What is the difference between an elopement, a pop-up wedding, a micro wedding, a small wedding and a traditional wedding for the masses?

The difference is determined by a few factors, such as your budget, number of guests and wedding location.

It all comes down to what you would like for your wedding day, your values and what is most important to you. Envision a wedding day where you feel most at ease, relaxed and carefree. Think of your ideal wedding vibe, the mood and emotions. This will determine the style of wedding most suited to you.

Whether you are eloping or having a huge wedding with 300 guests in a formal setting, your wedding can be everything you wish it to be and will still have beautiful wedding attire, bouquet, wedding rings and a personal ceremony.

Wedding traditions are evolving and we are becoming more creative with our wedding plans than ever before. So which style of wedding suits you best?

Personal elopement captured by Terri Hanlon Photography

An elopement is all about you two and no-one else.

Firstly, learn about what it means to elope!

Your two witnesses, Celebrant and Photographer to capture your intimate moment, and that’s it. An elopement ceremony is non-traditional and the focus is entirely on you without all the distractions from the elements of a typical wedding. Your elopement choices are endless because you have the freedom to do what you wish. It’s flexible and very relaxed, can be planned quickly and easily and can occur at any time of the week because you don’t need to be concerned about guests. You may not even need a permit for your chosen ceremony location.

A pop-up wedding is effortless, budget friendly and stress free.

Pop-up weddings are all about convenience and ease. You just show up and say I do because a team of expert wedding vendors have chosen your ceremony location, managed all the details and brought your wedding day together for you. This style of wedding is so easy to plan remotely and quickly, yet is still beautifully styled, designed and planned on your behalf.

Precious moment at Sandalford Winery, Western Australia courtesy of Melissa’s Photography

A micro wedding is sharing with 10-15 of your absolute nearest and dearest.

A micro wedding includes all the typical wedding elements such as a ceremony structure, guest list and reception. Your wedding and reception location may be restricted because you need to consider your guests. Your short and sweet ceremony will be followed by a cocktail hour or high tea style reception for a couple of hours and then perhaps dinner and/or dancing well into the night. Micro weddings are quite easy to plan because of your small guest list.

A small wedding is celebrating with 30-80 of your closest family and friends.

Traditional wedding formalities start to kick in with small weddings with more consideration given to the ceremony and reception locations and this mostly due to your larger guest list. A ceremony rehearsal is required for the likelihood of a bridal party. You may need to consider a wedding day timeline to keep the ball rolling. Reception venue is booked for either stand up cocktail style reception or a formal 3 course menu and bar tab. Most likely, your ceremony location will require a permit if it is held in a public space. You will need to consider a weekend day to ensure the majority of your guests are free to attend.

A traditional wedding is celebrating on a grand scale!

All the bells and whistles! With 80-500 of your family members, Aunties and Uncles, cousins, school friends, Uni friends, work colleagues…the ante is next level with formal sit down meals, speeches by numerous people, your first dance, farewells at the end of the evening, formal timeline to keep guests on track with the days proceedings, entertainment such as a DJ and MC and family members wanting to be more involved in your wedding day plans. Your ceremony and reception venues are booked well in advance to accommodate large guest list and a permit is required which adds to your budget. Large weddings generally occur on weekends to accommodate your guests attendance. You may need to consider hiring a wedding planner to coordinate your entire wedding day.