The last year has been quite an adventure I have learned a ton from. I think I’m still processing that we are married now and have been in Colorado together for over six months! (As of July 2023.)
As I drive around Colorado Springs, our new home, I’m in awe of the amazing mountain views and the crazy ever-changing sky. I feel so grateful to be here. I am excited to be leaning into my passion for writing by sharing with others in this blog about Colorado.
My husband Jorge started BestColoradoMountainGetaways.com at the end of 2021 after his move to Colorado just as a side project. We had a long-distance relationship for 14 months where I was in Arizona and Jorge was in Golden, Colorado. We got engaged in April of 2022 and we both moved to Colorado Springs in January 2023. Now we are working on this blog together as a couple.
We want to share our love of nature and travel with couples and families visiting Colorado. We hope the information we provide will help you plan an amazing getaway to Colorado that is perfect for you!
In this post, I am sharing our experience planning a micro wedding to help guide anyone who is considering going a different route than the traditional church wedding + reception. A micro wedding is different from an elopement as well.
What is a Micro Wedding, and is it for me?
A micro wedding is a small wedding, typically 10 to 20 people on average but potentially up to 50 maximum, it includes a ceremony and a reception all in one, often in a much shorter timeframe than a traditional wedding. A micro wedding is a great way for those who may consider eloping to have a balance of keeping some of the time-honored traditions with a few friends and family on a smaller scale without just going to the courthouse. A micro wedding can be as simple and short as you want.
Since a micro wedding is smaller than a traditional wedding, it allows you to use your budget differently for the things you want. It could also be a big money saver, depending on your goals and desires. You can get creative and ask yourself what is important to you and how you can do things differently.
A smaller guest list is one of the most significant differences. Do you need to invite your mom’s best friend’s hairdresser’s dog’s cousin to your wedding? Do you need to have work friends or acquaintances at one of your most memorable and intimate moments? A micro wedding prioritizes those closest to you to share your special day.
A destination to the mountains for example can require more effort and commitment from your guests, depending on where it is and where they are coming from. You may consider how grandparents or small children will be able to attend your location of choice.
Maybe you want to a ceremony to tie the knot intimately and do a more formal reception later. If your family would be offended that you got married at the courthouse, in Las Vegas, or in another country, this gives you a small option to include a select few on your big day.
A Little Background Info/Wedding Memories
Most people who have been to a few weddings have an idea of the traditional elements and have developed their own opinions and preferences about things they like or don’t like. Before planning my wedding, I was in a lot of weddings as a bridesmaid, maid-of-honor, personal assistant, candle lighter, and way back in the day a miniature bride.
Most of the weddings were held in a church with a reception after with many traditional elements. Each of them was special and unique in their own way, fitting the individual couples.
My cousin and her husband did an elopement in Las Vegas with both of their parents and then had a small reception later. I always joked I would be the one in the family to elope there, but I had no desire to go to Vegas even though it was only four hours away when I lived in Phoenix. I still have not been there and now it’s far away.
My friends Cheryl & John got married outside on the family farm with just immediate family present in Iowa. They rented a limo for the ride out & had a traditional reception with more people after. I was the personal assistant and oversaw playing the music for the recessional.
Their ceremony stuck out the most in my mind because of how relaxed and private it was. Another random highlight from their wedding is that we took cornfield selfies with my selfie stick which was a new concept at the time and Cheryl’s dad thought it was hilarious.
I love attending weddings and receptions are great for the food and socialization. Good-tasting food is really important. I’ve had a lot of good memories with friends at wedding dances.
All these memories went through my mind as I tried to figure out what was going to be best for me and I knew it was going to be small….
Why I Chose to Have a Micro Wedding
I never envisioned going the traditional route. I always wanted to get married outside in nature. Colorado scenery would have been a dream come true, however with living in Arizona, the planning part would have been difficult, especially with planning a move and other responsibilities.
Jorge and I lived in different states for 14 months in the long-distance part of our relationship before we moved in together to Colorado Springs. We traveled about once every six weeks or so to see each other on average.
Our quality time was spent together on our Sunday night Zoom dates. Here we captured a screenshot of the last virtual date before Jorge had a one-way ticket to Arizona for Christmas and we started our moving adventure between the end-of-year holidays.
When we got engaged in April 2022, I was still living in Arizona and working full-time. I was a full-time student in the last stretch of my master’s degree and was also a CASA volunteer (Court Appointed Special Advocate) which required me to reside in the state of Arizona for my role.
I was traveling from Arizona to Colorado every other month or so. My grandfather also passed away which led to a spur-of-the-moment trip back home to Iowa as well. What a whirlwind! A big traditional wedding and all the traditional wedding things were not on our agenda.
In our case, we realized we had no desire to host a formal traditional reception, so a micro-wedding was a good compromise to squeeze in a few traditional elements and bypass the rest. We wanted to have a first dance together and some food for our guests but avoid the other formalities like a dance and open bar.
Jorge and I were invested in our relationship and spending quality time together in the short amounts we had, and we didn’t want to spend all of it stressing over any more wedding details than we had to. We wanted to get married in nature with our families and a few close friends. I’m so thankful that we were able to keep our wedding small and simple & achieved our goals with our unique micro-wedding.
Another big factor was timing and the weather because of wanting to get married outside. Between us we have family and friends living in about seven different states and Mexico, the location was a tossup for a while.
When we decided that a January wedding fit our timeline, it became a no-brainer that Arizona was the ideal place. It’s a lot warmer in Arizona in January than it is in Colorado! And the weather in Arizona is waaaaaaaaay more predictable.
Colorado Wedding Experiences: The Broadmoor
We attended a large, fancy wedding at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in June of 2022 that was beautiful! The mountain backdrop with the lake was amazing! The cocktail hour and appetizers were impressive. The reception was carefully executed with a seating chart and name tags. A lot of thought and planning went into the wedding planning and the outcome was impressive.
The experience at the Broadmoor was dream-worthy for every bride-to-be or engaged couple. Every couple should follow what is best for them for their unique tastes and circumstances. There is no wrong way to plan a wedding.
We walked around the Broadmoor property enjoying the vibes of the tranquil lake. We hadn’t picked a destination for our wedding at that point, but we knew we would be doing something much smaller.
Fast forward a few months later, we took engagement pictures up in Boulder ourselves with a tripod. It was starting to rain by the end of our shoot, but they turned out well. I love the mountain background and the mountains are so much taller in Colorado!
I have a big collection on my Pinterest board of Colorado elopement and wedding photographer info I’ve collected. Perhaps when we renew our vows someday, I will have time to plan the ultimate little girl’s mountain dream wedding in Colorado.
Our Micro Wedding Experience
After moving in together in Colorado Springs, we turned around and flew back to Arizona a few weeks later for our wedding weekend in January 2023. A big snowstorm was coming in the night before & day of our flight. It also affected our guests coming from the Midwest and my parents even moved up their flight time and went without sleep to avoid the storm. Thankfully everyone made it to Arizona without any significant delays.
I had a girls’ brunch and hike for my shower and bachelorette party the day before the wedding to welcome my girlfriends into Arizona who had traveled from the Midwest. A few weeks before moving to Colorado, I did a road trip to Bisbee with two close friends in Arizona who also came to brunch and hike.
Jorge and a few of his friends met us for dinner after hiking. Jorge dropped me off at the hotel after dinner and we did not see each other until our wedding.
We chose the location for our wedding at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, Arizona. We scoped out all the possible ramada options in the park and determined which would give us the best photos. The larger more private ramadas that included private event parking did not have as epic of a view. The Ramada area we chose was reserved for us, but parking was not. It was near a popular hiking trail and a modern public restroom.
Our guests were able to experience our micro wedding as part of a mini road trip. A unique touch to our micro wedding was that we arranged transportation with a limo bus company to transport our guests and us out to the park and back. We both love road trips and have done a lot of traveling together exploring so it organically flowed with our vision for the day.
Transportation gave our guests a unique experience and also alleviated parking concerns so everyone would arrive on time at the right location. More than half of our guests traveled from out of state and the park was about forty-five minutes away from the brewery where we had dinner. We emailed our guests directions and photos with all the details the week prior for parking and the day itinerary.
We had everyone meet at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co in Gilbert and we started and ended our experience there. The bus allowed us to enjoy the time with all our guests since we had a smaller group. We didn’t have to worry about our out-of-town guests getting lost in the park or the parking situation because it was near a hiking trail. I rode out to the ceremony separately in a car with our nephews and family.
We also timed our ceremony to start midafternoon so we could get sunset photos. The temperature that afternoon was in the upper 50s to low 60s which is on the cold side with how dry it is in Arizona. We provided blankets for our guests as gifts for when the sun set and it got a little colder.
Our photographer and wedding planner was Micah from Meander Gatherings, based out of Gilbert, Arizona. Meander Gatherings does pop-up weddings within the area with a Vintage 1956 Metro van. They also host weddings at a brick-and-mortar venue location, the Shenandoah Mill. Lost Dutchman didn’t have room for using the van for photos at our location, but we love the concept. We had options to have different timeframes for the micro wedding and we chose a 2-hour window.
Our micro wedding consisted of a short ceremony followed by the signing of our marriage license and a big group photo. We added some personal touches with a glass pouring ceremony artwork and we wrote most of our ceremony script.
We enjoyed our first dance as a married couple to “Keeper of the Stars” by Tracy Byrd at the park. It was really special.
After our first dance, we bi-passed all the other traditional dances and moved on to an open toast with kombucha and cupcakes in the ramada.
Everyone mingled and enjoyed the desert view while we took all our professional pictures at Lost Dutchman. Due to the smaller number, we were easily able to include all our guests in personalized photos.
We hosted an informal Celebration Dinner following the micro wedding at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. in Gilbert after a few extras who didn’t come to the micro wedding. We avoided calling it a reception. We planned for everyone to have two drink tickets for alcohol and to share as we knew a few people who didn’t drink.
Other than finding my wedding dress, sending invitations, and putting together the wedding favor gifts, all we had to do was show up. Jorge already owned a suit. Our wedding planner Micah with Meander Gatherings helped organize and lead the rest.
Micah had all the decorations and a plan. She gave us options and suggestions of how to lay out the timeline and she made it happen. She also helped us incorporate some additional personal details that made it special. She helped keep the timeline of the event moving along.
The most stressful thing of it all was planning the transportation and strict rules of the venue. We had to provide the state park with each vendor’s insurance and get prior approval for them to be in the park. We only had Meander Gatherings and the bus company. We did everything we were supposed to, but somehow we ended up with a big charter bus that was almost not permitted in the park on the day of.
It’s true when everyone tells you that some unpredictable stuff will happen at every wedding, you must roll with it and even so, everything always works out!
The wide windows in the charter bus gave a really good view as we drove into the Arizona sunset heading back to the brewery for dinner. We had snacks on the bus and Jorge’s mom made the most amazing Mexican wedding cookies. The bus driver was even asking her for the recipe.
We picked the micro wedding location at Lost Dutchman for the view and being in nature. It’s all about the view! These are the memories that will be captured for a lifetime. Ours happened to be in Arizona.
Micro Wedding Ideas in Colorado:
Colorado has so many awe-inspiring places for weddings. Many amazing photographers can hike and travel to unique destinations to capture your special moments.
Airbnbs make great options for smaller weddings, however, not many Airbnb allow “events.” You need to be careful about the specific rules and think about all the details. Even though we didn’t get married in Colorado, we’ve done research on some options to help cut down on your search!
Check out some of these amazing Colorado venues here: 7 Magical Airbnb Wedding Venues in Colorado
Also, Budget Friendly Airbnbs in Colorado: https://bestcoloradomountaingetaways.com/budget-friendly-airbnb-wedding-venues-in-colorado/
In conclusion, here is a list of the most important tips to guide anyone considering a micro wedding and doing some initial planning and decision-making.
Summary: 7 Tips for Planning a Micro Wedding
1. Guest Count limits:
Decide a limit. Let go of hurt feelings and invite who you want there within your limit. We had a strict limit, and it wasn’t easy. I admit, I worried about people being offended.
However, I knew this was my day and I had to do what was best for my circumstances, so I let it go. If I had been living in the Midwest, I probably would have invited all my extended family and easily ended up with well over 200 people between us and that wasn’t what either of us wanted.
Another way to cut down the number is having a smaller bridal party. This was something that worked for us in keeping it simple.
3. Budget:
Micro weddings can help you save money if you set that as your goal. But keep in mind that in general, weddings cost money. You could buy a decent new car or get a college degree for the cost of a wedding. $$$
The wedding industry tries to sell you every little adorable detail you could find a way to justify. And you should have those details that are important. In contrast, you need priorities and self-control. You can decide how and where you put your money into making your day turn out how you want it.
My friend Nicole’s husband commented after their wedding that they could have furnished their living room for the cost of flowers at the wedding. But these flowers are gorgeous!!! Flowers light up all the photographs with a pop of color.
Fresh flowers can be a necessity for many because nothing really compares to the feelings that fresh flower arrangements bring. If you are looking to be more mobile, you may want to consider alternatives or have a plan for delivery and travel. Bouquets travel well but table and decoration arrangements require set up and more cost. Dried flower bouquets can be less expensive however, they are incredibly fragile.
Even though I found an off-the-rack wedding dress I loved, alterations cost almost as much as the dress. The lady who did my alterations in her home was very skilled and the bustle turned out really well. My entire bridal look ended up being one of the most expensive parts of the budget besides the food. It was worth it!
Micro wedding can still cost as much as you make it cost, the bottom line is it comes down to your priorities and what you decide is best for you.
2. Attire:
Be prepared that Mother Nature presents some unforeseen circumstances you may have to navigate. I had a long veil that kept blowing into a bush as I was hiding from the groom before the ceremony. It got stuck in a branch a few times. A nearby hiker saw the situation and was ready to help if needed.
If you get married outside, you will have to let go of keeping the bottom of your dress completely clean and consider against high heels. I wore comfy pair of purple tieks with my dress and it was perfect. I enjoy wearing them as part of my wardrobe today.
4. Transportation:
Traveling to places in the mountains adds another dynamic to guide or limit your guests. Consider mobility issues for elderly guests and car seats and safety for young children.
We chose to provide transportation for our guests so we could keep the timing of everything moving forward. It was a good plan because our public location was near hiking trails, and it was busy that day.
Even with a traditional wedding timeline, you never know where the events of the day will lead and what interesting photos you can get to remember. Even in the small town of Hartington, Nebraska, at my friend Katrina’s wedding, we found a stop at the fair.
5. Simplicity & DIY:
Although there are so many amazing cost-saving or creative DIY wedding ideas out there, be cautious about what you commit to. Flowers are very costly, and they die. How many centerpieces do you remember from weddings you’ve attended and what happens to them after?
I remember Melissa & Robbie’s centerpieces were gorgeous and fit them as a couple and their theme very elegantly. Simple but effective. Not a lot of extra planning but a big impact.
I get it. You have a vision and there are a lot of great ideas out there you CAN do yourself. They may save money or be unique, however, it is added stress and TIME of tasks to complete. Some things are absolutes that you are willing to put time and effort in and some things can be forgotten.
Being on a time crunch can put a damper on the process. Limit yourself to one or two DIY ideas or aspects of the wedding you do yourself to satisfy your creative needs and let the others go.
I still have lavender all over the inside of the trunk from these mason jar lavender tea lights I made for tables at the brewery. It was very time-consuming but made me feel like I contributed something. They didn’t remain looking like this by the time we drove back to Colorado but my trunk smells amazing!
6. Wedding Planners:
I’m a little embarrassed admitting this, but I thought wedding planners were unnecessary and expensive before planning my wedding. Even though I have been to several weddings, I feel that I’m creative and smart and I can get this done.
Reality check: you really need someone to facilitate the day who can organize and get everyone in place. It’s too much responsibility to take on yourself. Especially if you follow the tradition of people not seeing you before the ceremony – you must trust that all the details will get into place without you being there.
(P.S. Don’t take on the extra DIY projects and focus!)
7. Be Present, Time will fly:
My sister-in-law told me at the beginning of planning, “Enjoy it because it will go fast.” She was so right. Desiree helped me with a lot of details including some of our wedding favors like these adorable honey jars with lavender.
It’s easy to get caught up in the whole process and all the options. You may worry about this or that unresolved aspect of your planning process. People will ask you questions about stuff you haven’t figured out yet that may be stressing you, and it’s all with good intentions and support.
At the end of the day, it’s you and your partner and your commitment. The rest will work itself out. If one little detail turns out differently than you imagined, it’s likely you are the only one who noticed.
I ordered a lot of items off Etsy for the wedding, including my wildflower bouquets that were shipped from a shop in England. Due to some of the supply chain issues post covid and the fact that I apparently did not select the option to track my package, I was concerned I was not going to have my flowers in time and I would have to re-order or find another last-minute option.
I had spent hours on Etsy looking up flower ideas and sticker designs for the invites. Seriously.
After giving my fiance’ the rundown of my worries on what we were going to do about these flowers on our Zoom date and the next day after work going for a long walk to relieve my stress from a day of checking the Etsy app on the hour, I came home to a package from the Royal Mail on our porch. The flowers were beautiful, and all was well. I spent a lot of energy worrying about nothing.
It’s easy to get caught up in little insignificant things in the grand scheme of what’s happening. You are starting a life with your partner. Flowers can wait. Your engagement is a special time that will pass in a flash. Enjoy these moments and laugh about these details that won’t make a difference later.
Conclusion on Micro Weddings:
Whether you decide to have a micro wedding as we did or go bigger with a more traditional route, we hope that sharing our journey helps inspire ideas and gives more clarity to your wedding planning journey! Congratulations and we wish you the best!
Cheers! Leah & Jorge
