Micro weddings have a way of making a wedding day feel less like a production and more like the best weekend with your favorite people. Instead of trying to fit every traditional wedding element into the day, couples can focus on what actually matters to them — good food, an amazing location, time together, and being surrounded by the people they genuinely want there.
Kate and Nathan’s Shelter Cove wedding is such a good example. Their original guest list was over 120 people, but after getting engaged during COVID, they started rethinking what they actually wanted their wedding to feel like. They eventually landed on 30 guests, rented out an entire inn, DIYed much of the decor, cooked their rehearsal dinner, and spent the weekend actually hanging out with their favorite people. Basically, they figured out what mattered to them and built the wedding around that.
The Guest List Question That Made It Easy
When Kate and Nathan started cutting down their guest list, they came up with one very simple rule: “Will we actually be sad if that person doesn’t come to our wedding?”
That question made narrowing down their 120+ person list surprisingly easy. Once they got into the mindset of a micro wedding, they invited the people they actually talked to, saw, and wanted by their side. The result was a 30-person guest list filled with people who had traveled from California, Illinois, and Wisconsin to celebrate with them.
And honestly? That’s one of the best things about going small. You get to spend the day with your actual people instead of spending half the reception trying to make the rounds.
Forget the Wedding Timeline
Kate and Nathan weren’t interested in spending their wedding day rushing from one scheduled moment to the next. They flipped the traditional timeline a bit, having their first dance before dinner and then joining everyone during cocktail hour.
They also kept the ceremony short and personal, with Kate’s father-in-law officiating and the couple placing their vows and a bottle of wine into a box to open together on their anniversary. They even made time to sneak upstairs during cocktail hour, where they stood on the balcony overlooking their guests and took a minute to soak it all in.
That’s the kind of thing a smaller guest list makes possible — you actually have time to experience your wedding instead of just getting through it.
Yes, You Can Cook Your Wedding Dinner
One of our favorite parts of Kate and Nathan’s weekend happened before the wedding even started. The night before, they cooked their rehearsal dinner themselves for everyone who was already in town.
They made different pastas, salads, and breads, opened bottles of local California wine, and spent the evening together at the inn. No formal rehearsal dinner production — just everyone hanging out, eating good food, and getting excited for the next day.
It’s such a perfect example of how micro weddings give you permission to make the wedding weekend feel like you. If cooking dinner for your favorite people sounds more fun than booking a fancy rehearsal dinner, do that.
Make the Location Part of the Wedding
Kate had always dreamed of getting married near a black sand beach, so Shelter Cove was pretty much the perfect fit. The couple rented out the entire Castle Inn of the Lost Coast, giving their closest friends and family a place to stay together for the weekend.
The ceremony took place on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with the landscape doing most of the decorating. After the reception, everyone gathered in the lounge to stargaze — and because the area was so dark, they could actually see the Milky Way.
That’s the beauty of a destination micro wedding: the location can become part of the experience. Instead of just booking a venue for six hours, you can build an entire weekend around a place that feels meaningful.
Jennie LaVanchy is a former micro wedding bride, and she now supports countless couples in planning their own intimate celebrations through her blog, featuring real micro wedding stories and a curated vendor directory. Her practical advice and firsthand experience make her a go-to resource for those seeking to create memorable and meaningful micro weddings.
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