A wedding day is often flooded with certain expectations. Maybe it’s a venue big enough to hold all the guests you invited. Even if you don’t know them all that well. Perhaps it’s a scripted ceremony in front of watchful eyes (even if some were more voyeuristic than celebratory).

In my time as a wedding photographer, I’ve captured all kinds of days for all kinds of couples. Two-person elopements, intimate weddings with a guest list of 30, enormous weddings with 150+ people, and everything in between. 

Every luxury elopement looks and feels different for each couple. And truthfully–that’s kind of the point. Luxury elopements do not fit in a singular box–they make you and your partner feel alive, in love, and understood. 

They are a collection of moments that are all yours. Unfolding precisely in ways that make you feel simultaneously bursting with joy and grounded in peace. They are for you and your partner to feel aligned, celebrated, and overcome with love.

What’s the first thing that floods your mind when you hear the word micro wedding? As a luxury elopement and micro wedding photographer who’s spent the last several years documenting these celebrations, I’ve come to realize that there’s some confusion surrounding microweddings.

For a moment, close your eyes and drift softly into your imagination. Try to picture this: A long, wooden wedding table somewhere in a wooded forest, all your favorite flowers whimsically draped in every direction like something out of a fairytale you read as a child.

For all the soon-to-be-married couples out there, I have one blunt but important thing to say: No matter how you choose to get married, remember that you control the guest list. 

On your wedding day, whether you’re opting for a larger destination wedding venue with a handful of loved ones or a smaller but luxurious venue with just a few close folks by your side, it’s important that everyone who’s with you is just that–with you.