How to plan an intimate wedding

Regardless of wedding size, first things are always budget, approximate guest list, and finding a venue. For venue, also think about what time of year you would both like to get married at so that way you have a general idea of date. I would also encourage you to write out your potential guests. In my head I originally was like “oh it’ll be around 75 people” and when I wrote it out, it was actually more like 115. So you may be right on the mark, but it’s good to be sure before you book a venue with a 50 person max capacity and realize that you in fact have 60 or 75 or something.


Also, WeddingWire and The Knot have some pretty good timeline checklists to help with your planning. Some things weren’t relevant, so I just ignored those.

Start with the guest list! make a full guest list before anything else. Once you have the number of people you will invite you can decide on venue and budget. You really need a guest count and to do a little bit of research on the venues and food in your area before you can make an accurate budget. All the time you see people set a budget and then get disappointed that it is unrealistic for the number of people they want or thier area or their vibe. Avoid that stress/disappointment by not putting a hard number on the budget until you see what venues and food will cost for your guest count.

If you want to keep it small and cheap maybe a backyard, park, restaurant, or other non-traditional venue may be the way to go. After booking your venue, the order of everything else is really up to you. Prioritize what is most important to you both and work on those things first so you can spend more time and money in those areas.

I slightly disagree, I think budget should always come first. Figure out how much you want to spend first. That will determine the number of people and the venue that you can manage financially. Wedding receptions can go from an informal cake and punch type to a full plated meal.

Welcome to WW, feel free to ask any questions about planning.