How Vendors Can Elevate Your Micro Wedding  

When couples choose to include creative wedding vendors and professionals on their wedding day, it elevates their experience. 

I know—I started this blog with a bold claim. But after ten years as a micro wedding photographer, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to watch wedding days unfold. 

In that time, I’ve realized a relatively universal truth. 

Including creative vendors who know how to serve you and have the experience to execute your wildest dreams is often the piece that brings everything together.

And, in my opinion, this is true whether you’re having a just-us luxury elopement, a traditional wedding, or an intentional micro wedding.

Creative wedding vendors can help you do more than just execute your vision. Especially experienced professionals who have navigated and grown in the wedding industry space for several years.

They can open your eyes to show you what’s possible for how your day can look and feel. They can remove overwhelm and they can save you from the stress of forcing yourself into a DIY wedding day. 

These vendors can elevate your day in every way. That’s why I’m sharing my in-depth opinions on why couples who are planning weddings should give experienced vendors serious consideration. 

Pictured: Micro wedding reception dinner at a private home in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

How Vendors Can Elevate the Feel & Experience of Your Micro Wedding or Luxury Elopement 

Before we dive in, I want to make a clear distinction. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a few DIY aspects of a wedding day. But in some ways, DIYing parts of a wedding can be like DIYing a house. 

Hear me out on this comparison for a moment. 

Maybe you choose to renovate parts of your house all on your own. You’re confident you can pull most of it off, but there’s no denying the pressure is on. 

And maybe, at the end of the day, that project helped you learn and grow in your DIY skills. Maybe it all worked out because you called in experts to help you with areas you did a less-than-stellar job. 

But unlike a home renovation, your wedding day isn’t subject to do-overs. 

When it’s done, it’s done, and you’re left with the memories and documentation of it all to hold onto forever. 

How that wedding day feels when you think back on it and what you remember when you look at your images both matter. 

Calling in the experts ahead of time to create and execute a beautiful experience you can count on means never having to worry about a do-over. 

Pictured: Elopement picnic amongst wildflowers in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

Creative Wedding Vendors Know How to Execute Flawlessly 

I truly believe that you can have more than one best day of your life, but I also know that your wedding day should be high on that list. 

Your wedding day is your wedding day–you don’t get a chance to redo that specific day. 

Just because you could do something or you could pull something off doesn’t mean you should–especially on a day when you should prioritize peace, happiness, and presence. 

When experienced wedding vendors enter the equation, they remove the worry of the unknown. 

All of a sudden, you don’t have to worry about executing the perfect hair and makeup –you’ve got an MUA on your side who does this every day. 

Those only-happen-once memories you want to capture in an authentic, as-they-happen way? Your uncle can put down the camera because you hired a videographer or photographer who’s been doing this for over a decade. 

The hours you spent staring at your venue questioning how you’re going to turn it into the floralscape of your dreams can melt away when a wedding designer steps into the room. 

She’s knows exactly what she is doing. 

All of these creatives have the experience, creativity, and knowledge to pull off looks, feelings, and moments beyond your expectations. You and your partner deserve that on a day without do-overs. 

Pictured: Intimate backyard wedding reception in the North Cascades, Washington.

They Deliver a Sense of Ease & Relief 

Your wedding day–no matter how you choose to experience it–should be an effortless celebration.

Without vendors to plan and execute, things can get fuzzy. 

Lines get crossed, timelines lapse, and somewhere, somehow, you go from a couple who’s floating through the experience of their day to making sure that everything’s happening when and how it should. 

There are endless vendors who can help you before, during, and after your day to ensure that things are unfolding flawlessly–without you having to step in and do any of it. 

Think of all the unique parts of your wedding day you want to feel and experience. 

Do those feelings change at all if you and your guests are take on the task of creating them? Fostering them? Executing them? 

Your wedding is an opportunity for joy and ease, for breathing it all in without looking around and wondering what has to come next to keep your timeline moving. 

Collaborating with thoughtful, experienced wedding vendors and talented creators gives these artists a chance to bring your day to life, like the vendors did for Whitney + Levi’s small wedding.

But more than that, it gives you two (and your loved ones) the chance to simply experience and enjoy every second.

Pictured: Micro wedding ceremony setup and decor at the Hanai Center in Bend Oregon.

You Get to Skip the Stress & Overwhelm of DIY 

In some cases, many couples are getting married for the first time. In that case, you’ve never done this before–as excited as you are, it’s a little overwhelming. 

Doing something for the first time can be stressful. This is true for almost every other part of life, and yet, in those areas, we’re rarely jump in and become experts who can execute flawlessly.

The expectation is that couples have to learn how to become professional makeup artists, venue decorators, content creators, and wedding planners–all for the sake of a budget. 

But you don’t have to take a DIY approach to every (or any) aspect of your wedding day if it doesn’t align with what you want to experience on your day.  

Of course, budgets exist for a reason. It’s not about throwing it to the wind it, just refocusing on what you prioritize. Sitting down and mapping out what’s most important to you both, your experience and your memories. This can help you allocate that budget where it makes the most sense. 

For example, maybe you both truly value the peace that comes with hiring a wedding designer to elevate your space. But, don’t particularly care if you cut your guest list from 100 guests to 30 of your closest people. 

That money you were planning to spend on those guests you can now allocate to a designer who can make your dream venue spark to life with an expert’s touch.

Pictured: Micro-wedding ceremony setup and decor at the Hanai Center in Bend Oregon.

They Don’t Just Nurture Your Vision–They Amplify It 

Your ideas and inspirations for your wedding day are valid and important. And I have no doubt that, if given the chance, you could create the visual aesthetic and feeling that you’re chasing. 

But on your wedding, do you want the overwhelming task of creating that feeling and executing it? 

Beyond just taking tasks out of your hands so you can sit back and enjoy every moment of your day, creative wedding vendors have something truly invaluable–vision. 

Most experienced vendors have spent years nurturing their art, fine-tuning it to perfection. It’s possible they have ideas, solutions, and visions you might not have yet considered or anticipated. 

There’s nothing quite like expressing your vision to a creative wedding vendor and then watching them transform it into something you didn’t even consider possible. 

Pictured: An elopement dinner reception at Crook Point on the Oregon Coast.

Your Micro Wedding Day Memories & Forever Feelings: Effortlessly Documented

Your wedding day doesn’t get a do-over. 

Hiring creative wedding vendors to bring your vision and experience to life ensures that you experience a day that’s aligned with who and what you love. 

And hiring other creative wedding vendors–like micro wedding photographers and luxury elopement photographers– ensures that those feelings and memories stay alive forever. 

Your forever memories and feelings belong in the best hands, and I’d be honored to help you capture your once-in-a-lifetime day.