How to make a big wedding an intimate occasion
Are you anxious about how your guest list has grown so large that your wedding occasion won’t feel as intimate as you initially thought? Here are a couple of tips and tricks to make your wedding not feel like a crowded festival.
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Personalise your wedding for intimacy
Write personalised handwritten notes to your guests.
Your guests will appreciate reading a personalised message specifically for them. It makes them feel welcome and reinforces the bond between you two. Wherever possible, include a significant moment you have shared.
Ask for song requests from your guests.
Let your family and friends suggest songs that will be played on your wedding day. Having a personalised song list is a great way to make your wedding feel more intimate.
Meet and greet everyone individually
Interacting with your guests personally will make them feel more connected to your social circle and more engaged throughout the event.
Consider family-style dining
Have guests sit at small tables and serve the entrée, mains, and dessert on serving share dishes rather than courses. This will give that cosy, homey atmosphere to the dinner table.
Name your tables
Rather than assigning your guests to the boring “Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc”, give each table a creative name that has significant meaning to the group sitting at the table. Maybe there’s a story behind the name and will surely spark conversations at the table.
Pay special attention to the photo booth
Provide interesting creative, wedding-themed props for the photo booth - like a mini chalkboard for guests to play around with. Anything hands-on and fun is guaranteed to bring out smiles. If possible, get the photographer at the booth to print out photos for every group and pin them on a public board on display.
Intimate aesthetics
Incorporate romantic lighting
You can easily set an intimate mood by using a lot of candles to provide warmth to the room. Try to provide soft lighting and dim the house lights to accentuate the intimacy further.
Be personally involved with the decor
The amount of involvement with the decor can range from consulting a wedding & style company specialist service to create a package solution for you, to fully customising it yourself with the help of your friends and family. Your attention to detail towards the beautification aspect of your wedding will make your event feel special for your invitees.
Play with your ceremony layout
Why limit yourself to the standard rows of seats you see at many other wedding ceremonies? Brainstorm and play around with different layout ideas - like casual furnishings circling the centre where the bride and groom will stand.
Intimate space usage
Divide a large room into smaller sections
Pick a venue with several closed spaces
Break up a large space with partitions, moveable walls, and clever decor arrangement
Shrink the room size
Use large centrepieces to make the room look smaller
Chandeliers are great lighting fixtures providing romantic lighting that doubles as decor for filling up empty space
Pipes and drapes to move the line of sight lower away from the ceiling
Have a lounge area
Lounge areas furnished with cushions and sofas tucked away in the corner of the venue or another room is a great way for your guests to escape and relax. It’s also a cosier and more casual environment for people to intermingle and have a chat.
Keep table sizes small
Try 6 guests per table to give a dinner party vibe rather than a banquet-style table. Having too many people at a large table will get in the way of intimacy, especially if talking to the person opposite the table is impossible without physically moving out of their seat.
Intimate Logistics
Make your close friend or family member your officiant
This idea can have a powerful impact on the intimacy of your ceremony when a close one performs the duty of an officiant and makes it strongly personal for those present.
Split your wedding into multiple-day events
Consider celebrating your wedding over a period of days. On the other days of the main ceremony, you can spend time with your more intimate circle. This will open you up to more locations, activities, and opportunities to create precious memories with whom you cherish the most.
Intimate entertainment
Don’t forget that your choice of wedding entertainment can influence how intimate your wedding can be.
You don’t just want entertainment that people watch. The most intimate wedding entertainment is those that sparks conversation and gets people talking. We believe roving magicians are the perfect choice to make your wedding more intimate. Your guests will non-stop talk to each other about the crazy tricks. It’s just the perfect ice breaker and nothing is quite like it. You can find out more here.