Planning a Micro Wedding

Of the many challenges brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic—with CDC guidelines imposing limits on the size of gatherings and recommending social distancing between those gatherers—weddings, and how we know to celebrate them, have changed.

This New York City wedding season, couples were challenged with the task of reimagining their large, traditional weddings, opting for smaller, safer celebrations instead. This reimagining often meant pivoting their guest list, venue considerations, food and beverage service, and decor away from their planned celebration, to one more closely resembling a micro wedding celebration.

What is a Micro Wedding?

Micro weddings are small, intimate celebrations with a short guest list and a simplified wedding day schedule. Often, the event features a condensed ceremony and a relaxed atmosphere, stemming naturally from the closeness of all who are sharing in the moment together. From the intimacy and simplified timeline, Micro weddings can be more flexible and creative, making for a unique, memorable celebration for the couple and their guests. With this big shift, couples cut their guest list to 50 or fewer attendants and had to simultaneously consider spaces large enough to accommodate safe distancing and how to fill those large or outdoor spaces with decor. Read more about how to have a COVID-considerate wedding here.

But, despite making what felt like endless concessions on their big day, many couples reported unexpected upsides to opting for micro wedding celebrations. By reducing the number of people attending to only those most important to them, couples experienced greater intimacy and presentness for themselves and their guests.

Additionally, in needing to fill their large or outdoor spaces with decor, couples were able to get more expressive and personal with their wedding ceremony and reception styling.

Add Personal Touches to Your Micro Wedding Decor

At Julia Testa, we were able to experience and help facilitate this expressive, personalized styling, first hand. With every venue acting like a big, blank canvas and each couples’ unique love story serving as our muse, we used flower installations and floral decor to create both intimacy and grandeur in our client’s wedding day spaces.

Inspired by the couples with which we work, we helped curate pop up wedding ceremonies and receptions that featured dramatic arches, elegant aisle decor, and photography-ready bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages—because we think there’s wedding day magic in the floral details, no matter the size of the celebration.

This season, couples explored more than traditional floral installations, finding other unique ways to incorporate Julia Testa's flower designs into their micro wedding decor. Reception areas featured large floral walls with personalized neon signage, and natural or dramatic photo areas built for the guests and bridal party to enjoy.

How to Have a Micro Wedding

This summer, the Julia Testa team worked with a distressed bride and groom who were scrambling to transform their plans for a large ceremony and reception into a small, intimate micro wedding celebration. In cutting their guest list to a fraction of its size, and completely reimagining their big day, they felt like they’d have to sacrifice much of the magic their dream wedding had promised.

But, in reality, the day turned out to be better than they could have even imagined. The bride joyfully described an ability to talk with and connect to everyone in attendance, how relaxed the atmosphere was and lack of logistics the day required, and how special it was to be surrounded by the most important people in her and her groom’s world.

How did they do it?

The couple transformed their large, traditional wedding into a micro wedding by cropping their guest list to 50 or fewer of their closest family and friends. They moved their ceremony to an intimate outdoor space, styling the aisle with large floral pieces designed to complement their dramatic wedding arbor.

To make the reception area feel full of life and color, even with the reduced guest list, flower installations were displayed on tables, banisters, windowsills, and more. Each piece was designed with care, and the bride, groom, and all their guests enjoyed the intimacy of personalized, styled floral decor.

Learn more about how Julia Testa can help make your NYC micro wedding experience an intimate and special celebration. Contact us for a consultation.