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.
A seaside picnic of gourmet food, expertly spread out over a blanket nestled in the soft grass and wildflowers. Your partner reaches over you to grab their favorite snack–you can’t stop smiling.
A joy-filled, sun-soaked day soaring through the sky in a float plane, watching the landscapes change below you. You hop onto the dock–just a few barefoot steps away from your guests and a private chef’s gourmet dinner, slices of too-beautiful-to-eat wedding cake, and your favorite wine that’s already been decanted.
These aren’t images I created in my head–they’re beautiful snippets of real moments in time. They’re real weddings, real couples, and real experiences that each couple embraced on their wedding day.
And though every single small wedding or luxe elopement was different, they each had something in common–they all hired creative micro wedding vendors for their weddings.
Pictured: A May elopement on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Flowers by The Pua Bar and hair and makeup by Meghan Daul Beauty.
Micro Wedding Vendors: What Every Couple Should Know
There’s a common misconception in the intimate wedding world that vendors aren’t a part of a wedding day if it’s smaller than a “traditional wedding.”
In my years of experience as an intimate wedding photographer who has captured weddings of all sizes, I can honestly say that almost any wedding–especially a small, intentional wedding–can benefit beautifully from the right team of wedding vendors.
If you’re in the process of dreaming up the vision of your wedding–a day that you want to get lost inside, letting it swallow you up in the best way–I highly recommend considering creative vendors.
Are you unsure how vendors can contribute to your wedding day or what kind of vendors you should consider hiring?
I encourage you to keep reading; I’ll cover it all for you.
Pictured: An intimate picnic on the Oregon Coast to celebrate their elopement. Catering by The Culinary Concierge.
How Hiring Vendors Can Elevate Your Micro Wedding Experience
Before I dive headfirst into my go-to list of vendors for microweddings and luxe elopements, I think it’s important to paint the picture for you.
Creative vendors–especially those who adore working with couples seeking intentional details and stunning venues–can bring so much to your wedding day. Here’s what I mean.
Your Ideas and Their Expertise Bring Your Vision to Life
The beautiful details you’ve been picturing? A team of creative wedding vendors can take those plans and execute them seamlessly. But more than that, they can build on them–helping you develop a vision that truly blooms to life with their help.
Micro wedding vendors are experts in their field–they’ve got experience, know-how, and plenty of creativity to be the architects of your wedding day. The right vendors know how to take your vision and elevate it, delivering more than just the look and style you’re chasing but the big, beautiful feelings of your day, too.
Stress-Free & Seamless Experience
Even micro weddings or luxe elopements have a lot of moving parts. On your wedding day, you deserve to have the experience you’re chasing–and you deserve to have it without the added stress of making sure every detail is taken care of.
The more thoughtful details and unique-to-you elements you plan on having at your wedding (and there are truly no limits, this is your day), the more experienced helping hands can benefit you.
Picture the vision of your wedding coming to life without an ounce of stress, without having to handle the execution.
Imagine showing up to the best day of your life without a single worry or task to cloud your experience.
That’s what having a team of incredible micro wedding vendors is like.
Your Main Priority: Absorb the Beauty of the Day
You and your partner are getting married. There will be plenty of the best days of your lives together, and I fully believe this should be one of them.
When you hire creative micro wedding vendors to help you craft and execute your day, you’re hiring experts in the service industry. It might sound silly to think of wedding vendors this way, but these professionals are in the service industry–and they’re here to ensure you have the best experience possible.
Think about how much more incredible a delicious meal is when the service at the restaurant is friendly and attentive. Think about the last luxury resort you stayed at. Did the experts who worked there anticipate your needs? Provide you with extra details that enhanced your experience? Had your favorite beverages and snacks available for you?
Service professionals–like creative micro wedding vendors–are there to ensure you can soak in each moment of your irreplicable day. They’re dedicated to ensuring your day unfolds seamlessly and beautifully around you.
Pictured: A micro wedding in the desert of Utah at Amangiri. Planned by Kailoha Co Events, flowers by Terra Floral Design, rentals from AR Event Designs and Anna Grace Ceramics, and cake by Lustr Creative.
Which Vendors to Consider Hiring for Your Intimate Wedding
The Must-Consider List of Luxury Elopement & Micro Wedding Vendors
- Wedding Planners
- Wedding Coordinators
- Designers & Stylists
- Floral Designers
- Catering & Private Chefs
- Hair & Makeup Artists
- Intimate Wedding Photographers
- Micro Wedding Videographers
- Wedding Content Creators
- DJs & Bands
- Transportation Specialists
Wedding Planners
A wedding planner is a vendor commonly used in large, traditional weddings with many moving pieces. But truthfully, a planner is the magical component for any wedding–no matter the size. Planners are usually brought into the mix at the very beginning of the planning process.
Planners are truly the architects of your entire wedding. They’re there to build out the entire wedding experience–they’ll hire vendors, research travel, find your venue, track your budget, manage your guests, send out invitations, monitor RSVPs, and about 1 million other little details.
As a photographer, I highly recommend couples hire a creative wedding planner who aligns with their vision. This ensures that every moment of their wedding is crafted with intention without the need for them to take a hands-on role in planning every detail.
Planners I adore & admire
The Greatest Adventure Weddings
Wedding Coordinators
A wedding coordinator is a different vendor entirely than a planner, though they often work hand-in-hand. A coordinator is there on your day to execute everything the planner detailed. They’re typically brought in a few months before your wedding (sometimes by your planner).
They’ll finalize your timeline, send it to all of your vendors, manage all vendor questions, handle final payments, and ensure the day of runs smoothly.
A coordinator is a great choice for couples who might not hire a planner but want a professional with them to work with vendors and coordinate on the day of their micro wedding.
Designers & Stylists
These creative vendors are responsible for the overall look and feel of the day. The visual aesthetic, the design, the decor concept, and how those themes are threaded seamlessly together throughout the venue. If there’s a visual and emotive element to it, a wedding designer or stylist usually has their hands all over it. Often, micro wedding planners also double as designers–but this isn’t always the case.
Typically, they work hand-in-hand with your florists, light technicians, photographers, and videographers to craft an experience through the look and feel of your wedding.
Smaller weddings can benefit beautifully from stylists and designers. Nothing beats the feeling of walking into your wedding venue and seeing the concept you’ve imagined. And truthfully? When you hire a designer or stylist, it’s usually so much better than you could have dreamed. These creative visionaries know how to take your ideas and run with them, artfully piecing them all together without you or your loved ones having to tackle the logistics.
Pictured: A June micro wedding at Hania Center in Bend Oregon. Wedding management by Ponderosa Planning, Flowers by Eryn, and hair and makeup by Bri Berliner.
Floral Designers
Florists are a traditional must for weddings of every size. I’ll just say it–a professional florist is an artist and will beat out a Trader Joe’s bouquet or a Costco arrangement every time. Here’s what I mean. Professional floral designers often know how to get their hands on unique blooms, even growing themselves or sourcing them locally.
To a floral designer, it’s about the art of it all–the color palette, the texture, the shape. They know how to take your vision and bring it to new levels, bringing something visually captivating to life while tying the entire feeling of your wedding together.
Floral designers can masterfully create bouquets and boutonnieres, but they’re also floral architects who can build floral installations, tablescapes, and arrangements from your wildest dreams.
More than that, they handle transportation and setup of everything–that means you could truly show up on your wedding day to a venue overflowing with whimsical flowers without having to lift a finger.
Are flowers not particularly high on your list? Floral designers do so much more than create floral arrangements–they can also incorporate stunning visuals like produce, natural grasses, herbs, vegetables, and more.
Florists are true artists–whatever your vision is, they can create something stunning.
Florists I adore & admire
Pictured: An April micro wedding on private property in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Event design & florals by The Slow Cult, rentals from Arden Event Collective and Lily & Cane, and catering by Miere Catering.
Catering & Private Chefs
Personally, I’m a foodie. In my eyes, I believe most good things in life can all be traced back to the perfect bite of something truly delicious. If this sounds like you and your partner, why wouldn’t this be a big, beautiful piece of your wedding day?
A caterer or a private chef can take your vision of delicious, mouth-watering food and bring it to life. You can forget that old trope of rubber chicken and buffet-style food to feed the masses. This kind of gourmet cooking opens up the culinary door for creativity, experimental cuisine, and a menu that’s true to what you and your partner love.
But it’s about more than just the moment you dive in to enjoy something delicious.
They say smells and tastes are tied to our brain’s memory–that a certain whiff of something or a sparkle on our taste buds can bring memories flooding back to us.
Can you imagine how it would feel for the beauty of your wedding day to come rushing back to you–a feeling that hits you like you’re there in the moment–when you smell or taste a delicious meal?
To me, that’s such a powerful and emotional feeling. And I think it deserves to be something completely delicious.
Caterers & bakeries I adore & admire:
Pictured: Alyssa Underwood working her magic on two different Oregon brides.
Hair & Makeup Artists
These gifted artists can put together the look you’ve dreamed about–and the process is effortless.
They’re professionals, so they know how to help you achieve that beautiful look you’re chasing. They’ll help you ensure every hair stays in place no matter the weather, the emotions, or the activities. That makeup look you’re chasing (but don’t want to learn how to recreate)? They can do it in their sleep–and you can sit back and relax the entire way.
These pros know how to come in, work their magic, and get it all done like clockwork. They’re efficient, but more than anything, they’re breaths of fresh air. They bring certainty and peace of mind to you, lifting the burden of accomplishing that one-of-a-kind look you’re after from your shoulders.
Hair & makeup artists I adore:
Alyssa Underwood Makeup Artistry
Micro-Wedding Photographer
Your wedding should be so magical that you’re aching for time to slow down as you experience it. There’s no magic way to freeze time just yet, but until we accomplish it, I truly believe that wedding photographers can help you tap back into the magic of those moments.
A micro-wedding photographer will help you document every moment of your day–from the blissful in-betweens that pass by in the blink of an eye to the big, meaningful moments. Photographers don’t just document your day; they freeze it in time–giving you the gift of visiting those moments (and those feelings) over and over again.
For Micro-Wedding + Elopement Photography:
I specialize in documenting intimate events on both film and digital. Inquire for full investment guide.
Intimate Wedding Videographer
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again–this day only happens once. Your photographer can capture beautiful stills of those moments, but there’s something so special about seeing your day unfold all over again in front of your eyes. Watching it all on video, hearing your partner’s vows on the day–it’s a direct way to transport yourself right back there, experiencing it all again.
A professional videographer will work seamlessly beside your photographer (and the rest of your vendor team) to capture your day and document each moment without interfering with how you experience your wedding day.
Videographers I adore:
Wedding Content Creators
These kinds of micro wedding vendors are relatively new in the wedding world, but they’re professionals I highly recommend. Wedding content creators are there with you on your wedding day, capturing every moment–all the curated ones, the raw emotional ones, and everything in between–on their phones.
Content creators capture everything that happens as it unfolds so you can relive the moments as realistically and beautifully as they happened–over and over again. Your photographer and your videographer will document your day in beautiful ways, but these things take time to get back. They’ll edit and refine so that your delivered product is stunning–something you’ll display and relive every time you see it.
It might sound silly to have someone there on their iPhone capturing it all. But until you experience the rush of receiving a folder full of videos and photos the day after you get married, you might not understand.
And these aren’t just the same videos as your videographer captures. They’re moments you may not have even seen–the silly, raw, in-between moments you might have missed.
Content creators help you and your guests embrace and enjoy the moment, peacefully knowing that not a moment will be missed. The role of instant documentation can swiftly be taken from your loved ones’ hands by a content creator–they can experience and enjoy it all, too.
For Content Creation:
I offer this service as an add on to all couples that hire me for my photography services. Inquire for full investment guide.
DJs & Bands
Choosing a small, intentional wedding does not mean your day can’t be a party. Take the pressure off of creating a playlist everyone will enjoy and hire a DJ or live band to create the ambiance for your wedding.
No matter what you’re looking for–fun music to dance to, strings for an otherworldly feel, or something in between–there are vendors out there who can professionally curate the feeling you’re seeking through music.
Pictured: A helicopter elopement in Alaska with Alaska Glacier Lodge. A bride on her wedding day on the float of a seaplane with Kenmore Air. A couple celebrating their elopement ceremony with a ride on a motorcycle with Kauai Motorsports.
Transportation Specialists
Drivers, guides, pilots, captains–every specialist will be different depending on what your venue and vision look and feel like.
From experience, I’ll say that hiring transportation specialists to help you and your guests get from point A to point B is always a seamless way to experience an event.
Removing the stress of transport is one of those “wish someone had told me sooner” things–it really can change the way your entire wedding feels and unfolds.
Transportation specialists I adore:
Pictured: A micro wedding in the Columbia River Gorge during peak spring wildflower season. Event design & florals by The Slow Cult and hair and makeup by Alyssa Underwood.
Your Wedding Day Belongs to You– Vendors Can Bring Your Vision to Life
Nothing quite compares to the bliss of experiencing your day without worries, stress, or logistics. That’s that magic of creative wedding vendors–we know how to elevate and add to your wedding without interfering or interrupting.
That once-in-a-lifetime feeling you’re seeking? The aesthetic you’ve dreamed of? The moments you want to remember forever? Micro wedding vendors can help create and build all of those things–and often, they make them better than you ever imagined.
As your intimate wedding photographer, I’m here to work alongside your curated vendor team, creating the feeling and experience you’re chasing.
