Backyard Virtual Wedding | Tiffany + Patrick
Anytime, anywhere, anyway that you choose to marry your best friend will be special.
Not all weddings have to be the standard, traditional affair we’ve all grown accustom to. Often weddings are hours of getting ready, plenty of time for formal portraits, a ceremony with 100+ guests witnessing (in person) say I do, cocktail hour, dinner, followed by hours of dancing and celebrating.
But who made these rules?
Fact is, there are no rules to what weddings have to be. Who decided a wedding has to look like your mom’s, your bestie’s or your sister’s? Did you want to get married in 2020 but mean ole quarantine has thwarted your plans? Maybe it doesn’t have to… maybe there’s a way you can still get married and it can still be a truly special moment.
Maybe, for the time being at least, it’s time to rethink weddings.
Sit down with your fiancé and determine why you are getting married and what truly matters to you as a couple. Weddings don’t have to be the traditional wedding day, they can be anything you need them to be. (Did we just accidentally quote a Batman movie?)
Weddings can be small, personal, and still be an emotional, remarkable moment all while still being absolutely beautiful. A wedding should always be more about your marriage more than about a party. Although having a big celebration is a lot of fun, at times like these, it can simply be a beautiful moment you dedicate to spending your life to your best friend… and then followed by a big celebration, if you choose, whenever time allows.
With the state of the world, this “trend” of smaller weddings is becoming a much more popular subject. You may have seen the terms “elopement”, “virtual wedding”, “zoom wedding”, “micro wedding”, “mini wedding”, etc. For sake of having an easy name to reference all types of smaller wedding gatherings, we have dubbed the term, “petite wedding.” Plus it sounds cute, doesn’t it?
Let us introduce you to how beautiful and special a petite wedding can be…
Tiffany and Patrick were supposed to get married Spring 2020 when, well… you know, Corona happened. Who could have ever predicted a global pandemic would so drastically alter their plans? They rescheduled to September 2020, but with an upcoming cross-country move, the future of events being unclear, they decided why wait any longer? There’s no guarantee of tomorrow.
Why not have a petite wedding to make it official and then celebrate safely with friends and family in Fall 2021.
Patrick’s childhood backyard was the perfect location where both sets of parents could join them as well as some of their siblings. They also live streamed on Zoom for about 40 of their friends and family. We were lucky enough to be invited along to capture the special moments in person (don’t worry, we wore masks and kept our distance).
Tiffany walked down the aisle toward her husband to be, arm and arm with her parents, simply glowing! In a short, yet special ceremony, they said “I do” and rushed to share the excitement with their Zoom guests! With a speaker playing, they shared their first dance and a dance with each of their parents. With a POP, they poured champagne as her father gave a speech along with a few friends via Zoom. Cake was shared and then a fond farewell to their Zoom guests to complete the festivities! It was truly special getting to witness such sweet moments between these two. You could still feel the emotion of the family in attendance, but also the excitement through the laptop!
Afterward, they graciously gave us about 30 minutes for portrait time which we simply wandered their neighborhood and found beautiful spots. A kind neighbor even offered up the view from her backyard for the photo you see above. As we thanked her when we were leaving, she said it was the “least she could do.” Kind hearts like this are what’s going to get us through this time.
Tiffany and Patrick’s closest friends and still got to be nearby, but stood a safe distance to witness them say “I do!”
Additionally, Tiffany and Patrick invited their friends to join them on Zoom for their wedding. The set up a laptop near the ceremony and family and friends could watch from home.
Just look at the pure joy and excitement for being married and getting to share with their friends and family on Zoom.
Think small weddings can’t have traditions? It’s your wedding day, you can do any traditions you want.
Tiffany and Patrick decided to have a first dance and share a dance with their parents.
Think you can’t have the traditional formalities of a wedding like champagne toasts and cake cutting? We challenge you to think again!
Tiffany’s dad gave a lovely toast followed by friends who gave a couple on Zoom! The positive energy was contagious!
Would it be a wedding without cake? I mean, sure, it still totally could be. Especially if cake isn’t your thing, have whatever is your thing!
As we went out into the neighborhood to capture their portraits, they were surprised by friends who came by to socially distance celebrate their virtual wedding!
We can guess you’re probably concerned that your portraits may not look the same as they would on a traditional wedding day. We hope these images will prove otherwise! We can still take beautiful portraits from 6 feet away! We can talk you through exactly what you need to do without touching you. All of these photos were taken in their backyard or mere steps away from the house, in the neighborhood.
As long as there is good light, we can capture it in a way that will be a beautiful memory of this time in your lives.
Worried about getting great photos of your mini wedding? It doesn’t take much to get great portraits! All of these photos were taken in this little path in their neighborhood just next door to where they got married.
As is our tradition, we couldn’t skip taking a photo with our couple! Since we can’t hand the camera to someone, so we selfied it!
Have questions? Need help planning something like this? We are here for you! We are working on more resources to help you have an alternative small wedding, but until we do, feel free to reach out! Email us (hello@thevondys.com), or DM us on instagram!
We want to help you have a beautiful wedding day.
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