Great Reasons to Consider Airbnb Wedding Venues

2020 saw the rise of the micro wedding trend, which has continued to soar. As a result, many couples are looking for small wedding ideas at home and using private homes for weddings. However, considering Airbnb wedding venues is a fabulous option. That’s precisely what Traci and Brandon did with gorgeous results.

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Stunning Micro Weddings at Airbnb Wedding Venues

What plans did you have to change?

We had to make some pretty drastic changes. We cut our guest list from about 150 to 15—our immediate family & 2 friends each. However, we were lucky to be able to repurpose several of our previously booked vendors.

We had already booked a mansion on Airbnb to accommodate Brandon’s family for the weekend and host our rehearsal dinner. Thankfully, with my parents living nearby, we were able to accommodate everyone. No one had to stay at a hotel.

The mansion had a beautiful stone fireplace, so we stuck with our plan to get married outside. We also had planned to have the rehearsal dinner catered. Instead, my parents and I cooked a traditional Cajun meal. Crawfish and andouille sausage dip, crawfish jambalaya, and homemade ice cream to be exact. Then we moved the catered dinner to the wedding night.

Micro Wedding at Airbnb Wedding Venues Virginia Richmond

Why did you decide to still go ahead with a micro wedding?

We actually did reschedule. We couldn’t get our money back from our original venue, but we still wanted to celebrate with our friends and family. So we picked the closest available date for the following year. We actually plan to do the whole thing over—ceremony and all.

However, we did not want to wait to start our life together as husband and wife. We felt like everyone who comes to a wedding is there to support your union. We wanted them to still be able to witness that covenant as we renew our vows on 7/2/2021.

Brandon and I had never lived in the same city before we got engaged. Brandon had a two-bedroom apartment, so we were able to make it work. But as Christians, it was a priority of ours to seek purity before our marriage.

Micro Wedding at Airbnb Wedding Venues Virginia Richmond Rings

Living together really challenges us. And while I don’t condone living together before marriage, being able to spend quarantine time together was such a redemptive blessing.

It allowed us time to learn about each other, intentionally prepare for our marriage, and build an extremely strong foundation without outside influence. But we weren’t going to put off saying those vows!

How did your vendors react to the changes?

Our vendors were awesome! While we couldn’t get our money back for the venue, I’m not sure we would have tried. It was always in our plan to celebrate with everyone at some point. Our vendors really did go above and beyond.

Micro Wedding at Airbnb Wedding Venues Virginia Richmond Bouquet

What precautions should guests take at Airbnb wedding venues?

Another reason we decided to move forward with the wedding in Richmond, VA, specifically, was that we had family coming from all over. It ended up being within driving distance for all of the guests. Therefore, no one felt the need to fly (unless they wanted to). We did temperature checks and oxygen level checks during our time together.

What were the pros and cons of considering Airbnb wedding venues?

Pros: You get to spend quality time with those who were there to see you get married. You really had control over what you wanted your day to be and had the flexibility to change things at the last minute if you wanted. Since we are going to do it all over again, I did not have as much anxiety as I thought I would because I felt like if anything went wrong, I was going to get a do-over.

Con: Because it was such a small group, I felt more pressure to entertain the whole weekend and make sure everyone else’s needs were met. We also had to be more hands-on with cooking, decorating, planning, etc. At times, it felt more like a family vacation than a wedding.

Micro Wedding at Airbnb Wedding Venues Virginia Richmond

Did you personally learn anything by having to change your plans?

Throughout the wedding planning process, you compromise on a variety of things to make it all work. Whether it’s adjusting the menu to accommodate your guest count or moving the schedule to make sure everyone has enough time to do things, your original vision will get skewed.

When we were presented with the opportunity to plan a second wedding, we really got to step back and ask, What do we really want? Obviously, COVID put restrictions on even that.

What are you doing about a honeymoon?

Unfortunately, our honeymoon was the first thing to get canceled. We had already booked a trip to Greece, and we still have a credit for it. We are hoping to go next year. Instead, after the wedding, we spent a few days in Wilmington, NC.

Again, we could drive, and we love exploring new cities. I will say that the stress of the wedding and COVID made it harder to wind down afterward. It wasn’t until probably our last day there that I felt the weight start to lift. But it was still lovely to get away & eat at a restaurant (which we hadn’t done in months).