No. Okay, well, for the most part, no.

You did it! You’ve made it to the last part in our series on micro-weddings, yay! Jon and I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read our posts and watch the videos. We had a lot of fun putting this together and we can’t wait to roll out more content just like this.

In case you need a moment to review everything, I’ve linked the series explainer, along with the first, second and third posts.

In all honesty, we don’t have much to complain about. We had a lot of fun at our wedding. In fact, (humble brag alert) our guests still tell us how much fun they had. And – success! Our insistence on having an open bar came in handy: it’s one of the things many of them remember fondly!

Here’s what we attribute our success to.

Setting the budget right away

If you know how much you want to spend and keep repeating that amount to yourself enough, it makes life so much easier. It’s also important not to settle for things, because you may be able to find a better deal – which is a big help with weddings being so expensive.

Research

Off that last point, we researched the heck out of everything. Venues. Places to buy a suit and dress – I actually bought my dress from a website overseas and managed to get it for 70% off because I snagged it during a Christmas sale! Let the seasons work to your advantage.

Teamwork

We were constantly checking in with each other to see if we could handle the tasks we were responsible for. Never leave your partner hanging. If you’re trying to tackle something and it’s not working, find another way to attack the issue. Be open and honest with what you can and can’t do, and remember, you don’t have to plan the whole thing in one day! We took two weeks before we finalized a plan, and got everything done in the following three-and-a-half weeks. If you do need help, see if family or friends will be able to pitch in.

I think the only thing we thought we could have done better with was to check and see if people we wanted to invite — but couldn’t because they lived too far away — were actually in town. We had a few people who were on our initial list that were actually in Vancouver, but we didn’t know! If you don’t want to leave them off your guest list, it’s better to say something as soon as possible…instead of finding out later you could have invited them but didn’t.

…and that’s a wrap on the series! Thank you so much for reading! We both wish you the best of luck with all of the planning you do leading up to your big day. It might feel like a lot of work…but it is so worth it in the end.

Also remember: a wedding is just one day of your lifetime together. Celebrate the days, months, and years to come!

Our beautiful wedding photos, which are featured heavily throughout this series, were shot by Yinan Scott Shi. If you’re in the Metro Vancouver area, Yinan comes with our highest recommendations for professional photography work for any occasion.