By having a small wedding, you and your fiancé can explore your own sense of style and come up with a unique reception that your guests will remember.

Here are some questions to help you create a unique reception:

1. Do you enjoy any hobbies? How can you incorporate them into your reception? Perhaps you and your sweetie love the water: What about a nautical theme, or a wedding aboard a yacht. Maybe you are history buffs. Why not have your wedding at a favorite historical site, and bring historical elements into your wedding reception?

2.  Do you have a unique cultural background? Why not incorporate some of the culture’s unique traditions into the ceremony and reception? Everything from the attire to the menu could reflect your heritage.

3. Do you have a fondness for a particular season or holiday? If you love the winter, have a winter wonderland wedding theme. If the fall is more your thing, bring a harvest theme into your celebration.

4. Do you enjoy the arts? You could bring artistic elements into your décor by getting married at an art gallery. The wedding reception could even include a guided tour of the gallery.

5. Do you love the outdoors? Holding an outdoor wedding reception at one of your favorite outdoor haunts could be a soul-satisfying experience.

6. Do you love to travel? You could bring your love of travel into your wedding by having a destination wedding. If you’d rather stay put for your nuptials, name tables after places you’ve visited, and offer foods from some of your favorite destinations.

7. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Why not have a unique restaurant reception there?

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What better way to celebrate the pending arrival of spring than with a DIY centerpiece tutorial using spring flowers? This is an excellent 20-page tuturial from Epicurious (complete with pictures), on how to make three different centerpieces that you could use for your wedding tables. I’m sure you could save a bundle by taking the DIY centerpiece approach. Check it out.

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Just the other day I was singing the praises of consumable wedding favors. Then I found these Oreo Truffles made with Oreo Cookies. Wouldn’t these make divine DIY wedding favors? Place them in a lovely box with ribbon and presto – your guests will love you. I discovered them on Whismy Love and I’ve been dying to make some of my own. I enjoyed the step-by-step photo tutorial on Whimsy Love (especially the Oreo truffle smile photo). Check it out. The recipe is from Recipeazzar.

All you need is:

1 package of OREOS (Whimsy Love  HIGHLY recommends the double stuff mint ones. The truffles made from these are TO DIE FOR, she says.)
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb. of milk chocolate
1/2 lb. of white chocolate

Go to Whimsy Love for further directions – and enjoy!

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Alexa , 35 & Scott, 45

Bailey Island, Maine

Wedding Date:  June 28, 2008

Number of Guests: 33

Wedding Ceremony Location:  Driftwood Inn, Bailey Island, ME

Wedding Reception Location:  Driftwood Inn, Bailey Island, ME

Why did you have an intimate wedding?

For me, I just couldn’t picture myself as the center of attention at a huge affair.  Also, Scott had been married once before in a very large, formal wedding and we both agreed that spending that kind of money on a wedding is silly.  We paid for the wedding ourselves, with the exception of the photographer, which was our wedding gift from my parents.  We’d purchased a house 6 months before the wedding and had other priorities for how we wanted to spend our money.

 What are some the challenges that you faced planning an intimate wedding?

I think in most ways, having a smaller wedding seemed easier.  My only concern was potentially hurt feelings from friends who were not invited.

 Was it difficult to pare down the guest list?

Not at all!  In fact, before we decided to have a small wedding we made a guest list for a smallish-moderately sized wedding for over 100 people.  That was actually harder because it was harder to draw the line on who to invite.  Do you invite everyone who invited you to their wedding?  Do you invite close work colleagues?  With a super-small wedding, the criteria was very simple: immediate family members and those friends who have been like brothers/sisters.  My own litmus test was: Am I going to care if I fall down, pass out or suddenly find myself standing naked in front of these people?  If the answer is no then they make the guest list!

 Did you have any ‘issues’ with the small guest list from friends and family? If so, how did you address them?

My mother wanted to invite distant relatives to whom she is close and to whom she felt a reciprocal obligation.  I explained that I hardly knew them and wanted only those people that Scott and I were very close to. She understood and let it go.

 What were the highlights of the ceremony?

My brother performing the ceremony as “reverend” for a day!

 What were the highlights of the reception?

The food!  We decided that good food and drink were our number one priority and it’s where we chose to focus the bulk of the budget.  Happily, our caterer knocked it out of the park.

 What was the best thing about having an intimate wedding?

The best thing about having a small wedding was being able to spend quality time with our guests.

What advice do you have for couples who are considering an intimate wedding?

Of all the people I’ve talked to, I’ve never heard anyone who had a small wedding express regrets for not having had a larger wedding.  The same cannot be said in reverse!  I’ve talked to many people who said that if they could do it over again they would have done something smaller.  My other piece of advice is to pay for the wedding yourself, if at all possible.  It is easier to stand firm in your decisions if you are the host of the event.

 Vendors:

Caterers – Henry and Marty, Brunswick, Maine

Photographer – Andree Kehn

Venue: Driftwood Inn, Bailey Island, Maine

Photos: Andree Kehn

A demo on how to make a branch and bird’s nest DIY centerpieces for your wedding from the Canadian Steven and Chris show. I’m not crazy about the bird’s nest favors with the french soaps (who is actually going to use these teeny soaps?) wrapped in cellophane. I think there are much better favor ideas out there, but I think the tutorial on the DIY centerpiece is worth watching. You could really make this DIY wedding idea your own by decorating the branches any way you like. You could paint the branches silver and add sparkly snowflakes for a winter wedding, or paint the branches gold and add faux leaves in autumn hues for a fall wedding. The ideas are limitless.