Wedding Small wedding

[MaggieB]

I''m new to this forum and introducing myself. I am not "officially engaged" since I don''t have a ring, and hmmmm, now that I think about it, haven''t actually been asked. I''m in kind of a strange limbo land though because we''ve actually picked the date and paid to reserve our venue! My almost-fiance is kind of a perfectionist, and he''s been stressing about the ring design for quite a few months now. I resolved myself to the fact that I may end up getting my engagement ring as a first anniversary present

So, we are having a very small destination wedding. Our plan is to rent a few houses at a resort in South Carolina that has a beautiful little chapel with riverviews. I''m in the very beginning of planning stages and would love to hear some advice from anyone who''s done a small wedding. We want to make everything very elegant, but very personal. Oh - also its going to be December 6th, so right in the middle of the holidays.

Congratulations and best wishes to all of you!

 

[zoebartlett]

Hi Maggie! Welcome to PS! Do you have pics of the resort you''re planning on using for your wedding? What other details do you think you may want? Sorry, one more question and then I''m done. Do you know anything about the design of the ring you and your boyfriend want? It''s an exciting time, definitely. I''m sure you''re expecting to get engaged soon if you have the resort booked and everything, right?


Zoe

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 4/26/2008 4:53:44 PM
Author:MaggieB
I''m new to this forum and introducing myself. I am not ''officially engaged'' since I don''t have a ring, and hmmmm, now that I think about it, haven''t actually been asked. I''m in kind of a strange limbo land though because we''ve actually picked the date and paid to reserve our venue! My almost-fiance is kind of a perfectionist, and he''s been stressing about the ring design for quite a few months now. I resolved myself to the fact that I may end up getting my engagement ring as a first anniversary present

So, we are having a very small destination wedding. Our plan is to rent a few houses at a resort in South Carolina that has a beautiful little chapel with riverviews. I''m in the very beginning of planning stages and would love to hear some advice from anyone who''s done a small wedding. We want to make everything very elegant, but very personal. Oh - also its going to be December 6th, so right in the middle of the holidays.

Congratulations and best wishes to all of you!

I don''t have too much to contribute about having a small wedding... we started out going for a small wedding with around 30 people but it exploded into 100

. I just wanted to say that FI and I had already met with the priest, paid the church, and booked our venue before he offically proposed. I felt dumb going dress shopping without a ring but I knew it was coming soon! So congratulations on getting engaged shortly!

 

[MaggieB]

Hi Zoe! Yes, my boyfriend and I have talked a lot about the ring and he has shown me lots of pics from other pricescopers. I know that it is a cushion cut, and that he is trying to give it some antique details. Like I said, he''s on a pricescope ring forum working on the design, so if you look for his log-in as the original poster (glloyd77), you can see what he''s doing so far.

Here''s a link to the venue: http://www.palmettobluffresort.com/PDF/WeddingBro_m3_5_06.pdf

Thanks for responding

 

[MaggieB]

Yikes, that is my biggest fear! Everyone says that it is next to impossible to keep your guest list down. Hopefully because it''s a destination, it''s not a "beach", and it''s smack dab in Thanksgiving/Christmas season, everyone will be happy to NOT have to go to it. I actually love people, I swear, but my immediate famiily of cousins and their families would be over 200 people alone. We are kind of in the position of inviting no one or having at least 300 people - not an option.

 

[oobiecoo]

You can definitely keep your guest list down if you stick to it. We just realized early on that FI had wayyyy too many relatives that he was close to so we basically had to invite everyone. Good Luck on the planning!

 

[kathyinjapan]

I had a small destination wedding in Kauai - 6 guests in total and it was perfect for us!

My advice is don''t feel bad about being strict with your invite list. Don''t feel pressured into inviting more people. It''s your wedding and your family/friends will understand.

We invited immediate family only and at times felt like we should have invited more people, but we stuck to our original plans and I am glad we did. Our family were very supportive and they understood our wishes. Do give your (uninvited) family & friends a chance to celebrate with you though. We celebrated with my extended family at our engagement party and then with his extended family at an at-home reception (our families are from different countries, thus the 2 separate parties).

Good luck with your planning!

 

[zoebartlett]

Ah, the guest list issue! Your head will spin when you get to that point. It''s crazy. The wedding my FI and I wanted to have was going to include 80 guests. It''s grown and grown, and now we''re at, oh, 170ish. I know that''s still small compared to some weddings, but ours has doubled at least. My mom is sort of looking at it as our last chance for family members on her side and my dad''s side to have a family reunion. Until a few cousins decide to get married (which won''t be for a long time, I''m sure), this is it. The last hurrah, so to speak. If you truly, truly want a small wedding, stand firm on the guest list issue (we didn''t stand as firm as we could have, I suppose). It helps if you and your FI are paying a lot of the expenses yourself. The more your parents are paying, the more of a say they might want to have.

Sorry to threadjack and go off on a tangent.

 

[zoebartlett]

I just looked at your venue. It''s GORGEOUS! I just told my FI that I wanted to get married there. He just shook his head and said, "too late."

I love the chapel and the grounds look beautiful. Sigh. I have a feeling I''m going to love hearing about the details of your wedding. So come on, get engaged already!

Cushion cuts are gorgeous -- I''ll have to go look through your boyfriend''s thread(s).

 

[scarlet16]

Date: 4/26/2008 5:57:15 PM
Author: MaggieB

Hi Zoe! Yes, my boyfriend and I have talked a lot about the ring and he has shown me lots of pics from other pricescopers. I know that it is a cushion cut, and that he is trying to give it some antique details. Like I said, he''s on a pricescope ring forum working on the design, so if you look for his log-in as the original poster (glloyd77), you can see what he''s doing so far.

Here''s a link to the venue: http://www.palmettobluffresort.com/PDF/WeddingBro_m3_5_06.pdf

Thanks for responding

FYI, no worries about your stone...it is GORGEOUS...I saw it in person at the vendor and actually considered it for myself!

 

[matildawong]

Hi MaggieB,

I don''t have a lot of advice yet, but I can relate to your first post. We''re having about 20 people at a small B&B in Virginia in September. I didn''t have a ''formal'' proposal and I don''t have a ring so it kinda feels weird to call him my fiance! Hee!

Just wanted to say hello and also, I love your venue, it''s just beautiful. Congratulations.

 

[KimberlyH]

We had a small wedding, 26 guests. Our ceremony was pretty traditional, with a few exceptions: no bridal party, we visited with guests before the ceremony started, the entrance song was a bit quirky). We had a cocktail hour and a 4 course dinner that lasted about 3 hours. We hired a musician who played through both the ceremony and dinner, I am so glad we decided to have him stay, he was so talented and provided great entertainment without being the focus of the evening. We planted kalenchoe in cache pots, stenciled with each guests name and used them as table decorations as well as favors; we also made a few to as centerpieces and stenciled the names of those people we wanted to honor (deceased parent and aunts on DHs side, deceased grandparents on my side). One of my favorite things about our wedding was that we had the venue make what''s called a King''s Table out of a lot of smaller tables and all of the guests sat together. I think that about covers what we did. Not sure if it helps at all.

 

[matildawong]

How lovely, Kimberly! You piqued my curiosity about your entrance song.... if you want to say...

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I rarely skim threads in this forum, but I had to stop and say that your venue is perfect! I can''t think of anywhere I''d rather get married (but I''ll have to save the link for my kids since my turn has long passed!). I am from SC but have not seen this particular resort. The chapel is elegant and gorgeous as is every other part of the place. I hope you''ll post your wedding pictures and I hope I remember to look for them in here!

 

[MaggieB]

Date: 4/27/2008 1:31:08 AM
Author: matildawong

Hi MaggieB,

I don''t have a lot of advice yet, but I can relate to your first post. We''re having about 20 people at a small B&B in Virginia in September. I didn''t have a ''formal'' proposal and I don''t have a ring so it kinda feels weird to call him my fiance! Hee!

Just wanted to say hello and also, I love your venue, it''s just beautiful. Congratulations.

Hi Matilda! You know, my first choice was exactly what you are doing - a B&B. I called several in the Carolinas and not a single one that I was interested would allow small children. We have 7 kids coming, ranging in age from 6 months to 8 years. After calling and calling and getting rejected repeatedly, I finally decided to look for a really small resort. One that was very intimate, but not so intimate that it wouldn''t accept kids! That''s how I accidentally stumbled across Palmetto Bluff, and I have to tell you, that place is even prettier in person. I''m pretty darned happy and excited that I found it.

Good luck on your upcoming nuptials!

 

[MaggieB]

Date: 4/26/2008 6:25:34 PM
Author: kathyinjapan
I had a small destination wedding in Kauai - 6 guests in total and it was perfect for us!

My advice is don''t feel bad about being strict with your invite list. Don''t feel pressured into inviting more people. It''s your wedding and your family/friends will understand.

We invited immediate family only and at times felt like we should have invited more people, but we stuck to our original plans and I am glad we did. Our family were very supportive and they understood our wishes. Do give your (uninvited) family & friends a chance to celebrate with you though. We celebrated with my extended family at our engagement party and then with his extended family at an at-home reception (our families are from different countries, thus the 2 separate parties).

Good luck with your planning!

Hi Kathyinjapan! So - what are you doing in Japan? My cousin lived there for 10 years teaching English and loved it so much, she had a really hard time leaving. Actually, I think her plan was to only teach for one year but just kept extending her stay.

I bet your wedding was so beautiful. We are trying to not do island, which I''m going to explain a little bit more in my next post, but island was MY first choice

That''s okay though because I love our compromise. Do you have pics of your wedding posted somewhere?

 

[MaggieB]

Date: 4/27/2008 10:18:02 AM
Author: KimberlyH
We had a small wedding, 26 guests. Our ceremony was pretty traditional, with a few exceptions: no bridal party, we visited with guests before the ceremony started, the entrance song was a bit quirky). We had a cocktail hour and a 4 course dinner that lasted about 3 hours. We hired a musician who played through both the ceremony and dinner, I am so glad we decided to have him stay, he was so talented and provided great entertainment without being the focus of the evening. We planted kalenchoe in cache pots, stenciled with each guests name and used them as table decorations as well as favors; we also made a few to as centerpieces and stenciled the names of those people we wanted to honor (deceased parent and aunts on DHs side, deceased grandparents on my side). One of my favorite things about our wedding was that we had the venue make what''s called a King''s Table out of a lot of smaller tables and all of the guests sat together. I think that about covers what we did. Not sure if it helps at all.

I have been thinking along the same lines. One of the benefits I think to having a really small wedding is being able to go all out for the food! My almost-fiance and I are huge foodies. I have also been trying to decide about the music - whether with such a small crowd it would seem intrusive to have a musician in the mix. What kind of musician did you have? I think that we are going to have one big table also. We are going to have our reception in the wine cellar and I believe they set it up that way for the wine dinners.

 

[MaggieB]

Date: 4/27/2008 1:29:20 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I rarely skim threads in this forum, but I had to stop and say that your venue is perfect! I can''t think of anywhere I''d rather get married (but I''ll have to save the link for my kids since my turn has long passed!). I am from SC but have not seen this particular resort. The chapel is elegant and gorgeous as is every other part of the place. I hope you''ll post your wedding pictures and I hope I remember to look for them in here!

Gosh Diamondseeker, thank you so much for saying such nice things! I am madly in the love with the place myself, but you never know if others will feel the same way.

Since others have expressed some interest in the resort, I will give you a little bit more info about how we ended up there. Like I said earlier, I was first thinking island, but my boyfriend didn''t think his famiily would be particularly interested in doing the island thing. I am CRAZY about his family and really wanted to make this whole experience a wonderful vacation for all of us, so we decided to keep looking. We felt that this resort would allow us to do a more traditional ceremony, but still have the beauty of the water. Plus it has lots of nature stuff, fishing, and boating for us to do. (And a big beautiful spa for us girls . . .

) I will definitely post pics! Especially since pricescopers are picking my engagement ring, I think they are entitled to see us through to the end.

P.S. I have a thread going somewhere for wedding dress suggestions. I live in Florida and my selection down here is strapless, strapless, and more strapless. I''m getting married in December and North Carolina and I''m looking for something a little more wintery.

 

[MaggieB]

Date: 4/26/2008 9:03:44 PM
Author: scarlet16

Date: 4/26/2008 5:57:15 PM
Author: MaggieB


Hi Zoe! Yes, my boyfriend and I have talked a lot about the ring and he has shown me lots of pics from other pricescopers. I know that it is a cushion cut, and that he is trying to give it some antique details. Like I said, he''s on a pricescope ring forum working on the design, so if you look for his log-in as the original poster (glloyd77), you can see what he''s doing so far.

Here''s a link to the venue: http://www.palmettobluffresort.com/PDF/WeddingBro_m3_5_06.pdf

Thanks for responding

FYI, no worries about your stone...it is GORGEOUS...I saw it in person at the vendor and actually considered it for myself!

That is crazy! I''m actually talking to a total stranger who has seen my engagement diamond and I haven''t. Is the internet amazing or what???

So what stone did you end up with? Do you have pics of your ring?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Maggie, your venue is beautiful!

We had a small wedding--I think the grand total was 36 including ourselves--and 5 of those were kids. Oh, and we had 3 dogs including our own, haha. Anyway, as others have pointed out there are so many benefits to having a small wedding. We were able to splurge on the food and wine, I was able to make a very personalized welcome bag for everybody, we were able to spend the whole evening talking with all of our guests, we were able to provide lodging for everybody for the week (and have nice family dinners all week), etc.

I think you''re going to love what you plan--that time of year is always really nice and you feel even more connected to your family. I love that the venue is on the water, but it''s not a "beach" wedding. We did the same thing and I liked that the water provided a beautiful backdrop, but it wasn''t our "theme". DH and I took a walk down to the beach during the reception and when we looked up at the estate and saw all of the warm candlelight and heard people laughing along with the sound of the waves on the rocks...it was just a really neat moment. It sounds like a small, warm, intimate wedding will be perfect for you.

As for the dress, the other ladies on the board are much, much more creative than I am and can give you great advice. There are many great "winter" fabrics like a nice silk satin--also, it''s very easy to order a couple of yards of extra fabric so your seamstess can make a simple balero.

Good luck with the planning!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 4/26/2008 6:15:41 PM
Author: oobiecoo
You can definitely keep your guest list down if you stick to it. We just realized early on that FI had wayyyy too many relatives that he was close to so we basically had to invite everyone. Good Luck on the planning!

Ditto you just need to make sure you stick to your list and don't allow random additions. Welcome to PS!

ETA: I am feeling the pressure to make the list larger. We are staying strong though and we're at about 114 invited/eating (65 invitations would be sent out) and we know at least 20 of those people won't come. That's also including vendors. So let's hope for the best and a wedding of about 80.