Minimalism is a concept that is generally used in art including sculptures, paintings, and music; however, it is also a lifestyle that many are choosing to adopt. People will sometimes mistakenly believe that minimalism means going without, but the concept of minimalism is that less is more, and a minimalistic lifestyle has a lot of benefits. Fewer things mean less to clean, less stress, and often more time.
Choosing a minimalistic lifestyle doesn’t necessarily require that you sell everything you have and move into a tiny home, or that you live a completely minimalistic lifestyle at all. You can choose to approach certain aspects of your lives with minimalism while still living life as normal. Whether you live a minimalist lifestyle or not, one event in your life that you can benefit from approaching with minimalism is your wedding.
Weddings get expensive, they get complicated, and they get busy. Weddings are planned around other people, catered to guests, and focused on those in attendance, yet the whole purpose is to celebrate you and your fiancé coming together as one. By taking a minimalistic approach, you can reduce some of the wedding costs, (which average about $33,391 in the US), and refocus the day on what’s most important—you and your intended. The following tips will help you have a minimalist wedding that lacks nothing.
When Planning
Instead of buying magazines and filling notebooks with ideas and creating Pinterest boards full of potential possibilities, try coming up with one idea and sticking with it. As great as Pinterest and other websites can be, they have so many ideas that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Instead, try brainstorming offline and using online boards as little as possible.
Additionally, instead of trying to use text, different sheets, email, and all other sorts of mediums to communicate with the wedding party and involve them in their planning, try using a site that allows you to create a group and do all of the communicating through there. It will simplify things, keep it all in one place, and help you feel more in control.
The Venue, Flowers, and Décor
There are hundreds of beautiful venues to choose from, but many will require some dressing up to suit your wedding. This can get expensive and require that you buy and store a lot of supplies to decorate a room for one day. Instead, consider an outdoor venue or a church where minimal decorations are required and you can rely on the beauty of the venue itself to set the scene. This will reduce the number of decorations you need, the flowers, and any other accents, etc. and help you better focus on walking down the aisle.
The Guest List
Naturally, you’ll want your immediate family, your aunts and uncles, grandparents, close cousins, and close friends to be there, but do you care about having your mom’s second cousin twice removed and his kids show up? Ultimately, the only people that need to show up are you and your fiancé. Instead of opening up the guest list to those you barely know—even at the request of your mother or future mother-in-law—keeping it to those you are close with and interact with regularly will help you keep the guest list to a minimum and make things less complicated.
The Dress and Tux
When it comes to the wedding dress or the tuxedo, you may not want to go minimalist, and that’s okay. You should feel as good as you’ve always dreamed of on your wedding day. Even if you want a big, dramatic ball gown, though, there are ways that you can save money. For example, try shopping online—it’s not as scary as it used to be, and you can find great deals on a dress you love. If you’re not dead set on a tuxedo, you could try finding a nice tie that will go with a classy suit that you already own or can borrow from a friend to keep costs low but still look snazzy.
Go Simple on the Gifts
There’s no reason to overdo it on the gift packages you give to the wedding party. Something simple, useful, and thoughtful is all you need. Customized groomsmen socks from No Cold Feet are inexpensive, thematically on-point, and will definitely get used.
The Menu
Weddings are steeped in tradition, but not all need to be followed. For example, there’s no rule that says you have to serve a meal to your guests between the ceremony and reception. You can keep things simple by serving a classic like chocolate covered strawberries or offering a veggie tray as a savory option.
In addition, serving only water will keep guests refreshed and costs low. If you do want to serve alcohol, keep it simple by serving only one kind. There will be less stress, organization, and maintenance required in addition to lower costs.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of benefits to a minimalistic lifestyle, but even if you don’t want to live a minimalist life, you can choose to live certain aspect minimally. For example, taking a minimalist approach to your wedding can help you enjoy the benefits of minimalism (like simplicity, less stress, and lower costs), but have a beautiful wedding that you won’t ever forget.
Would you take a minimalist approach to your wedding?