During wedding planning and guest list making, this question might have popped up in your head numerous times. How big should your wedding be? Because you have to choose a venue, wedding rental packages, and make other arrangements according to that. If you’re stumped, then here is everything you need to know.
Different Wedding Size Options
Here are different types of weddings and their sizes for your reference:
Elopement
Although it might sound scandalous, elopement is a great way to get hitched without having to spend the big bucks. Nowadays, elopement can be done with your immediate family and friends because you’ll need witnesses for it.
You can, then, do an after-elopement party and invite a good chunk of people to it. The main gist of an elopement is to ditch the wedding planning and get done with the deed, which is awesome.
Micro/Mini Weddings
Micro weddings have become all the rage, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic where social distancing was a must. If you have about 20-30 guests in your mind for your wedding, then a micro wedding is perfect. A mini wedding is not an elopement. You will be having a ceremony and reception in a mini wedding and there’s no after-party.
This is something that can confuse a lot of people. If you want to host a bigger wedding party after the fact, then you can, but you’ll only need to host a reception that’s marginally bigger than the actual ceremony. This is known as a sequel wedding.
Small Weddings
A small wedding is a ceremony and reception in which there are 30-60 guests. If you want something a bit bigger than a micro wedding, and you only have your immediate family and friends on your guest list, then this wedding size is perfect.
Most wedding venues offer baseline packages of 40 guests. So, this option is not only light on the budget but super manageable as well.
Medium Weddings
A medium wedding consists of a ceremony and reception with 60-150 guests. This size is perfect for couples who have medium-sized families and they want to include their families and friends. Medium weddings are also quite manageable and the budget can vary depending on the actual number of guests.
Large Weddings
Large weddings are events that accommodate over 150 guests. These weddings are big, and elaborate and are usually held in larger banquets, marquees, or even outdoors because you’re going to need a lot of space to seat everyone.
Adult-Only Weddings
Yes, this is also an option. Weddings aren’t usually kid-friendly and if you want to host an adults-only wedding, then that’s doable. It will be chill, there will be no crying baby providing background music in your ceremony and all of the guests can enjoy the celebrations without having to call it a night.
Destination Weddings
Destination weddings can be big or small. There’s no general size of a destination wedding because some people want to keep it short and sweet, while others want to keep elaboration on the forefront.
However, keep in mind that destination weddings are very expensive even more than traditionally larger weddings. So, you might need to revisit your budget if you want everyone in your family to be a part of your hitch day.
Questions To Ask When Considering The Right Size For Your Wedding
What’s Your Preference?
Believe it or not, the size of your wedding boils down to you and you alone. If you’re someone who prefers a small crowd, then you do you. If you want a big fat wedding, then nothing should stop you from doing so.
A lot of the time, you can get caught up in trying to satisfy everyone else and leave your preferences behind. News flash! This is your wedding and you call the shots.
What Is Your Budget?
The size of the wedding is directly related to your wedding budget. This is a fact, but you’ll be surprised to know how many people fail to remember that. This can cause them to overspend on their hitch day and be smacked in the face, in the end, with a hefty bill.
So, you certainly want to think about the number of guests that you can invite in your budget. This is essentially the soul of smart wedding planning and you need to nail this.
How Big Is Your Family?
The next question to ask yourself, when you’re deciding on the size of your wedding is: How many people are there? You might have a big family, with lots of relatives on both the paternal and maternal side, a plethora of cousins, a lot of friends and colleagues, and many distant family members that you might not even recall ever meeting.
Alternatively, you might have a teeny tiny family that you can count on at your fingertips. The volume of your family and friends will directly define half of the actual volume of the wedding, with the rest of the half being your spouses-to-be’s family.
How Important Is It To You?
Another crucial thing to consider is whether you even want to invite all of the people in your family or not. Yes, you might have a big family, but do you even know half of the people? Have you ever met with anyone aside from the special holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving?
If the answer to both these questions is “no”, then you seriously need to reconsider even inviting them to your wedding.
Think about it. You’ll be paying around $80 to $500 for each person coming to your wedding (depending on the venue and catering service). Don’t you want to make the invite worth your money? You might know the answer.
Can You Handle The Drama?
Wedding drama is real. Families can take it to heart if you don’t invite people from their side. It’s just how parents and other members are. The real question is: Are you able to handle the situation? If you can mediate and explain to your family why you’re inviting certain people only, then that’s golden.
However, make sure to let them know beforehand. You don’t need any unnecessary drama on the day of the wedding. Talk it out with your family in advance and then stand your ground because it’s really easy to get swept away by the emotional ride that family is.
What Are Your Priorities?
You want to figure out your priorities as well. This calls for a clutter-free mind and a bit of time. Sit down and think about your wedding. Think of the smallest detail to the biggest highlight. Ask yourself: How do you want the wedding to look? Do you want it to be extraordinary? Do you want it to be humongous? Do you want it to be intimate?
Set your priorities straight because you’ll be surprised how clueless couples are during wedding planning and they tend to just “go with the flow”. Don’t be that person. Know what you want from the get-go so that you don’t stray off the path.
Conclusion
Your wedding size is an important thing to consider, especially if you want things to fit within your means. This guide will give you a good idea about how to find the sweet spot in terms of your wedding guest list. You have to decide this as early as possible so that you can move on to choosing wedding tent rentals Frederick and vendors for your big day.