What To Expect At A Cartagena Micro Wedding
If you are planning a micro wedding in Cartagena, you should expect a special event without the typical elements that constitute conventional weddings. Here, wedding celebrations are beautiful, wild, and nothing youve ever seen. Here are some things to expect from a wedding in Cartagena:
THE GODMOTHER AND GODFATHER
Fairy Godmother and Marlon Brando arent on the invited list. But in a Colombian wedding, nothing like the Maid of Honor or Best Man exists. Instead, we have the godmother and godfather. Whats their job? The godmothers responsibility is to provide marriage guidance to the bride, while the godfather is always on call at any time of the day to do the same to the groom.
THE GUAYABERA
If youre planning a Colombian micro wedding, then the look and feel must be Colombian. Male guests are required to be clad in white, cotton-made Guayabera suits. In places like Monte Carlo, this type of outfit is only used by the affluent. Dressing in this excellent design will leave the attending men feeling like kings.
AN UNUSUAL VOW
A Cartagena micro wedding must also involve a practice known as the Las Arras or bride price. Here, the priest hands 13 coins to the groom, who then hands this over to the bride. While this may give the impression that hes paying for his soulmate, the rite isnt as medieval. Instead, it symbolizes trust and is proof that the groom can provide to the family.
FIESTA
ASADO HAPPILY EVER AFTER
YOU CAN COUNT ON US
Wedding Budgets: What Is Included In A Micro Wedding
Do micro weddings cost less than large-scale affairs? It totally depends, Matteos team tells us. We can do a beautiful little ceremony on the beach with an arbor and small floral touches, which will be a large cost savings.
Matteos team also explains, With a smaller group of people, we can do a quick cocktail hour, which can shorten their time with a videographer or photographer, so thats another way people can save money.
Rehearsal dinners may also be replaced with going out for cocktails or a more casual meet and greet.
At the same time, many couples who have been forced to narrow down their guest list are choosing to put a greater focus on lavish décor or creative cuisine.
With a smaller guest count, couples can also reallocate their budget to immersive activities throughout the wedding weekend, such as sunset cruises or renting a fishing charter.
Work with your wedding planner to determine your priorities. While your guest list may be small, your wedding day is still a big event. Dont be afraid to get creative. With a smaller guest list, anything is possible.
What Is A Minimony
What exactly is a minimony? It’s exactly that: a minimony is a mini ceremony held with your loved ones, or simply a moment of commitment shared between yourselves. Given the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, couples have been opting to move forward with weddings or mini ceremonies, now defined as minimonies, for a range of reasons.
What makes this event different is its size and its meaning. A minimony is considered a commitment ceremony between you and your partner, and it can include up to 10 peopleâas long as you adhere to social distancing measures. The health of you and your loved ones should be priority throughout the planning and postponement process. Many couples who’ve had to postpone their nuptials are encouraged to consider a minimony to honor their original wedding date or to move forward with this option for legal purposes.
A minimony usually involves an officiant , a small group of loved ones, along with select vendors your larger wedding would include. Your minimony would include an experience: handwritten vows, a first dance on your balcony, as well as snapshots of details culled from your larger wedding. This includes tapping your pastry chef to bake a mini wedding cake, ordering small arrangements from your florist, or requesting your photographer capture this special occasion from afar.
Don’t Miss: How To Address A Card To A Couple
We Hear Different Terms Like Micro Wedding Minimony Backyard Wedding And Elopement Is There A Difference Between These Types Of Weddings
Many wedding blogs use these terms interchangeably but yes, there is a difference.
Micro Wedding
As mentioned above, micro weddings are typically 10-50 guests and follow a more standard wedding-day timeline. They usually involve many of the same vendors that you would have at your regular-sized wedding.
Minimony
A minimony is what many couples have turned to since Covid-19 started.
While some couples postponed their entire wedding until later in 2021 or 2022, many couples opted to get married in front of their closest loved ones and save the big party for whenever the pandemic is over.
One of the minimonies that we covered in early 2020 was only the couple, their pastor, and their photographer. They live-streamed the ceremony to their parents and siblings.
After the ceremony, they opened a bottle of champagne, toasted each other, and gave each other small gifts. Then finished the day with a trip through the Chic-fil-A drive-thru!
The couple had a micro wedding with 40 guests later in 2020 when venues started opening back up.
They had originally planned a wedding for 185 guests. The bride told us that even though she was sad for the reason that their wedding was downsized, she was very happy that they had a smaller wedding with the people closest to them.
Backyard Wedding
A backyard wedding can be anything you want. Depending on the area you live in, backyard weddings can be small intimate affairs or they can be huge events with 300+ people.
What Is The Difference Between Micro Intimate Elopement Small And Petite Weddings
Micro weddings are defined as 50 guests or less with a reception or dinner following with all the decor, floral, photography, toasts, etc., …basically, everything from a large traditional wedding, just on a compact scale. A micro wedding has a focus purely on the wedding itself family style, if you will. Its similar to the traditional wedding, only on a modest, more manageable scale. Second marriages, vow renewal fit perfectly into this category.
Whereas, an elopement is defined as just the couple a secret get-a-way with an officiant and sometimes a photographer, often spur-of-the-moment affair. An elopement is almost entirely focused on the marriage and unity of the couple and is pretty self-explanatory.
Petite weddings would be similar to micro weddings, on an even smaller scale, with a guest count of around 20 or less. Regardless of the descriptor: small, intimate, diminutive, little, miniature, “mini-mony”, minute, petite, tiny, these celebrations are unique, intimate, cherished, and extremely romantic.
While the terms might be interchangeable, the micro wedding still differs from an elopement, which implies a spontaneous, shotgun, quick wedding with few, if any wedding guests. The micro wedding still contains all the elements of a traditional ceremony, including a venue event space or restaurant, photographer, floral, cake, and decor. The biggest difference is the size.
Also Check: Wedding Planning Excel Spreadsheet
The Ultimate Guide To Planning A Micro Wedding
micro wedding photo by the light & the love photography
Have you heard the buzz about micro weddings? If youre planning a wedding in 2020we know you have. Its no secret that COVID-19 changed the wedding industry. From forcing couples to change their wedding plans to a surge of new terms such as micro wedding and virtual wedding, couples are navigating uncharted territory while planning a micro wedding.
Were here to help.
Lucky for you, we have access to a carefully selected bunch of the worlds best wedding photographers, planners, florists, DJs, and more, who were eager to provide answers to all the burning questions about planning a micro wedding.
Green Havenpomfret Center Connecticut
You’ll be surrounded by nature on your wedding day at Green Haven, a romantic new micro wedding venue in Northeastern Connecticut. There are several ceremony locations to choose from, including the Tree of Life, a mature Sugar Maple tree The Orchard, with its apple trees and wildflowers or the Arbor, featuring a rustic wooden structure covered in greenery. You can also host a tented or outdoor reception here. Your photographer will be thrilled with all of the gorgeous photo backdropsbe sure to check out the Overlook, with views of the Connecticut hills all the way to Rhode Island.
Don’t Miss: Wedding Bands To Pair With Solitaire
What Do Small Weddings Mean For Wedding Dresses
At Savvy Bridal Boutique, we have seen many brides planning micro weddings come in looking for two different dresses. The first dress is for their micro wedding. It is typically a lower budget gown that will be worn just for the small celebration with a limited guest list. The second dress is the dress with the wow-factor! This is the showstopping dress that brides want everyone to see them in on their big day, which is the larger wedding typically held a year or so after the smaller, legal ceremony. While COVID-19 has popularized this type of celebrations, couples have done the same thing for a while now, but the larger celebration isnt always so far behind the initial wedding gathering. Dont let a micro wedding stop you from getting the dress of your dreams. If you are only having a micro wedding, you should definitely get the dress you love for the day, regardless of how many guests will be in attendance. Plus, you will want to look back at pictures of a dress that you truly love in the future.
Micro Wedding Ideas To Inspire You
Now that you know what a micro wedding is, are you ready for some amazing micro wedding ideas to inspire you?
Feel free to jump to any of these stories that may interest you filled with advice and photos from the specific couples wedding day.
Are you thinking, why elope instead of having a wedding? Check out these reasons to elope.
Don’t Miss: Wedding Budget Spreadsheet Google Sheets
Should You Consider A Micro Wedding
There are so many different things that factor into whether or not you should have a micro wedding. With this trend on the rise, many couples are trying to decide if a micro wedding is the right choice for their wedding day. Here are a few different things to consider before planning a micro wedding.
Write Your Own Vowsno Mic Necessary
Everybody does it these days and thats for good reason. But even though this might feel generic enough to also be done at a traditional-sized wedding, its important to note that with your nearest and dearest streamlined to a close few, everyone will actually be able to hear your vows. And therefore, appreciate them.
No microphones necessary, no I couldnt hear over the baby crying as an excuse. Exchanging personal vows will feel all the more special and intimate in such a small setting and the guests will agree too.
Read Also: How To Address Families On Wedding Invitations
Are More Couples Opting For An Intimate Micro Wedding
Just as fashion and hairstyles are ever-evolving, the same can be said about wedding styles, traditions, and customs. And, depending on where you are located in the country, or world for that matter, local customs and local traditions add to variations and differences. What does that mean, simply, weddings, … like everything else is ever-evolving cue the intimate, micro wedding.
How Wedding Traditions And Events Have Changed Over The Last 150+ Years
From all of the bridesmaids dressing exactly like the bride to ward off evil spirits and ex-loves to pageboys modifying their duties from carrying with wedding dress down the aisle to just the wedding bands. From elopements to large church weddings, to simple backyard weddings and, now intimate, petite and micro weddings, weddings have evolved will continue to change with new trends, modified traditions, and combined cultural aspects.
From the 1850s through the 1950s the majority of wedding photos were taken in a photography studio as black and white images. . -Above photos credit: Jay Storm Studio, Hampton, CT.
1854 Tradition of wearing white was started with Queen Victoria, but wasnt adopted by middle-class brides until after World War II.
1880s Wedding photos took place in the studio with long exposures, so you rarely see smiling couples
1919 Weddings were so formal and elaborate regarding catering, florist, invitations, seamstress that a separate person was needed to coordinate all the efforts, and hence the wedding planner was created. Large tiered wedding cakes popular
1920 Short wedding dresses, headpieces.
1924 The average age of a bride was just over 21
1925 Wedding vendors started actively marketing to brides with retail stores
1927 The wedding registry was created at Marshall Fields, other department stores quickly followed
1928 The first automatic film-developing machine was patented, photographers invited to the event for formal family groups
You May Like: Do Kleinfeld Consultants Make Commission
What Are Recently Married Couples Saying About Micro Weddings After Having One
We asked some couples to give us their thoughts on micro weddings after getting married. Here is what some of them had to say:
Our wedding was only 15 people made up of immediate family and a few close friends. It was the best wedding decision ever! We were able to actually talk to everyone, sit down and have a relaxed dinner together, and share a truly intimate moment. Because we had so many fewer people than a typical wedding, we got to splurge on amazing food and a photographer who I have loved for years.A tip to not offend people for not inviting them is to say immediate family only, and dont break the rule because once you invite one youll have to invite more. All of our friends and family were very understanding.Side note: this wasnt a covid related decision and was in mid-2019. Rhonda and Josh
We were due to have a big wedding in September of 2020. We ended up booking a small micro-ceremony with 20 guests in May of 2021 and the reception/party next May . Im even more excited now than I was before as the party will be stress-free and we will be able to have all of our original guest list at the reception.Monique and James
We had 18 guests and it was amazing! We only had very close family and friends. I would highly recommend it! We are planning to have our big reception possibly later this year or next year. Now I get to wear my dress again!Rebecca and Chris
What Is A Micro
Micro-weddings fall somewhere between an elopement and a small traditional wedding. They are a wonderful solution to the drastic adjustments that have recently taken place in the wedding industry.
With social distancing here to stay and numbers being kept to a minimum, were expecting micro-weddings to be a big trend as we head into 2021.
Typically, a micro-wedding will have no more than 20 guests, however as with any wedding trend, its all about interpretation. You may feel like you want your special day to be as intimate and private as possible.
Recommended Reading: Free Wedding Planning Spreadsheet
