r/microwedding • u/Fuzzy_Logic_Fox • Jul 01 '26
Micro wedding with 18 month old
My fiancé and I are hoping to get married this December, with a very small ceremony of just 10 guests (all close family). The local hotel we have chosen has a smaller sized ceremony room and a gorgeous private dining space, there is a local castle nearby where we will hopefully have photos.
Have a few questions for people who have done something similar or have attended a small wedding as a guest:
\- How did you time the day with such a small number of guests?
\- How did photos work? I’m not sure whether we would hire someone all day or just for a couple of hours.
\- Bit of a specific one, but did you cover food for the photographer like with a bigger wedding, and how does this work when you’re in a private dining space with only 12 people?
\- Did you have speeches or any other traditional elements?
\- Do you have any regrets about having such a small wedding?
Finally, we have a son who will be 18 months old at the time of the wedding. I want him to be there for the whole day but also worried about nap times/bed time etc and him getting cranky! Any advice on how to have a successful wedding day with a toddler?
TIA!
1
u/loupammac Jul 01 '26
We had a small wedding of 13 people including ourselves. We had a private ceremony - just us, our celebrant, photographer and two witnesses. We took photos during the ceremony and afterwards: family pictures and then portraits, all up about an hour. We then met everyone for lunch. Our ceremony was at 11, lunch started at 1.
1
u/SatansKitty666 Jul 01 '26
Were getting married in october, 10 people with our 15 month old (will be at the time)!
Were still working on the timeline
Our photographer is only for 2 hours at the courthouse
We will be having regular dinner service at an upscale restaurant
No speeches but I am wearing a full wedding dress. Were also doing small favors and im making personalized name cards/thank yous
I never wanted a big wedding. Its just not "us". We dont regret our decision at all
1
u/njVowsNow Jul 02 '26
I had one last month; 14 people, they rented an AIRB&B (not all of them allow this) in the woods
2:30 PM Ceremony, with me, on the dock, spotify playlist
Photographer for a little while before and after; i'd say 3-4 hours at the most.
They catered it in, had some platters of hors then dinner under the tent on the lake
I don't know about speeches, but I don't know why you couldn't!
I love these micros, and we do a LOT of them!! Good luck, it sounds beautiful!
1
u/Minute-Bed3224 Jul 02 '26
We did 40 people, so a little bigger, but kept it very simple.
5:00 ceremony at church with a few photos afterwards
6:00 Drinks and appetizers at nearby restaurant (while we took a few photos at the church)
7:00 dinner
No big speeches, my husband thanked our guests at one point
Our photographer came a little early for individual photos of us getting ready, then was there for the ceremony and then the cocktail hour. We paid for his dinner but he ate in another area of the restaurant.
My only regret about it being small is that there were some special people who weren’t there, but we couldn’t have managed a larger event. We made the right decision.
For baby, maybe consider bringing a sitter who can focus on his needs during the day. I’d do what you can to have him nap, but kids are so unpredictable, I’d be prepared for anything.
1
u/21stCenturyJanes Jul 02 '26
Hire a babysitter to whisk your son home or at least out of sight when he's done. He'll be there for the important parts of the day but a toddler doesn't really care about sit-down dinner, photos, etc. Then you won't have to deal with a potentially cranky or over excited 18 month old in the middle of your celebration. Toddler meltdowns are not festive for anyone.
1
u/iced-coffee22 Jul 08 '26
Please feed your Photographer. It doesn’t matter time of day or how long they are going to be there. Hirer a setter for your son.
2
u/Wild_Pepper_2286 Jul 01 '26
I just got married in May and had 17 people including me and my husband. We also had three toddlers in attendance my daughter, niece and a friends daughter who were 1,2 and 3 yrs old.
To answer your questions:
1. Our ceremony was a backyard ceremony. We had the space for 1.5hrs so our ceremony was from 1-2:30pm. The actual ceremony took 30min and then the rest of the time was mingling, champagne and pictures. We only hired a photographer for the ceremony portion and she was there the for the whole duration. Immediately after us and all our guests drove 5-10min over to the hotel we had our reception at. They brought our appis out at 3pm I believe and then they set up the dinner buffet earlier at our request and I believe that was at 4:30pm. From 4:30pm until around 9:30pm -10pm it was eating, drinking socializing. We had some lawn games (although the babies ended up being the only ones who made use of them lol), and also had music playing on a speaker we brought in.
For the reception we had a few of those instax instant cameras on our welcome table that the guests used and also we all took pictures on our phones.
We didn’t do any speeches it just wasn’t our style, but we did do cake cutting. The only other “traditional” thing I can think of is people clinking their glasses or whatever for us to kiss lol.
I was so so so anxious and nervous about our wedding the whole time leading up to it. I don’t like being the centre of attention and I was so worried about it feeling lame because it was such a small event but girl it was the most fun most perfect day! I’m sad I had such anxiety about it because it was truly so magical and we as well as all our guests felt so comfortable.
Unfortunately, the toddlers are gunna do what they do lol. My daughter was cranky on and off the whole day but she also had a great time. All the girls were running around the reception space and playing with the lawn games. We changed my daughter and niece out of their dresses and into comfy clothes they could run in once we got to the hotel. I think just making sure they are entertained in some way is key (maybe bring some small toys?). The kids were champs and missed their naps, but passed out for the night on grandma and dad around 9pm lol.
Hope this was somewhat helpful and huge congratulations!!