Small Wedding Options

Outdoors are so finicky, especially in the dead of summer in PA.

I think looking for elopement packages are a really good idea. I think, as long as you pay for your guests' meals and alcohol, you will be hosting them well (not tacky)

The most memorable weddings I have been to have been small. Small ceremony in a park or beach and then a party of a dinner in a restaurant with the wine flowing. So much fun!

Just got married yesterday and that's exactly what we did. Had the ceremony outside (the weather was so beautiful for us!) and then had our reception in a restaurant down the street. I was worried too but honestly that's the best decision we made about the whole thing. Kept it small, and hosted family and close friends well at the restaurant.

Sounds perfect! Not tacky at all.

I'm having a small wedding, about 30 people. Hosting the whole thing at my dad's vacation house. I think it's a great idea! My FH and I didn't want alot of people, I think it makes it more intimate and you don't have to spend the entire time thanking hundreds of people for attending your wedding!

This is the type of wedding my venue specializes in. Not tacky at all. More and more people are opting for this style wedding. Intimate and affordable.

Those options sound lovely!

We considered this as well

Not tacky and can be very elegant

As a person having a larger wedding, I think this sounds lovely. As long as you host properly, and it sounds like you are, should be wonderful. And exactly what you guys want.

Thanks ladies! I got some negative feedback from an acquaintance and just needed reassurance and to make sure it would be considered good hosting if I had a small wedding but still made sure the guests were well taken care of. Thank you for suggesting back up plans for the outdoor ceremony, I hadn't even thought of that! I'm just getting my feet wet with planning (got engaged 9/15/17). So I appreciate the feedback.

Just remember it's your day and you get to choose how you want it! Remind those negative people it's not their wedding!

I think small weddings are the perfect idea and it seems like you are on the right track. I'm doing almost the same as you want, we are having a beach ceremony followed by dinner reception for about 15 people. We have an event company that does a wedding package that includes everything from officiant to decorations to photographer. If you plan it nicely and do everything major professionally you will have an elegant very nice wedding. The only thing we are doing differently from your idea is that we are not doing reception at a restaurant. We are renting an oceanfront house and having a catered dinner there. Personally I just don't think a restaurant has that wedding feel. We go to restaurants a lot so going to a restaurant for our wedding dinner doesn't feel very special. With all that said, I don't think it's tacky/cheap at all. As long as you have everything done professionally, like food, drinks, ceremony, etc. It will look elegant and intimate and you will not have bankrupted yourselves.

We're doing an intimate wedding at a boutique hotel ... about 30 guests. We wanted to keep it small and spend quality time with everyone. The hotel has the most amazing glass conservatory and we're doing the ceremony and reception in the same room ... At first, I was worried about such a small group, but as I spend more time here and do more research, I'm confident we made the right decision ...

this is a photo of our room ... it will be set up just like this, only with different/more color ..

Absolutely not tacky! I was back and forth between planning for a big wedding or a small, intimate wedding and while the small wedding would have been so lovely and surrounded by the people I wanted most, a big wedding won out at the end due to how many people we actually really wanted to help us celebrate.

Definitely have a back up plan in case you can't have an outdoor ceremony!

They both sound nice. I went to a small wedding (about 15 people) and the ceremony was in a side room at the church and we walked over to a restaurant after where they had a prix fixe menu set up. It was really nice.

Thank you ladies again! We are going to Fallen Tree Farm in Carlisle, PA to tour and put our deposit down. I'm so excited! They have an indoor option for ceremony/reception. So thank you all for giving advice for a Plan B in case of bad weather.

This is exactly what we are doing. Ceremony outside at our lake house and then "reception" at s restaurant. We booked the small private dining room. There will be a total of 18 people including us.

I might be biased, but I'm totally team small wedding. As a guest, I would prefer whatever allows me to have a good time. A smaller wedding allows for more connection with other guests and the newlyweds.

Also, Pam, that room looks GORGEOUS.

I don't think it's tacky. We're doing exactly that. Outdoor ceremony with a private room at a restaurant. The restaurant still allows us to bring in a cake and have an open bar. The ceremony site offers an indoor option for inclement weather.

Sounds great, as long as you have a backup plan for weather if you choose to have the ceremony outdoors. There's nothing tacky about this at all! FH and I really wished we could have done it this way - it just was going to be tougher for us and our families. You do you - it will be beautiful!