How to Plan a Luxury Wedding for 20 People : Why less really can be more

After the unprecedented year that 2020 has been, our hearts really go out to all the couples who have had to postpone their weddings. We have seen clients decide to wait until they can have the big wedding they wanted and we’ve also seen couples decide to downsize their wedding and go ahead with their 2020 plans with a micro wedding. Some have even decided to do both!

The current guidelines in place by the Scottish government mean that weddings are restricted to a maximum of 20 people. This number includes the couple, the photographer, videographer, the planner and any other suppliers who are not employed by your venue but will all be on site when your wedding ceremony and reception unfolds. For many, this isn’t in tune with the big day they’d been envisioning but don’t be put off - a small, romantic, intimate wedding can still be every bit as beautiful as you’d envisioned. With our experience in planning Scottish elopement and micro weddings, we know just how to plan a small wedding with attention to all the beautiful little details along the way.

The Venue

Image by Craig and Eva Sanders

With a maximum of 20 guests, this means you’ll have a wider budget and one great way of using this is to book a seriously special venue for your micro wedding. At the moment, many venues which might have been out of your original budget are adapting to offer packages for intimate weddings of twenty persons, so you’ll have a wider selection of truly amazing places that you can afford.

Some of Scotland’s most desired wedding venues are now able to work to smaller group requirements – some of our favourites as featured on Luxury Scottish Weddings are Borthwick Castle, Turin Castle, The Old Course Hotel & Spa, Trump Macleod House and Archerfield hotel.

The Experience

For many, a small wedding can at first thought seem like it requires giving up on many of the traditional things we have come to be used to at weddings – specifically the evenings entertainment and dancing! However, we’d encourage you to turn your thoughts to how you can develop a totally different type of experience for yourselves and your guests that will still have your hearts pounding with excitement at the thought of it!

Think about you and your guests experiences throughout the entire day – perhaps have a beautiful picnic set up as a light lunch option for your guests before you take your vows, add an owl ringbearer to the ceremony with an opportunity to meet and greet afterwards or consider upscaling the wedding meal to a tasting menu or chef’s table experience.

After the meal is over, many groups worry about what they and their guests might go on to do and we find for most, a whisky or gin tasting experience can work really nicely or simply retiring to the hotel bar can be the making of really happy memories. If you want to get really creative, you could look in to having a trained actor or storyteller come to tell you tales of the starry skies in the glow of an evening fire, or arrange fireworks to have the night end with a bang!

Image by Mike Meller

The Design

Image by Colin Ross Photography

For instances of Weddings with smaller numbers of guests, many couples find it to be less daunting to invest in more bespoke and specialist décor for the day. This can have truly stunning results, even if it is only for a smaller scale set up. For many, this is where your “Pinterest” wedding, can actually become attainable!

Some of our favourite added design extras are calligraphed menus, specialist cutlery and crockery, incorporating beautiful fabrics and upgrading the florals to something grander for your smaller setting. Think adding an archway to your Ceremony location, having one incredible suspended floral installation added above a large guest table or dressing your cake table with more pretty details than you might have intended before.

Image by Caro Weiss

The Attire

Many of our smaller weddings tend to upgrade the styling of their Wedding to achieve a designer look that otherwise might have been unobtainable.

With a smaller number of guests to have to provide for, we often find many of our micro wedding clients opt to up the ante when it comes to their clothing and jewellery.

Many will upgrade to the designer shoes they’ve always wanted, opt to upgrade the Wedding rings (which is a great investment because you will wear them for the rest of your lives!), add an extra look to the day (Such as a change of gown or investing in a luxury lace chemise to get ready in) or spend a little more on the dress or suit.

If you are having a small bridal party, there is a good chance you’ll be able to afford to add the extra fur shawl to the Bridesmaids look or even invest in really lovely gifts or jewellery for the people who are most special to you.

The Minimoon

Image from Unsplash

For many couples at the moment, international travel feels daunting and almost impossible, so your dreams of a honeymoon in the Maldives might have to be put off until a little further down the line. Mini breaks are a great way to spend quality time together after your wedding and then you can have your proper honeymoon abroad .

You could book a relaxing weekend in the country and enjoy time as a married couple in idyllic peace, stay in one of Edinburgh’s finest five star properties for a few nights or runaway to the Scottish Isles for a week of complete zen in an unusual or modern property.