Micro wedding checklist

A micro wedding checklist has twelve steps, not sixty. Decide the headcount first. Then book only what a small day needs: a place, someone to marry you, a photographer, food and something to wear. Six months is plenty. Tick each step below, check which classic vendors you can skip, and send the link to whoever is helping.

Your ticks stay on this device. Print the list when you want a paper copy for the fridge.

Checklist progress bar across 6 months with milestone steps for a micro wedding

Checklist of steps for a six-month micro wedding

The dates below count back from an example wedding on Saturday, May 8, 2027. Swap in your own date and subtract the same number of weeks. Time estimates are ours, based on a small guest list and no planner. They are not industry figures.

Each step has a reason, a due point and a “skip” note where a classic vendor falls away.

Set the headcount cap and the date. 26 weeks out, Nov 7, 2026. About 2 hours. Every price in the plan hangs on one number. Write a cap, not a guess, and agree who is on the list before anyone is told. Skip: save-the-dates, since a short plan goes straight to invitations.
Set the total budget and a cushion. 25 weeks out, Nov 14, 2026. About 2 hours. Small weddings go over in small ways: a rental here, a fee there. Hold some back from day one. The small-budget split for 25 guests shows one way to divide a total.
Book the place. 22 weeks out, Dec 5, 2026. About 6 hours, including tours. A restaurant room, a rented house, a park permit or a family yard all work. Ask the same questions at every venue so quotes line up. Skip: a ballroom-sized venue, chair rentals and shuttle service when your guests fit in one room.
Hire the officiant and ask the county about the license. 21 weeks out, Dec 12, 2026. About 2 hours. Rules for a license differ by place, so ask the clerk what you must bring and how long it stays valid. Skip: a rehearsal. With under 30 guests, a five-minute walk-through on the day does the same job.
Choose a photographer. 20 weeks out, Dec 19, 2026. About 3 hours. This is the one vendor we would keep at every headcount. Ask for a two or three hour package. Skip: the videographer, unless a video is the main thing you want.
Order the food and cake. 18 weeks out, Jan 2, 2027. About 4 hours. Compare a caterer, a restaurant set menu and a family-style meal from a favorite place. Ask each for a per-guest price and a written quote. Skip: a tiered cake. A small cake or a bakery box feeds a small crowd.
Choose what you will wear. 16 weeks out, Jan 16, 2027. About 6 hours. At 16 weeks you are past the point for most made-to-order gowns, which one boutique says take 4 to 6 months to produce. Go off the rack or choose a sample and book a fitting. Skip: a full wedding party wardrobe. Ask your two witnesses to wear something they already own in a color you pick.
Book flowers, music and rings. 12 weeks out, Feb 13, 2027. About 4 hours. A bouquet and two boutonnieres are a small order. For music, a speaker and a playlist you built beat a DJ at this size. Skip: the DJ, the band, centerpieces for every table and a floral arch.
Send the invitations. 8 weeks out, Mar 13, 2027. About 3 hours. One vendor blog suggests 6 to 8 weeks for standard weddings. Ask for a reply by a fixed date, and call anyone who has not answered. Skip: printed programs and a guest book. A text from the officiant covers the order of events.
Write the day-of plan and share it. 4 weeks out, Apr 10, 2027. About 3 hours. Build the hour-by-hour plan for the day and give a copy to every person with a job. Name one helper who owns the clock. Skip: a planner, if you have that helper.
Confirm the headcount and final payments. 2 weeks out, Apr 24, 2027. About 1 hour. Ask the caterer or restaurant for their exact deadline, since it varies. Settle the seating, even if it is one long table. Skip: escort cards and a printed chart under 16 guests.
Do the week-of list. 1 week out, May 1, 2027. About 2 hours. Collect the license, the rings, the vow cards and cash for tips. Pack a small repair kit, then hand final payments to whoever is carrying them. Skip: a hotel block. Tell guests where they can find a room and leave it there.

Example for a 24-guest wedding on Saturday, May 8, 2027. The estimates are ours.

Twelve steps add up to about 38 hours of work. Spread across the 26 weeks, that is roughly 1.5 hours a week. The heaviest weeks are the venue tours (week 22) and the attire hunt (week 16), at 6 hours each.

Steps 1 and 2 fall in the first two weeks, so by week 25 you have a date, a cap and a budget. Steps 3 to 6 follow four weeks apart at most, which keeps the biggest bookings early. Steps 10 to 12 are the quiet last month, with 6 hours between them.

Small round table with candles and eucalyptus garland between two chairs in a bright room, an intimate micro wedding setting — Photo: Lesya Rud, Unsplash

Vendors you can skip, by headcount

Skipping is the main way a micro wedding saves time. This table is our own decision rule, not an industry standard. It marks each classic vendor as skip, optional or keep for three headcount bands.

Table: Classic vendors by headcount band (our decision rules, assumptions below)

Vendor or item	Under 16 guests	16 to 30 guests	31 to 50 guests
Photographer	Keep, 2 hours	Keep, 3 hours	Keep, 4 hours
Planner	Skip	Skip	Day-of helper
Videographer	Skip	Skip	Optional
DJ or band	Skip, use a speaker	Skip, use a speaker	Optional
Hair and makeup artist	Optional	Optional	Optional
Rental company	Skip	Optional	Keep
Printed seating chart	Skip	Skip	Keep
Save-the-dates	Skip	Skip	Skip
Rehearsal dinner	Skip	Skip	Optional

The assumptions are simple. We assume one room, one meal and one ceremony, with no overnight guests. If you add a dance floor or a cocktail hour in a second space, move each row one column to the right.

Does this really count as a micro wedding

The cap is yours to set. One expert guide describes a micro wedding as generally 50 guests or fewer, with an average around 30, and says no exact number qualifies. Other sources draw the line elsewhere. For this page we use 50 as the top of the plan. Read more in the micro wedding guide if you are still deciding what the term covers for you.

Three mistakes that grow a small wedding

Letting the list creep. Plus-ones and “we have to invite them” add up fast. Set the cap in step 1 and write names down. When a name is added, one must come off.

Booking last what costs most. Food quotes shape the whole budget, so step 6 comes early. Do it before you commit to flowers or attire.

Skipping the day-of owner. A small wedding still needs one person who knows the order of events. Pick them in step 10 and hand over the plan. You will not want to run the clock yourself.

If you have less than six months

Compress by merging steps, not by dropping the five essentials.

4 months: Do steps 1 to 3 in the first two weeks. Book the officiant and photographer in the same week. Buy attire off the rack.
3 months: Send invitations by text or email as soon as the place is booked. Order food at the same time as the venue, if the venue offers it.
2 months or less: Hold the ceremony at a restaurant or a courthouse with a meal after. Our last-minute checklist for the final month picks up from there.

Your next steps

Share this page with your partner and decide the cap together. Then tick the first two steps tonight. For a home setting, what a home venue adds lists the jobs a venue would otherwise do. Once you have a number, a guest list template keeps names and replies in one place. If your plan is bigger than this one, the full 12-month wedding planning checklist fits better.

Micro wedding checklist on a dark background with a large 6 months headline above a tilted paper sheet with tick boxes

Save for later

Pin it now and find it when you are ready to plan.

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Questions people ask

What do I need for a micro wedding?

You need five things: a date and a headcount cap, a place, someone legally able to marry you, food, and a way to keep the memories. Attire and a marriage license come with them. Everything else, from a DJ to a cake table, is optional. The twelve steps above cover the five and mark the rest as skippable.

How long does it take to plan a micro wedding?

Six months is comfortable, and our checklist uses it. Our estimate is about 38 hours of work in total, which is roughly an hour and a half a week. Four months works if you pick an off-the-rack outfit and book the place first. Under three months, use the compressed order near the end of the page.

Which vendors can I skip at a micro wedding?

Under 16 guests you can usually skip the planner, videographer, DJ, rental company and printed seating. At 31 to 50 guests we would keep a day-of helper and a sound setup. These are our decision rules, not industry rules. The table above shows each vendor by headcount band, so you can check yours.

How many guests is a micro wedding?

One expert guide puts it at 50 guests or fewer, with an average near 30, and says no exact number qualifies. Other sources draw the line at 25 or 100. We use 50 as the top of this page's plan. If you are above that, the full wedding checklist fits better than this short one.

Do we need a wedding planner for a micro wedding?

Rarely. A planner earns their fee on big guest lists and many moving parts, and a micro wedding has few of either. A better use of money is a day-of helper, a friend or a hired coordinator, who holds the timeline so you can stay in the moment. Under 16 guests, a printed timeline and one helpful cousin is enough.

Sources

www.zola.com/expert-advice/micro-weddings (opens in a new tab) : Micro weddings are generally 50 guests or fewer, with an average around 30 and no strict minimum; the page does not cite a survey, so we treat it as a rule of thumb.
cloudbridal.com/articles/wedding-dress-alterations-timeline (opens in a new tab) : Made-to-order gowns commonly take 4 to 6 months to produce, and a boutique may add a rush fee when the wedding is within about 6 weeks.
www.greenvelope.com/resources/when-to-send-wedding-invitations-and-save-the-dates (opens in a new tab) : Save-the-dates go out 6 to 8 months before a standard wedding and invitations 6 to 8 weeks before; this vendor blog is not a primary source and other guides give earlier dates.

Updated November 5, 2026 by bigdaydesk editorial