A Montana micro wedding is a special and unique celebration. You get to have all the traditions and fanfare of a larger wedding, but you also get to spend more quality time with your intimate guest count. As Montana wedding planners, we’ve seen that there’s no longer such a thing as a “normal” or “typical” wedding! Our couples love to break the mold and follow their own paths, whether that leads them to a Montana micro wedding, an elopement, or to put their personal stamp on a grand celebration.
One such couple, Sarah and Ben, chose to have a Montana micro wedding in the fall with 30 of their closest people. We love their wedding story because it perfectly demonstrates that you don’t have to sacrifice a thing just because you have a smaller wedding!
From Sarah and Ben’s Glacier National Park adventure session to their Montana micro wedding reception at Great Northern Resort, they truly had the best of all worlds! Come along with us as we take you through the highlights of their day and show you how you can have your dream wedding – Even if it’s not the traditional, large wedding you may be used to!
What is a Montana Micro Wedding?
A micro wedding is defined as a small wedding, typically with 20-50 guests. This type of wedding became popular as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many couples to get creative and have a smaller sized wedding. Now that the pandemic is behind us though, micro weddings haven’t gone anywhere! People came to see the many benefits of having a micro wedding, including:
1. Maximizing Your Wedding Budget
Wedding budget 101: The larger your guest count, the more money it’ll cost! With a Montana micro wedding, you can choose to save money by having fewer people. This will affect your budget for catering, rentals, venue, paper goods (think escort or place cards, ceremony programs, menu cards etc.) and more!
However, many of our couples here at An Epic Elopement particularly love the idea of being able to maximize your wedding budget with a Montana micro wedding. This means that instead of just spending less money on the wedding overall, they are able to intentionally allocate the saved funds towards other areas of the micro wedding. For example, saving catering money means you can spend more on what matters most to you. This could mean plussing up your bridal bouquet, splurging on a designer wedding dress, opting for a live, 10-piece band, hosting a welcome party the night before… or whatever you dream of!
2. Quality Time with Your Guests
Having a more intimate guest count means you actually get to spend quality one-on-one time with everyone in attendance! Rather than saying a quick “hello” as part of a receiving line, you get to have full conversations with them over dinner and capture individual photos with everyone. There’s no rush at all, allowing everybody to truly savor the night together!
3. Have a Destination Wedding
Frequently, couples are hesitant to have a destination wedding because they know a majority of their large guest count won’t be able to travel that far. When you have a smaller guest count, this becomes less of an issue! With a Montana micro wedding, you’ll typically only invite your closest family and friends and it’s easier to make arrangements for a smaller crowd.
For our destination wedding couples, we highly recommend hosting a full wedding weekend! Holding multiple events over the course of three days allows you and your guests to make the most of your time in Montana – and with each other! Start with your rehearsal dinner and welcome party on Friday night. Tie the knot on Saturday and then host a laidback farewell brunch on Sunday. It’s the perfect way to thank your loved ones for making the trip out!
Sarah & Ben’s Glacier National Park Adventure Session:
Sarah and Ben’s Montana micro wedding day started off with an adventure session in Glacier National Park! This is where they held their first look and explored all the wonders that Glacier holds. They made their way through meadows, forests, and down to the lakeside, drinking in the quiet time together before all the wedding festivities began.
As your Montana wedding planners and resident Montana experts, our team can help you plan your perfect wedding timeline! Depending on the time of year, it may be better to have your adventure session in the morning or midday. If you prefer to have your wedding ceremony in the park itself, we guide you through the permitting process. If you want to go on the ultimate, all-day Glacier adventure, we help make arrangements with your photographer for the day after the wedding!
Check out all the fun Sarah and Ben had during their session and get inspo for yours:
Moody Fall Wedding Design:
We love the story of how Sarah and Ben ideated their Montana micro wedding colors! Sarah is an alumna of the University of Texas at Austin and their signature color is burnt orange. Ben is a huge Milwaukee Bucks fan, so it was only natural for him to want to infuse some of their iconic green in. Lucky for them, burnt orange and emerald green are stunning together and the hues also happened to fit the season they had chosen to get married in: Autumn! It seemed all the stars aligned to create this moody fall wedding design, and it turned out beautifully!
We weaved these hues of burnt orange, emerald green, and complementary colors like red, gold, and ivory throughout their Montana micro wedding design. These colors can be seen in the floral on their wedding backdrop, the tablescape centerpieces, the glassware and flatware at each place setting, and their sprawling dessert table. Not to mention Sarah’s gorgeous bridal bouquet!
Plus, as the sun set that evening, the rays cast a dreamy golden glow over everything, illuminating all the colors to make them even more rich and vibrant!
Personalized Wedding Details:
A signature quality of all our couples’ weddings is that they put their own personal touches on their day! Sarah and Ben incorporated many meaningful, personalized wedding details in their Montana micro wedding. We hope that these inspire you to think about how to make your unique mark on your wedding day!
1. Choice of Officiant
Sarah and Ben chose to have their friend officiate their wedding, instead of hiring an officiant. With such an intimate guest count, every person in attendance meant something to them and it was so special to witness their ceremony, performed by someone who personally knew them.
2. Odes to Montana
It was many of the guests’ first time to Montana, which meant that Sarah and Ben wanted to pay a special homage to our beautiful state. They did so by serving Montana-inspired food and beverage, from the Huckleberry Cheese Tarts to their signature drink, a Huckleberry Mule. Huckleberry is the state fruit of Montana, so these were the perfect choice!
3. Sentimental Décor
Sarah and Ben prepared various photos of themselves as kids that our team placed all around the reception. Some frames decorated the cocktail tables while others accented the bar. This touch was both fun and sentimental, especially with their close family present!
A Word from the Bride:
When asked “What was your favorite decor element from the big day?” the beautiful bride shared:
“MY TABLE! Legit, Katie could read into my soul with that one and she is so talented.”
-Sarah
A Word from Katie:
Sarah & Ben, your Montana micro wedding was a dream! I’ll never forget your radiant smiles from that day. It was a joy working together and I’m so glad I get to call you friends! Congrats to you both!
-Katie
Montana Micro Wedding Vendor Team:
Wedding Planner: An Epic Elopement
Venue: Great Northern Resort
Photography: Elsa Eileen Photography
Hair & Makeup: Honey Beauty
Linen: BBJ La Tavola
Floral: Conrad Floral
Catering: The Kopper Kitchen
Cake: Miss Patti Cakes
Rentals: Empress Tents & Events // The Party Store
Restrooms: Quartermoon Restrooms
Invitations & Paper Goods: Minted
Let’s Plan Your Montana Micro Wedding!
Based in Kalispell, Montana, An Epic Elopement specializes in all-inclusive elopements, micro-weddings, and intimate weddings. Here, you get the full experience of having a traditional wedding, but with a little more adventure included!
Are you ready to start your elopement journey? Send me a note describing your vision and let’s make it happen!
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