At APW, we’ve been writing about weddings of all sizes for years, because not everyone wants a giant wedding in a ballroom. Turns out, the world is catching on and micro-weddings are becoming more and more of a thing. No wonder. Planning a wedding is complicated, expensive, and a whole headache—but we’ve also all heard stories of people whose families and friends never forgave them for eloping.
Which brings us to the micro wedding: you and fewer than twenty of your nearest and dearest. Mom and Grandpa can be there, but you don’t have to worry about remembering second cousin Frederick’s vegan partner’s name because “we decided to have a tiny wedding, sorry!” Even more rad is if you can make your tiny wedding a destination and get just a few of your best people together in a fun place. How about eight guests on a boat in Key West? Or maybe twenty-five guests in New Orleans is more your speed? Or perhaps thirteen guests under a waterfall? Point is, with a small crowd and some creativity, you can plan a wedding just about anywhere your heart desires.
The issue with more out-of-the-box spaces is that you end up needing more stuff. Your guests need bathrooms, after all, and plates and cups and tables—the sorts of things that don’t just appear in state parks out of nowhere, and also the sorts of things you don’t want to fly with to your beautiful destination. And this is where RentalHQ comes in. Rental HQ is a locator tool by the American Rental Association—they provide a completely searchable database of rental vendors all across the US, so you can just search for exactly what you need, exactly where your micro (or mini, or medium, or big) wedding will be, and then look at the results all in one place. Yes, you could Google “rentals” for wherever your wedding will be, calling businesses in different time zones, asking about inventory and availability, and generally trying to make sure you can find what you need—or, you could use one simple, searchable site to get all those answers in one place. And since you’ve chosen this tiny wedding plan as a way to reduce stress and work, it seems obvious that avoiding more work is the move here.
RentalHQ has done all that legwork for you, so they can tell you that, yes, in fact, there are exactly the folding tables you need in Asheville, NC, and why yes indeed, there is a vendor with comfortable folding chairs with covers that match your wedding colors in Colorado Springs, CO. And all you have to do is spend a few minutes searching for what you need on their website, not opening fifty tabs on Google and making a dozen phone calls during business hours (instead of doing, you know, your job). They can also tell you that in Kauai there is only one rental place that will have a wedding arch for you, so reserve it early.
How do you know if a micro wedding is for you?
If intimacy, time with your people, and a comfortable price tag are your priorities, a micro wedding might be for you. Want to get married on a short timeline? Like, in two months when you already have a family trip to Aspen planned? Plan a micro wedding and let RentalHQ help simplify the planning.
What you need for your Micro wedding, the Minimalist Edition
You don’t have to have a big, fancy, or over-the-top wedding—despite what Pinterest, your future mother-in-law, and the screenshots on your phone tell you. In fact, some of the very best weddings I’ve been to have been the ones with minimal decor but a whole lot of love and joy. Will those $85 centerpieces and $9 chairs look beautiful in photos? Absolutely. Are they necessary for a fun and meaningful celebration? Absolutely not. If you’re planning to go small and simple, do as my dad always said and “K.I.S.S” (Keep It Simple Silly).
What you really need is just the basics. Perhaps you have grandparents or guests who definitely need a chair in order to enjoy your ceremony, so rent a few chairs. In lieu of hosting a full meal, you could simply serve an array of tasty desserts and drinks following your ceremony while you spend some quality time with your absolute favorite humans. I’d recommend a table or two with linens, and perhaps a cooler and a garbage can for beverages. Pick a special or beautiful spot, grab a friend or hired officiant, a Bluetooth speaker, and your marriage license. Your guests will feel honored to be a part of such an intimate day, and all you have to do is let RentalHQ tell you exactly where to find the rental items you need, place the order, and let the special day commence.
What You Need for Your Micro Wedding, the Happy Medium Edition
Okay, the most minimal of micro weddings isn’t quite what you were envisioning—instead, you’re considering a small group at your parent’s house in the backyard. When you first started planning, you might have thought you had everything you needed for a celebration stored in your parent’s garage. That is until you realized they got rid of those folding chairs when they rusted, and your mom’s table linens are all stained.
For your best-life backyard wedding, you should definitely rent: tables, chairs, linens (that you don’t have to wash), dishes, flatware, napkins and glasses (you don’t have to wash those either). Maybe you want to add a special arch or chuppah for your ceremony, some chafing dishes to keep dinner warm, a drink dispenser or two, and a special cake stand to make your dessert table look extra stunning. RentalHQ can make finding all these items super easy—not to mention candles, flower vases, and even a tent in case of rain. Remember, there are plenty of special items you can rent, but you certainly don’t need everything—you can still keep it nice and simple.
What You Need for Your Micro Wedding, The Fancy (because you can) Edition
This might be one of my favorite things about the idea of a micro wedding—your money goes further when you only have to rent ten to twenty pieces of each item. That means you can have one over-the-top table, the nicest chairs, specialized table linens, and glassware. An intimate group of your very closest family and friends can be treated to the wedding of your Pinterest dreams.
For a fancy micro wedding, I would recommend all the same things as the medium edition above, upgraded. Get the velvet napkins, the expensive ceremony arch, those $9 Chiavari chairs, and the gold flatware you’ve been dreaming of. You’ll spend, on twelve sets of each, what you might have spent for a super minimal event for fifty people. RentalHQ can also help you find lighting, a chocolate fountain, vintage lounge furniture, and enough candle holders to make your parent’s yard look like it fell right out of a dream. It’s your wedding, and your money will go so much further, so let your imagination run wild.
If you take anything away from this post, it’s this: you absolutely have our permission to have a small wedding, even if it means your whole extended family can’t make it. And if you do have a micro wedding, you also have our permission to make it as laid-back or as grandiose and fabulous as you want. You’ll still need chairs and glassware for everyone, so feel free to get the good stuff. And let RentalHQ make it easy on you. You’re doing this to make everything easier, remember?
This post is sponsored by the American Rental Association, host of the world’s largest equipment rental store locator, RentalHQ—here to make finding rental equipment fast and easy. All you have to do is fill out the form at the top of their page, and RentalHQ will help you find exactly the rentals you need, wherever you need them. RentalHQ.com is part of the American Rental Association family, which is the international trade association for owners of equipment and event rental operations and manufacturers and suppliers of rental equipment, so you know it’s legit. Use RentalHQ to help you find the right items to outfit your micro or macro wedding.
