of spa day, I suggested it to my MOH and maybe she will organize that for me so it is one less thing I have to figure out haha.

Thank you so much for your response!

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Tiramisu is a great idea! I will have to do some research on bakeries in FILs' area, they don't have very much around there. Uber life is not really active in that area, so we might need to get a limo service or taxi to take us to a nearby hotel or something that night. I really like your ideas for the bachelorette party! I suggested something lowkey like those things to my MOH and hoping she will organize something haha. I think doing something, even low maintenance, would just be easier and less stressful after the wedding. Is it wrong to hope the BMs will just figure all that out for me, I'm kinda tired from planning two weddings lol.

Thank you so much for your response!

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Wow your plan sounds great! I also really want to be able to save some of the cake for our first anniversary, I always really liked that tradition. I am happy with the people who we will have there, and I honestly don't mind having dinner at the FILs house, though we did play around with the idea of going to a banquet hall or B&B, but they have such a large house that it seemed fine. But now I'm thinking we should have a hotel room on hand as well. That might help us to feel more comfortable instead of being around people the entire day.

Thank you so much for your response! I

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I am thinking we should get a hotel, even if staying at their house would have been free lol. And I am trying to convince FH of a custom cake, we just need to find a bakery that is close by! And also figure out tastings.

Thank you for your response!

View Quoted Comment No problem!! We are doing our minimony in the town we live in and were originally just going to go home after and my mom made a good point. We wouldn’t just be going home after our big wedding, so no reason to now. It can still be special!! Within budget and reason of course haha.

View Quoted Comment Oh if you have access to a big house of course. We had planned in eloping from the start but we have three guests and I know my big bro. He hates crowds so he'll stay for the ceremony and probably leave quickly after lol. Figured awkward having a full reception in a club house or something with two people so we planned dinner after. If we were having more people I would do that. The rooftop my fh and I had talked about going to various times so figured could be nice for a dinner afterwards. I over thought this because for most with elopement or mini monies they get written off like say your vows and go home. I was fine foregoing the big wedding esp with my fh's social anxiety and once I hit 30 I didn't wanna spend a lot for one day rather invest in a killer honeymoon because I love travel, but I still wanted to feel bridal and look back on the day with a happy special feeling and good memories. I think you should do the same. Look ain't no one gonna say boo to cake and if they do you don't want them in your life anyways lol.

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That is a good point, I didn't think of it that way! Just because we are having minimonies doesn't mean COVID can prevent us from enjoying a romantic and relaxing evening with our new spouses!!

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That makes sense! I wish indoor dining was a thing here, we would have rented out space in a nice restaurant but I don't think indoor dining will be feasible in the next couple months, or if it is it will be pretty risky since it'll be right in the beginning. Outdoor dining is just to fickle and we won't know weather until that week before, so probably just best to cater some good food. I agree with you about feeling bridal, I never thought I'd be so concerned about my wedding day, as I was not one to picture it in my mind since I was young, but now that it is almost here and COVID is messing with it, I really want that special day!

Also, agreed on people saying things about cakes - I don't want that kind of negativity in my life when it comes to my desserts!

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No I feel it. It is one day, so you only get one chance. That is why for some things I am splurging because when will I get a chance again ya know? I pray we stay together forever so I do not want another marriage lol. I agree now that a pandemic is making things hard definitely makes your feelings change. Girl cater how you want and here is my perspective, you want it you buy it? My fh thinks photography and what they charge is lame but that was my non negotiable so I am paying for both our photographers and I am not thinking twice about it. I have had friends not like their pics the day of so I got the photographers I dreamed of having (somehow got them at elopement pricing) and I am so happy to be working with them. You do it, no regrets!

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Good for you for splurging on photographers! That's awesome that they are charging lower pricing for your minimony. I can definitely understand wanting those memories captured perfectly, it is still your day!

Also, I keep forgetting to mention, but I love your prof pic haha.

We're making feel as weddingy as possible. We're wearing our planned outfits, we have a photographer, covid-friendly catering for dinner, and an ice cream truck for dessert! My mom and I are still getting our hair and makeup done (no clue why makeup services are allowed, but I'll take it). We rented a tent and tables and chairs and we're getting tons of flowers; everyone will have a bouquet, boutoniere, or corsage, we'll have table centerpieces and a floral arch, and even a small arrangement in the bathroom (because my mom's a little extra). A good compromise on the cake might be to get a custom one at a grocery store. I used to decorate cakes at Whole Foods, and we did several wedding cakes. We got a hotel room for our wedding night. We just found a hotel close by and we're taking an uber/lyft there. I know Lyft allows you to schedule rides in advance, so even if they're not super abundant in the area where you're getting married, you may be able to get one that way. And, there's definitely nothing wrong with having a limo if you want one, but you can also schedule a cab ride, which would almost certainly save you money over a limo. Another covid specific thing I did to make the day more special was to make "covid boxes" for each person. They'll be on the table the way place cards would be and I calligraphed each person's name onto a card, then tied it to a box with a ribbon. The boxes contain mini hand sanitizers, masks that I made in our wedding colors, and extra napkins. After one night in a local hotel, we're spending a few days in an airbnb by a beach that's about an hour from our home.

View Quoted Comment You’re welcome! And yes limo services aren’t as expensive as they used to be with uber, Lyft, etc so I would definitely look into that.

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Yeah some photographers charge an elopement special which luckily they do lol. Oh thanks. I love me some BTS.

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I love the idea of an ice cream truck, that sounds amazing haha.

I like what you're saying with getting dressed up and doing hair/makeup - I initially wasn't sure if I would do this for the minimony but then I had my hair trial this weekend and was like omg yes I must do this. My bridesmaids are going to help with makeup since I'm not good at that. I didn't even think of Whole Foods - they're definitely a step up from our local grocery store so I'll look into that too! We are going to do something similar as party favors - a tiny bag of hand sanitizer plus the hangover essentials lol - advil, mints, snacks, etc. I am thinking we will try to find a cab or something to take us to a hotel, I think I've convinced FH how important it is, and then we can always reconvene with family the next morning for brunch, but it'll be after slowly waking up after a long wedding day!

Thank you for your response!

View Quoted Comment It was so much fun! My dad ended up driving us to the hotel because we didn't plan ahead and the uber cancelled on us, but I was glad we had somewhere to go. Even though this event was more casual than the event we originally planned, I was really glad we were all dressed up. I feel like it made it even more whimsical and fun.

The mini one can absolutely still feel special!! We were in the same situation (wedding was July 12th), with only 14 guests.

My "bachelorette" was a spa afternoon for a mani/pedi with my MOH and one of BMs (the rest are all out of state and weren't attending), then we spent the night at my MOH's place cooking, drinking and generally relaxing. It was perfectly lovely. I splurged on a hair/make up artist because we also had a photographer for our mini wedding, as I was determined to have lovely pictures of us (Mission Accomplished!).

For being alone on your wedding night, I think that is a perfectly reasonable and normal wish. It sounds like you've had a lot of great suggestions already for that, and for the cake, and I don't really have anything original to suggest there.

I think the spa day prior, professional hair/makeup, dressing up and photographer really helped me still feel like it was a "wedding day".