Intimate Wedding

kdanii

Hello all,My FI and I were pondering (him more than I) the thought of just having an intimate type ceremony for various reasons before we have our big one which would be in spring time. He first suggested lets go to the court house to make it legal...and my first response was heck NO! so I was hoping that ya'll could suggest some nice venues. Also is it unlikely that ppl do this? I dont think we will be having guests just him and I. Thanks in advance,Kara

Irchik22

What's the rush? If you are already planning a big wedding for the spring, why not just wait?

**Mutley**

So you are going to have two ceremonies?  What are your various reasons?  Are you going to tell your springtime guests that you are already married?    I would say that it is uncommon for people to do this. 

StefandTodd

I think it's pretty uncommon.  If you just want a personal, intimate, you and him ceremony with no guests, why not the courthouse?  I did "throw" together a "wedding" for my best friend and her wife last September.  They had already had a wedding, but needed to make it legal.  Her aunt became ordained and so my friend, her wife, her aunt, me, and my husband were the only one's present.  It was a Saturday, I bought some flowers at Safeway to make her a simple bouquet.  I baked them a cake.  My husband played his acoustic guitar.  My husband and I just drove around our area and found a secluded area that happened to be in front of a bank...there was a water fountain and a bridge and lots of ducks.  It was VERY intimate.  But, given that it was just the 5 of us and the whole thing took all of 10 minutes, we certainly weren't going to book a venue and pay them money.  There are lots of places you could just escape to for a few minutes without being noticed...as long as your Officiate was up for it.  I blogged about this "wedding" for my friend here: http://stefaniek.blogspot.com/2008/10/ready-set-wed.htmlIt was really simple, but totally intimate.  And legal  

tamarajohann

I haven't heard of someone having a private ceremony that far in advance, although I've considered it myself when I get impatient! I have several friends, however, who wanted the ceremony to be just the two of them with a maid-of-honor and best man. They had a private ceremony several days before, and a big reception/party afterward. THe couples I know who did this were very happy with their decision. Good luck deciding, Tammy

cromero49

I've only really heard of this when people are in a rush b/c of military reasons or insurance reasons. You could always have your intimate wedding and then just call it a big reception later on.  Without knowing the actual reasons for wanting an intimate ceremony so early compared to when you want a ceremony for everyone to see it's hard to come up with an answer.  My initial reaction would be to just have the ceremony be private and only invite people to the reception, but have it on the same day or very close to each other.