How to have a wedding with a narrow circle of friends and family?

Modern newlyweds more and more often refuse to hold noisy wedding celebrations with numerous guests. In this case, the arguments can be different, but the main ones are most often:

• huge budget;
• the tediousness of such an event;
• possible excesses.

It is possible to organize a beautiful wedding even with modest financial resources. And if you carefully think over every little thing and show your imagination, then the celebration will remain in the memory of both the newlyweds and those invited for a long time.

How to spend their first family holiday, while refusing a huge number of guests, only the newlyweds themselves decide, guided by their desires and interests. Various options are possible:

• wedding in a narrow circle of friends and family;
• celebration in a small friendly company;
• wedding evening with family, parents;
• romantic dinner for two.

Each of these options has its own characteristics. It is important that the holiday does not turn into an ordinary get-together, where the guests talked, ate, drank and happily forgot everything, leaving the threshold. This should be a real birthday of a new family, so the celebration requires a correct and thoughtful organization. If this is a company of different ages, consisting of both close relatives, often already old enough, and of younger friends, it is important that no one is bored, no one is quietly sitting in a corner.

Celebration in the company of close friends united by common interests can be unusual and unexpected.A wedding evening with parents should not become an occasion to discuss possible problems that inevitably arise in any young family, and even more so not devoted to nature, weather and oil prices. A romantic dinner for two should not be turned into joint preparation and absorption of even the most exquisite dishes, there will be other reasons for this.

The first assistant, in any case, will be the imagination of the young people themselves, witnesses, parents, friends. Joint preparation for the holiday can unite future relatives and discover unexpected abilities and talents. When organizing a wedding, it is necessary to draw up a psychological portrait of each of the guests. This moment will be decisive in deciding all questions: where the celebration will take place, whether it is necessary to invite the toastmaster, what the scenario will be.

When choosing a venue for a wedding the most common options will be:

• at home;
• in the restaurant.

Pros when organizing a celebration in an apartment or in your own house, there is no doubt:

• home environment, allowing comfortable accommodation for both elderly relatives and guests with small children;
• a significant reduction in financial costs, since there is no need to pay for the rent of the restaurant, you can refuse the services of toastmaster, musicians and other personnel;
• no time limits, no need to decide how to get home and how to deliver gifts.

But do not think that this will require less effort, because the whole organization will fall on the shoulders of young people and parents. Added to the traditional questions are the following.

• Number of guests. It is difficult to comfortably accommodate more than 15 people in an ordinary apartment.
• Premises for the event. It should have a place for a festive table, and for competitions, and for dances. If this is a country house, then these issues are much easier to solve. The ideal option for an apartment would be the opportunity to allocate one room for a feast, and another for mobile events. In addition, excess furniture from them will have to be taken out, and tables and chairs are conveniently placed.

• Room decoration. There should not be a lot of wedding paraphernalia, but it is necessary to decorate the entrance to the apartment, places for newlyweds. It is advisable to organize a beautiful photo zone, think over the design and placement of flower arrangements. The flower vases brought by the guests must be prepared in advance.
• Ventilation. Guests should not feel stuffy, hot or cold. In the summer, it is quite difficult to create such conditions in an apartment.
• Musical accompaniment. For help in this matter, you can contact the friends of the newlyweds. Neighbors should be warned about possible inconveniences associated with noise and loud music.

• Purchase and storage of products. In the warm season, the issue of storage will be especially relevant.
• Menu, cooking and serving. All these worries will fall on the female part of the family, which creates serious inconveniences, therefore, in this matter, it is still worth contacting the professionals. A cook with an assistant and a waiter will be enough.
• Dishes. Assorted plates, wine glasses, knives, etc. do not correspond to the solemnity of the event. There may be a need to purchase them in the required quantity. In addition, all this will need to be washed and tidied up later.
• Holiday script. You can't do without it, even if no contests are supposed to be held due to the number or age of the guests. Everything should be prepared and scheduled literally by the minute.

This option for holding a wedding in a narrow circle is good because you can implement any ideas and fantasies, since even very small venues are suitable. Traditionally, this can be a spectacular celebration in one of the city's restaurants.Almost all of them have a cozy little room. You can opt for a memorable romantic small cafe for newlyweds, organizing a chamber evening "by candlelight". An excellent option would be to go to a country restaurant with a celebration in a tent in nature or on the shore of a reservoir. At the same time, you can provide a hotel for the weekend, where it is convenient to accommodate all guests and provide them with entertainment according to their interests.

To hold a wedding in a narrow circle, it is not necessary to invite a toastmaster. But even if the event is celebrated only with the closest relatives and does not provide for many contests, the event scenario must be thought out without fail. First you need to decide what kind of wedding you would like to see.

There are many options:

• traditional celebration in compliance with all the necessary rituals;
• themed wedding in a single style solution;
• creative, unusual event;
• youth wedding;
• European style wedding.

Witnesses and parents will help the young couple to entertain guests without a toastmaster. You can make this request to one of the artistic guests. Since such assistance requires a lot of effort and serious preliminary preparation, it may well be considered as a wedding gift.

Basic principles when developing an entertainment program:

• not to delay the time of the contests;
• participation in them should be voluntary and interesting for everyone;
• attention to the age, status and character of guests;
• refusal from boring and frivolous contests.

When developing a script, you can rely on a traditional wedding plan, including your own creative "findings" as needed:

• parents meet young people with an obligatory loaf, take them to the table, pronounce parting words;
• thanksgiving speech of the newlyweds;
• toasts and congratulations from guests;
• the first dance of the bride and groom;
• dancing and active contests;
• take-out of a wedding cake, solemn joint cutting;
• removing the veil and handing over the young wife to her husband;
• lighting a new family hearth, which is symbolized by a wedding candle.

Even in the ceremonial part, you can avoid "officialdom". Since all the guests are well known to the young people and to each other, in the opening speech, you can, without naming names, address everyone with comic poetic lines, and the rest of the guests will guess who they are talking about and greeted him with applause. The traditional waltz of the young can be continued with modern compositions. This moment will amuse those present and add a touch of ease.

Contests for newlyweds should be unexpected and are often prepared by witnesses.

• "Love does not love". Big daisies are given to the young. On the back of each petal some mysterious word is written (names, dates, sizes, weights, parameters, memorable places, etc.). The task of the bride and groom is to guess what they mean. In the same way, but only by one chamomile, you can "guess" the circle of family responsibilities.
• "Guess." The bride is blindfolded and asked to guess who will kiss her - the groom or one of the guests. The groom kisses all the time, the question is: will she guess?
• "Ice, melt." Young people are given an ice cube and offered to melt the "iceberg" of a possible misunderstanding between them. Hotter and stronger is the love of the one who copes faster. A separate toast for the winner.

To involve as many guests as possible in the preparation for the wedding and to give the host a rest will help the preliminary request of the young to all those invited: to prepare and conduct their own competition without revealing its secrets to the rest.Of course, here, for control, the help of parents will be needed in order to avoid repetitions, unwanted and uninteresting contests, and preparation of props. To help guests, you can offer to choose a competition from the existing list.

Contests for future "parents".

• With a blindfold on, swaddle a baby doll or put on a diaper.
• Doubles competition: blindfolded “mother” (woman) should feed with semolina or drink “baby” (man) from the nipple. You can fill the bottle with anything: water, lemonade, cola. Of course, you need to prepare protective aprons for the baby's clothes.
• "The knot will be tied." Several pairs are selected. The players stand side by side and their touching hands are tied. With your free hands, you need to lace up the sneaker and tie a beautiful bow. The winner is the couple who completed the task faster and more accurately.

Possible planning mistakes should be avoided.

• Lack of accurate budgeting. It is he who determines all the preparations for the wedding.
• Rain, wind, blizzard - such weather conditions can ruin the holiday.
• Lack of timing. Per-minute calculation, taking into account unforeseen circumstances, will eliminate the risk of being late for the ceremony or unnecessarily prolonged moments of the celebration.
• Savings on video or photo. A wedding is one of the most important days in life, and it will not be possible to “reshoot” it.
• Excitement about little things. Everything possible has been done, so unnecessary anxiety is completely useless.

For information on how to organize a wedding in a narrow circle, see the next video.