Ways to Make Your Big Day Intentional: Turn it Into an Intimate Wedding
Blink, and you’ll miss it. If this is already true of your day-to-day life, then it’s even more accurate when it comes to your wedding day. The speed of these moments on such an important day feel like they go even faster. That’s why designing the day by your preferences is the best way to make it so beautifully intentional. One way to make this happen is through planning an intimate wedding.
A Small Wedding Can Be as Big as You Make It
Making your wedding day intimate doesn’t mean that you can’t make BIG choices. Your small wedding can even be on a constrained budget, and be just as much of a celebration as a more traditionally-sized wedding.
The only limits are your imagination. If that still feels restrictive, then that’s why you hire a small wedding photographer like me! It’s my job as a creative to think outside of the box and offer wedding photography package options and DIY wedding ideas. You can think big while planning small and still enjoy the day of your dreams.
Small Wedding Planning for a Day That Reflects You
This is the story of Jonny and Anna Heavner–my brother and his new wife. They decided to go for a big wedding in 2025 with a micro wedding beforehand at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Going the intimate wedding route was a last-minute choice that gave them a little over two months to put together their new plan.
I love stepping in at this phase and answering the many questions that bride’s like Anna have about how to plan a small wedding. She wanted to know what was needed, what should be prioritized, and how to get these small wedding ideas together in such a short time frame.
Thanks to Pinterest and the bride’s talent for making anything beautiful, she had a pretty good idea of how they wanted their day to look. I was completely on board to help make this wedding vision come to life!
How to Make Your Your Intimate Wedding Intentional
Jonny and Anna’s day, despite my sisterly bias, was the perfect example of a thoughtfully executed and intentionally planned intimate wedding. Photographing their day was an honor, a joy, and a bit of a distraction as I got emotional throughout their most memorable moments. These are some simple tips for building a day like this one that can be executed in the most intimate ways.
Small Bridal Party
If you are planning on having a low-key day full of intentional moments, it’s OK to have a smaller wedding party (or none at all!). This frees up so much of your planning and time during the day!
Jonny and Anna decided to go for an intimate wedding without a bridal party. Their day started instead with Anna getting ready at the home she was raised in surrounded by loved ones while Jonny had breakfast with his family. They also brought their stunning huskies Ava and Titan to the ceremony!
DIY an Intimate Wedding With The Help of Family & Friends
What’s great about utilizing DIY wedding elements is that you get to determine the level of involvement. These inclusions can be as few as DIY wedding favors for guests or as involved as creating every piece of your decor. Enjoy the freedom like these two did in choosing exactly the amount of DIY pieces that fit you.
Wedding arbor for their beach wedding ceremony was built by a family friend.
Groom’s dad held the honor of wedding officiant.
Bride’s dad fixed her dress throughout the ceremony.
Reception held in the backyard of the couple’s first home together.
Mexican meal (their favorite!) made by the bride's best friend.
Unique Spontaneous Wedding Moments
Instead of planning for unexpected stress, plan instead for a loose wedding event timeline that allows for spontaneous intimate wedding ideas like these two experienced:
Only family and close friends as their wedding guests.
Bride and groom had a silent moment of prayer together instead of a traditional unity ceremony.
Following the ceremony and portraits, the groom and his friends jump into the ocean together before returning for the reception!
Couple changed into their favorite matching hoodies during the reception.
My favorite idea was their cake-cutting replacement: cutting a steak instead! The newlyweds don't prefer sweets, but they love a good steak, especially when it’s prepared by Jonny’s best friend!
The day came to a close with the couple’s first dance under twinkle lights against a beautiful night sky surrounded by their loved ones (including me!).
My personal contribution to the day's wedding photos.
