What to Prioritize on Your Intimate Wedding Day
Every wedding day, every feeling, and every experience I’ve captured for soon-to-be-married couples has been beautifully unique.
But for as different as these days and experiences are, the best ones have all had something specific in common: for their day, the couple chose their priorities and unapologetically stuck to them.
In other words, the couples who experienced the best days–the ones they imagined and dreamed of–decided that what they prioritized needed to come first. And they made sure that it did.
If a blissful, aligned wedding day is what you and your love are looking for but you’re not quite sure how to make this happen, this blog is for you.
Pictured: A micro wedding reception in a serene backyard garden in the North Cascades, Washington.
Five Things Couples Should Focus on During Their Micro Wedding or Luxury Elopement
Prioritize Experiences That Are Important to You
Above all, focusing on what you both want to experience–what matters to you–should be your top priority. And the beautiful thing about this is that it can be anything that matters to you. Whether it fits into the appropriate “box” of the kind of day you’ve chosen.
Maybe it’s a first dance with your parent during your non-traditional, destination micro wedding in Hawaii. It could be an amazing decorated space filled with more florals than you can count, even though it’s just you and your partner eloping in luxury.
Whether it’s a freshly cooked lunch by a private chef in an Alaskan meadow overlooking a glacier or plenty of time for exchanging private vows just you and your love, even though you’ve invited your 20 closest people (like Whitney + Levi did)–make time for what matters most to you.
While you’re planning your wedding, sit down together and make a list. What are the experiences you want more than anything on your wedding day? Have that conversation, and write them down. Then focus all your energy on making those experiences and moments happen on your wedding day.
Pictured: Kenmore Air seaplane elopement in the San Juan Islands, Washington.
Intentional Time with Loved Ones
No matter who your loved ones are, dedicate the time to enjoying and soaking up every moment with them.
If you’re eloping just the two of you, it means appreciating every second as it passes, being as present as possible, and letting the day embrace you both. If you’ve included your most important people in your day, this means spending intentional time with them, too.
I encourage you to stop thinking about your wedding day as a blocked-off event–something that happens between 3 PM and 10 PM on a certain day.
Think about your wedding as a moment in time–something unrestricted by the hours of a day. You can spend hours or days celebrating your wedding and cherishing it with your people.
Start considering how you can maximize these moments with your loved ones who have chosen to stand here with you, embrace you, and hold you both up in celebration. How can you spend more intentional time with every chosen person you’ve included in your day?
Pictured: An intimate wedding in Moab Utah at sunset.
Visuals That Contribute to How Your Day Feels
Whether you’re able to put the words to it or not, when you shut your eyes and picture your day, there’s something to it. Something looks or feels a certain way, even if you don’t have the vocabulary to put to the visuals.
Maybe it’s an stunning backdrop–a view of the mountains you both love. Perhaps it’s a tablescape carefully designed to include your favorite florals, plants, and herbs. Or maybe it’s just a feeling–a rush of wonder and awe as you look out over your venue, perfectly arranged like the inspiration pictures you’ve dotted a Pinterest board with.
Giving value to these visuals matters.
It’s never just about aesthetics–something looking a certain way for the sake of it. It’s about the feeling that’s layered behind it. The visuals of your day–whether it’s florals, a dress you’ve always dreamed of, or a venue in the back of your mind–help build and support those feelings you’re chasing.
Lean into embracing that you want your day to look and feel a certain way–give that desire credence and place in your planning.
Pictured: Details from a spring micro wedding in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Florals + Design by The Slow Cult.
Eliminating Stressful Elements
What contributes to stress is different for every person and couple. Being honest with yourselves about what might–or what will–cause stress or discomfort in your day is the first step to eliminating those issues.
The second step? Committing to minimizing and eliminating those issues. I wholeheartedly encourage you to treat your wedding day like your honeymoon.
How many times have you heard someone say the stress of their wedding made them wish it was over? Or “We can’t wait to go on our honeymoon to relax–we’re exhausted with planning.”ˆ
If only we could all shift that mindset.
If we could encourage every couple to treat their wedding like they treated their honeymoon–to eliminate the stress and focus on the bliss–this narrative could disappear.
Delegate. Hire creative wedding vendors to solve and resolve stressful elements. Focus your budget on what actually matters to you. Only invite your closest people who are going to support and celebrate you every step of the way.
Pictured: Couple wandering amongst ferns and beneath towering redwood trees on their elopement day.
Documentation of Your Moments & Feelings
Think of the time you’ve spent planning and imagining this day–this once-in-your-lifetime experience that you’ve thought about over and over.
Believe me when I say this day is going to fly–like only the best things in life do. Before you know it, every tiny moment you swore to remember becomes a little fuzzier around the edges. The things you thought were stuck in your mind slowly fade a bit, becoming a little darker in the corners.
It’s so good, and it’s over so fast.
But I want you to remember it. I want you to have something that takes you back there, resharpens those edges, and brightens those corners. I want you to have something that transports you into those feelings, those moments again–forever.
Micro-wedding photography, videography, and even wedding content creators can help you with this by documenting your moments and sealing them in time forever.
At the end of your wedding day–all you have is your memories, your feelings, and your photos. Those photos deserve to be captured forever, feelings transport you back to all the elements of your day.
If you’re ready to choose a micro wedding photographer who can capture your day as authentically and beautifully as you deserve, I’m ready to be there for every moment.
