You’ve been engaged for two weeks and already the guest list is spiraling out of control.

“We went to Cousin Steve’s wedding in Dallas four years ago, we have to put him on the list.” “Yes, but if we do that, we have to add Uncle Mike’s whole family or we’ll never hear the end of it at the next family reunion.”

Had a similar conversation? I know my wife(-to-be) and I did. She has over 40 cousins, and it’s a tight family. Yikes - recipe for a huge wedding (we ended up with 100 - seemed like a lot more, though).

Keeping the ceremony and reception small has many, many benefits.

Many of those benefits are environmental - less consumption, less waste, less impact and so on. Other benefits are cost control measures, but there is one huge benefit to a small gathering that most people don’t consider.

Your wedding day will (not may, but will) be a very busy day of schedules, planning, meeting & greeting, organization and controlled chaos. There will be so much action it’ll be hard to visit with guests and even remember much of the day. Keeping things small gives you the opportunity to actually be a part of your day instead of being swept along in a tide of events and a blur of faces.  You’ll remember the day more, and have more fun.