A wedding is a special day for which you need to carefully prepare. Huge expenses are always associated with this event, so many try to save money. The easiest way to reduce financial costs is to reduce the number of guests.
To make a wedding memorable, it is not at all necessary to invite all your friends and strangers. It’s enough to just hold a family holiday, where only your closest and dearest people will be. And to make the celebration special, it is worth including in the program original competitions for a small wedding, which are a must-have entertainment for guests.
Organization rules
In order for everything to go well and the event to leave only the most pleasant impressions, it is necessary to take into account some nuances.
If the newlyweds decide to do without a professional toastmaster, it is worth finding a relative or several who can replace the leader of the feast. These people should be responsible for such responsibilities as decorating the hall, preparing competitions and choosing musical accompaniment. When planning an event, you need to take into account that the ages of the guests will be different, and everyone will want to take part in the fun. Therefore, competitions should be varied .
Important! The competition program should be designed not only for guests.
Newlyweds must participate in at least a third of all events. However, not in all of them, otherwise they will be tired long before the end of the evening, and their own wedding will not be a joy. When discussing a wedding and developing a competition program, it is necessary to take into account the number of guests. If there are a lot of invitees, you should choose competitions where you can participate in teams. Moreover, do not forget about the amount of free space. If it is limited, excessively mobile and active trials should not be included in the scenario.
First, you should take care of the decor of the room and organize a place where the fun will take place. You should immediately prepare props for competitions. Among other things, the person in charge must deal with the banquet - menu, seating arrangements, etc.
The organizer of the celebration must take into account that a small wedding indicates the desire of the bride and groom to save money and simply have a pleasant time with loved ones. Therefore, you should not spend money on expensive props. Competitions should be interesting and fun, but not vulgar or intrusive. After them, the participants should be in a better mood, even if they lose.
Also, correctly selected music always adds positivity. It is needed not only for dancing and a good mood, but also for competitions that will be more interesting with musical accompaniment.
Guest list
A wedding is called small if your guest list is barely 20 people. Obviously, these are the people closest to you and you want to share your joy with them. And it is also obvious that some of your not very close relatives, university friends and just friends will be offended if they do not receive an invitation to the wedding. Be prepared for the fact that your parents will begin to persuade you to expand the scope of the celebration, because “a feast for the whole world” 20 years ago was considered an indicator of the cordiality and well-being of the family. It’s great that today newlyweds think first of all about their own comfort, and not about outside opinions!
For a small wedding with a short list of guests, we suggest you make wedding invitations with your own hands: such a handmade one, beautifully signed in your handwriting, will be a pleasant surprise for your guests and will be preserved as a memory.
Be sure to let your guests know about the format of your wedding. Specify how important the presence of each invited relative and friend is to you. After all, if 10 out of 100 people cannot attend a wedding, it will hardly be noticeable. And if 5 of your 15 guests are absent, this will definitely affect your mood.
Wedding planner tip: The fewer people, the shorter the reception. At a small wedding, the feast lasts up to 4 hours. Calculation of food and alcohol: 1 kg per adult, 0.5 liters of strong and 1 liter of light alcohol per person.
Interesting for a small company
You can come up with a lot of different things to entertain your guests. However, when it comes to a modest event, most likely, the space for entertainment will be limited. Therefore, you should choose a competition program that can be easily implemented even on a few square meters.
Clothespins
There is no need to worry about props for this competition, as all you need to do is stock up on a couple of packs of colored clothespins. 2-4 couples take part in the competition. The men are given the same number of clothespins. The women's task will be to remove them as quickly as possible. Music plays during the competition. She stops when the first pair completes the task.
Kisses
During the wedding celebration, neither the guests nor the newlyweds should be bored. Therefore, it is imperative to prepare competitions for the bride and groom. One of them may be the “Kissing” competition.
The main participant here will be the bride. She is blindfolded with a scarf. She is then kissed on the cheek. She must guess when exactly her husband will kiss her. This is not just a competition, but a practical joke, since every time the husband will leave kisses on the girl’s cheek.
Change the diaper
You can hold a competition for men present of any age and marital status. 4-6 people can participate simultaneously. The participation of a newly-made husband is not prohibited. Everyone is given a toy baby doll and one diaper. The participants' task will be to put it on correctly. A team of women can monitor the speed and quality of task completion.
Advice! It is desirable that these are representatives of the fair sex who already have children.
Swaddle the baby
You can hold another competition with baby dolls in diapers, but this time for women. Their task will be to swaddle the babies in a diaper, and then tie a beautiful bow on top. The audience can evaluate the quality of the task through applause.
the Forbidden fruit
This competition does not require a large amount of free space or expensive props, so it fully meets the requirements of a small and economical wedding. It will require 3-4 pairs of participants. Their task will be to eat an apple that is suspended on a thread.
Fruits can be hung on partitions, if there are any in the room, or you can simply ask distinguished guests to hold the threads. There will be one pair for one apple. Whoever completes the task faster wins. This competition is interesting and fun, but it must be supplemented with high-quality musical accompaniment.
Candy trap
This table wedding competition for a small company will only require the organizer to purchase a couple of kilograms of sweets. All participants take turns taking as many candies from the bag as they want. The catch is that most will try to grab more sweets.
But after everyone has sweets in their hands, the host announces that for each sweet the participant must tell something interesting about the groom or the bride. This competition will allow two families to become much closer.
Mummy
Even if the space for celebration is quite small, you should not refuse dynamic competitions, for which a couple of square meters are enough. “The Mummy” could be such a competition. This is a well-known fun with using toilet paper.
There must be an even number of participants so that they can be divided into pairs. The men stand motionless while the women wrap toilet paper around them from head to toe. At the same time, you need to complete the task quickly and efficiently. The organizer will only need 3-4 rolls of paper , which is not divided by a tear line to make wrapping more convenient, as well as excellent musical accompaniment.
Pros of a chamber wedding:
The main advantage of a chamber wedding is the atmosphere of comfort and intimacy, which is often impossible at a magnificent celebration. Next to you on this day will be your favorite people who are sincerely happy for you, with whom you can relax and be yourself.
A wedding for 20 and 100 guests with the same budget means celebrations of completely different levels: in the first case, you will have the opportunity to invest in high-quality floristry, exclusive decor, individual table settings, and professional contractors.
@nensyphoto, @katarinagrey
A chamber wedding implies freedom to choose concepts, styles and venues, and simplifies logistics if you dream of a non-standard celebration, for example, a ceremony in the forest. And, of course, if your plans are to have a wedding abroad, a small guest list will be the best solution both financially and organizationally.
Who can be a toastmaster?
If the bride and groom are planning to save money and do not want to have a lavish wedding, then there is no point in inviting a professional toastmaster. An active relative can handle a couple of dozen guests. In every family there is an organizer who can say a good toast and hold an interesting competition.
Important! You shouldn’t put everything on the shoulders of one person. Organizing a wedding will be flawless if we act together. One can handle the banquet, another can prepare competitions and props, and relatives with artistic talent can decorate the room.
The organization of a wedding also includes such events as the first dance of the newlyweds, presentation of gifts, fundraising, etc. All these points should be taken into account by the person who will be the main coordinator of the wedding. Therefore, you should entrust this important role only to the most responsible relative or loved one.
Who is it suitable for?
This wedding format is suitable for you if:
— you and your fiancé are not fans of noisy parties and quickly get tired of large crowds of people;
- you want to share this day only with your closest people;
— it is important for you that every guest at the holiday feels your care and attention;
— you want to have an informal wedding and move away from the classic program;
— the quality of every detail of the holiday is important to you: by reducing the cost of a banquet, you can pay more attention to the quality of decor, entertainment and menu.
@briandsmithphotography
Without toastmaster
Even if the bride and groom do not want to organize a magnificent event for their wedding, there should be at least some entertainment. Many modern weddings do without a banquet or feast at all. But even here you can include several competitions in the program.
A wedding celebration is not complete without a bride price. And here you can hold several interesting competitions for which you don’t need a toastmaster. All you need to do is cut out the feet from paper. On one side write questions that concern the bride. And spread your feet on the steps. The groom must climb the stairs while answering questions. If he finds it difficult to answer, he will have to pay.
There are many wedding competitions at the table for a small company that do not require a professional host. In the middle of the evening, when the guests are already urgently demanding fun, you can sing, but in the form of a competition. For example, the male part of the guests sings any line from a song, and the female part responds with a line from another piece of music. For example: “Well, where are you girls?” - “We are going to the emerald city along a difficult road...”, etc.
Without a toastmaster, you can also hold art competitions. All you need is a few markers, sheets of paper and bandages, as participants will draw with their eyes closed. The tasks can be anything, for example, you can draw a bride and groom. The competition is judged by the applause of the audience.
Attention! When organizing a wedding celebration, you should carefully consider the entire program. It is advisable to stock up on props in such quantities that there is enough for everyone to participate in competitions. Don't forget that winners need prizes. These don't have to be expensive gifts. You can even get by with commemorative paper medals. The main thing is that the participants’ mood improves after each competition.
An organizer without experience in holding such events should learn several important rules:
- First of all, in no case should you invite a person to participate in the competition who categorically refuses to do so;
- There is no need to organize long competitions that require a lot of effort;
- One test should take no more than 15 minutes;
- There should always be a long pause between competitions.
Where to spend
As we said above, one of the advantages of a wedding without guests is the fact that it can be held almost anywhere, for example, in the warm season it is wonderful to organize a family picnic in nature (read how to organize such a banquet in our special material on this topic ), for this purpose:
- rented cottage outside the city;
- kebab shop;
- forest edge;
- a beautiful place near a pond;
- or even your own dacha.
In this case, the main thing to remember is that the weather can be unpredictable, so if it rains, you will need a roof over your head.
Advice. If you are planning an outdoor wedding, then a great idea would be to complement the event with an outdoor ceremony.
If the wedding is in the cool season, then, of course, it is better to go indoors; the most common option is a restaurant .
If you want some kind of entertainment program, then you can go to karaoke.
To make a truly family holiday, a home environment , it could be the apartment of the newly made spouses or the house of someone’s parents. On the one hand, this option will certainly save money, but on the other hand, it will require careful cleaning and cooking. Well, what to choose is, of course, up to the future newlyweds to decide.
Which decor to choose
At a small family dinner, it is better to prepare a long table for all guests and pay attention to stylish serving and printing. The decor of a chamber wedding is designed to create a warm and soulful atmosphere, so use a large number of candles, tactilely pleasant fabrics and natural materials in the design.
@luzhaika_decor
How to dress the bride and groom
A chamber wedding involves more informal images of the main characters of the holiday: instead of a fluffy dress, the bride can choose a light dress made of flowing fabric, a relaxed look or even a trouser suit, and the groom can abandon a tuxedo in favor of a smart-casual style. But here it is important to find a middle ground between an overly formal and overly simple outfit - the bride should not “get lost” against the background of her bridesmaids.
@jencmorton, @_tinamaria
How to create a menu
A chamber wedding allows you to pay attention to the quality rather than the quantity of dishes, choose good wine, and take into account the eating habits of the guests. A good solution for a wedding in the company of friends would be a buffet instead of a traditional banquet: the holiday will be more active, because the guests will not sit at tables all evening. This is a case where it may be more profitable and more logical to order catering rather than a restaurant.
@miss_angel_ann, @kstitova_calligraphy
Which place to choose
Unlike a classic wedding, you are not limited to banquet halls: the venue for your celebration can be a small cafe or studio. Look for restaurants with VIP rooms or country hotels with small houses: too spacious locations, such as lofts and common areas of restaurants, will not create the necessary intimate atmosphere. An intimate celebration can also be organized in a more unusual location: for example, hold a party in your favorite bar or have an eco-wedding in the forest.
@jacquemus
How to organize a ceremony
A small wedding is not a reason to refuse a beautiful ceremony. On the contrary, some newlyweds will be much more comfortable saying intimate vows in front of a small audience, so that the atmosphere will be more intimate and touching. Refuse to be too strict and formal: let your close friend conduct the ceremony, and let your pet carry out the rings. Yes, preparing such an event will take a little more time, but it will turn out to be truly unique.
@daniloandsharon
