Any Fool Can Spend it

By Lizzie Smithson

Christina has her own Ten Reasons to Have a Small Wedding. I thought I’d offer 10 more good reasons to snip, snip, snip.

1. Rush Order

With fewer people and details to oblige, you’ll have the option to cut down your time-line. Want to be married by this time three months from now? Not if you have 150+ guests, you don’t.

2. Spare Feelings

With a small wedding, you have an easy out to tell people who aren’t invited. If you’re having a large gathering, it gets a little harder to tell them why they didn’t make the cut.

3. Have a Lavish Honeymoon

It’s inevitable during the planning process to, at some point, want to speed up to the honeymoon. Have the getaway you pictured in your mind with more money available to spend and less worry on your brow while you enjoy the time away.

4. Leave the Option for a Destination Wedding

Whether your dream is getting married on the beach or eloping at city hall, you leave the option open with a smaller guest list. Asking 150+ people to travel or fit within city hall is a bit trickier.

5. Have a Moment Alone with Your New Spouse

Stop. Soak it in. It’s not something many couples get to do on their wedding day because of stress, obligatory conversations and details they have to manage and take care off. Take a moment to enjoy each other on your wedding day, because that’s what it’s all about, right?

6. You Don’t Have to Make Small Talk with Mere Acquaintances

You don’t care to meet up with that one friend you had from way back when (even though she is on your Facebookfriends list)  – especially on your wedding day. Your second cousin that you haven’t seen in ten years? Not interested. And what about that handful of co-workers who bore you to tears? With a small wedding, there is no pressure to include them.

7. Keepsake Photos

With too many guests, it could be something like herding cats to get the keepsake family photos you will someday want. If you don’t want them now, mom & dad, grandparents and children someday will.

8. Go Green

Save the rainforests! Save the polar bears! Save the cheerleader…Wait. There is an exceptional amount of waste that is involved with weddings. With less people, you’ll have less paper to send out (saving you from writer’s cramp in the thank you note arena as well), less food, less trinket favors and less waste all around. You’ll also have a pretty fool-proof out for those that question their lack-of-invitation…because who will argue with a polar bear?

9. You Can Cut Loose

With your friends and family in a comfortable setting, you’ll feel free to dance, play music you actually like and celebrate like you just got married.

10. It’s a Wedding, Not a Reunion

There’s no need to pay $30-$100 per head for dinner to rekindle old friendships. It may seem like a good idea when you’re planning, but when you’re sharing your first kiss as a married couple and Suzy-in-Everyone’s-Business stares at you with that I’m-totally-tweeting-this smile, you’ll wish you had chosen closer friends and family to share your day with.

I think the environmental reasons alone are reason to have a small wedding. That said, I agree with every point on this list...not to mention all of those extra people you could invite (acquaintances, office folk, 2nd cousins) might not even want to go because they'll feel obligated to buy you a wedding gift and by next year they probably won't really remember your wedding. I went to a giant wedding a few years ago. 300ish people, I was an acquaintance, I can't even remember what I ate. I can't even remember if I liked the food. I didn't really know anyone there at all, so I spent most of the time being a wall flower. I don't remember what the bride's new last name is. And I've never seen the bride again. 

Scott Outdoor Amphitheatre, Swarthmore College, PA. Designed by Thomas Sears and completed in 1942. 

2ft high retaining walls are made from layers of local schist slabs and the randomly spaced trees are Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree) and Quercus alba (White Oak).

I love the idea of a ‘turf proscenium floor’ and it looks like a great place to learn. I can imagine this kind of space would conform to the theories of design laid out in ‘A Pattern Language’ by Christopher Alexander…

http://tclf.org/landscapes/scott-outdoor-amphitheater

Zeke the puppy had an allergic reaction to some grass and broke out in hives so he wasn’t feeling very well. Winston the kitty decided to give Zeke some love and affection to try and make him feel better. Doesn’t get much sweeter than that!