clubhouse on highland

Bustle Bride: Kelsey Brown Sizemore

It was a beautiful August day when Bustle bride Kelsey Brown Sizemore and her hubby Josh began their happily ever after! Kelsey and Josh met a few years ago through a mutual friend who was Kelsey's roommate at the time. The pair quickly became friends and saw each other at church pretty often, then started dating a year later!

“The whole day was so fun- my favorite part was being with all of our favorite people! It’s amazing to have all of your friends and family together to celebrate you- really humbling. All the bridesmaids and family got ready together at my parents house and I loved sharing that time with all the girls. Josh and I both agree that the music during our ceremony was one of our favorite parts of the day. Several great friends from church played during our ceremony and it was so beautiful and really meaningful for us! ”

Kelsey was such a joy to have in our store, and we so loved helping her find her dream dress! At the end of the day, she couldn't see herself in anything other than her Lis Simon chiffon halter gown.

Expert Tips for a Tiny Wedding

How to Have a Meaningful & Minimalist Wedding

At Tiny Weddings Bham, we are passionate about celebrating romance in the simplest ways. We take the traditional wedding experience and distill it down to the most important and memorable parts. We love big weddings just as much as the next person, but we understand that elaborate celebrations aren’t for everyone. This is where we have found our niche—providing high-end, minimalist weddings full of meaningful details, with some of the top wedding professionals around. For couples working with a smaller budget, or those wanting to keep things peaceful and intimate, we would love to share some of our tips!

A Minimal Guest List

Guest lists can be one of the most painful and stressful aspects of wedding planning. It is important to decide at the beginning how many people you want to have attend your special day. It gets easy for others to tell you who “needs” to be at your wedding - from old family friends, to fourth cousins, to high school friends. But we suggest only inviting those who you have close and meaningful relationships with as a couple. At Tiny Weddings Bham, we limit our guest lists to under 30 people. If that number is too small, just make a list of your closest family members and your closest friends. Even if the number is higher than 30, chances are it will still be south of average guest list of 120.

Meaningful Details

We are here to tell you that your wedding can be upscale and minimalist at the same time. The key is to focus on having beautiful details without going overboard. We encourage you to pick a couple of key areas that you want to emphasize, and do them well. Pick a venue that’s already beautiful, such as an art gallery or historic home. Many smaller event spaces need very little help to be gorgeous. At Tiny Weddings, our efforts go into having a gorgeous altar, a pretty cake table and drink station, and personal flowers—that’s it! We take a few focal points, and we expertly design them so that they really shine. Share with your planner, florist, and photographer your vision for minimal but impactful, and ask them to work their magic in your key areas.

Minimal Food

Food and beverages can easily become the most complicated and expensive aspects of your wedding. The easiest way to keep it minimal is to have your wedding during non-meal hours. Consider having your wedding around 10:00 AM and serving light brunch food like a fruit tray, mini quiche, and mimosas, or having your wedding around 4:00 PM and simply celebrating with cake and champagne! You might be surprised how beautiful minimal food styling can be.

A Minimalist’s Wedding Day Timeline

At Tiny Weddings Bham, we aren’t afraid of hitting the highlights. Our couples have a ceremony, cut cake, toast champagne, mingle with their guests, and then have a photoshoot with the photographer. It’s a simple and relaxed experience that lasts around 2 hours. Some couples host after-parties and we love that idea, too! A wedding day does not have to be a long, marathon day, it can be short and sweet and equally (if not more) intimate and special.

We hope these suggestions for how to have a meaningful, minimalist wedding have been helpful. If having a Tiny Wedding sounds fun to you, we would love to chat! You can contact us or learn more about what we do at www.tinyweddingsbham.com.

 Tiny Weddings Bham is a collaboration of Birmingham’s best wedding professionals, curated to give you an exceptional experience without the huge wedding price tag. We come together once a quarter to provide a short and sweet experience for couples to get married in style.

Vendors:

Tres Beau Weddings

Photos by Heart

Jennifer Woodberry Photography

Gold Leaf Floral

Studio Flower

Swan Lindsey Lettering

Bustle

The Nest

Clubhouse on Highland

Décor to Adore

Bandit Baking Co.

Olexa’s

Pastry Art Bake Shoppe

Savoie Catering

Bustle Bride: Marianne Gurak Miller

We're elated to announce that Marianne Gurak Miller is our newest Bustle Bride feature! She and her hubby Lance tied the knot at First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham on a beautiful Saturday in December, and they danced the night away at the Clubhouse on Highland. 

Marianne was an absolute dream on her special day. We had a great time helping her find the gown of her dreams. She chose a fabulous lace fit & flare gown by Watters, and she looked nothing short of phenomenal on her wedding day! We absolutely loved having her in our shop. She has such an infectious bubbly personality and the kindest spirit. We wish all the best to Marianne and Lance!

"Our wedding day was everything we dreamed it would be! Having all our loved ones under one roof was indescribable! We wanted a 'non-Christmasy' Christmas time wedding. That being said, we gave a fabulous nod to the holidays when the entire reception sang a Christmas carol my grandmother wrote years ago to the tune of Jingle Bells... we had the lyrics printed and handed out on the dance floor. The big group photo happened right after we all sang together- it was one of the best highlights of our big day!" -Marianne Miller

Images courtesy of Amore Vita Photography