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Micro Wedding Advice for your South Bend Wedding

Micro Wedding Advice that Just Makes Sense

Who am I? My name is Wes and I am the lead photographer of Westley Leon Studios out of South Bend Indiana. I’ve been photographing weddings for 8 years now and absolutely love what I do.

Ever since 2020, it changed the way everyone is looking at weddings and a lot more couples are having smaller weddings. It showed people that perhaps smaller is better, it becomes more sentimental and meaningful. Plus you can plan the exact day YOU want, and no one else.

Here’s 5 quick and HelpfulTtips

1. MICRO WEDDINGS = MACRO MEMORIES

I have had a lot of couples tell me while they absolutely loved their larger than life wedding day, they more often felt like it was one someone else crafted and they more-so went along with it. With things like huge guests counts, family, traditions, and even social media, the pressure and price tags can sometimes get out of hand.

With a minimal guest list and timeline, you’re able to stop and enjoy every single bit of the wedding day you two personally want.

 

2. THE GUEST LIST YOU ACTUALLY WANT!

You get to invite only the amazing people within your lives that are truly important to you. Typically it can be quite difficult to see everyone at a wedding with 150 – 300+ guests.  With hundreds of fewer guests, you’ll get to spend time with every single person that matters to you.

It’s the family that matters and the friends that are so close that they feel like family. You get photos with the people that matter and time with the ones you care about.

 

3. MORE MONEY IN THEM POCKETS!

With all the changes happening right now, couples are able to save so much money and spend it in other places they might not have thought possible previously. It opens up a lot of chances for you to do more of what you want.

4. GET MARRIED WHEREVER!

Now that the gloves are off and there’s really no rules anymore, locations are where ever T.F you want it to be! Since you don’t have 250 people coming, you don’t have to worry about the location to house them all.

Want to get married in a forest? How about a local arcade? Favorite restaurant? Seriously, it’s all potentially possible now that the guest list is a lot lighter. We can also have a bit more creative fun with photos too.

5. PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY + VIDEO TO REMEMBER THE DAY

Usually, during a typical wedding day, there are a ton of things to do and sometimes a firm timeline in place. With smaller weddings, you gain so much freedom. You can schedule exactly when you want everything to take place and not when 12 other vendors say so.

Which means we can schedule your ceremony and portraits whenever you want. With Micro Weddings you can schedule it right as we’re given beautiful light, instead of during non-flattering lighting conditions. Since it’s low stress, no pressure small guest count, you really just get to enjoy everything without a care in the world all while I photograph from afar.

SO HOW DO YOU PLAN THE BEST MICRO WEDDING?

Here are a few of my suggestions:

Choose that location you know you want. All the rules are gone as to how you should do things. Want to get married in a majestic forest and then rent out your local Taco Place for the reception? Do WTF you want.

Tons of businesses are needing to figure out new and creative ideas to use the spaces they have. Doesn’t hurt to ask. ?‍♂️ With such a drop in the guest count, you can spend some of that saved money by bringing in some amazing vendors. Whatever your ideas might be, doesn’t hurt to try.

Tips To Get the Best Micro Wedding Photos

  1. Schedule your ceremony when the lighting is best for photos. Usually, 2 hours or so before sunset will make for some beautiful light for your images.
  2. Hire a Wedding Photography (aka, me! ?). 2 – 4 Hours of Coverage is about all you’ll need. This will cover some of the getting ready, candids of you and your loved ones, the ceremony, family/friends photos, and gorgeous portraits of just the two of you.
  3. Keep it simple
  4. Love the location
  5. Invite only the top tier people within your life.

My photography style is more candids than anything but we’ll also craft some beautiful portraits of you two as well.

If all of this sounds good and you’d be interested in chatting more and working together, please be sure to send an email via the contact form below and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

I am a wedding photographer in the South Bend, Notre Dame & Valparaiso area but can also travel where ever I am needed. Chicago is not far either so feel free to drop a line.

Thank you SO much and I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Wes

micro wedding, small wedding, covid wedding, backyard wedding, south bend, valparaiso, indiana, notre dame, wedding photographer near me

 

 

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