Sophie (Chanko) Dare

I've had countless ideas and visions for what I thought our wedding would look like over the past couple of years, but of course, I never thought I'd be getting married under circumstances like this.

My fiancé and I love our friends, and we love partying with them. Whether that means having a dinner party, cracking open some hard ciders, and watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie, or playing music and hanging out at our pastor's house, it's always a wonderful thing spending time with big groups of people. So, we always envisioned having a wedding reception in a big hall, with a DJ, dancing and sweating and laughing the night away.

Now, with the countdown ticking down to June 5th, 2021, having that reception hasn't been possible for a long time, and still won't be possible for the near future.

It was really hard to give up the idea of partying for our wedding day. But as I tried to begin planning, I was so overwhelmed by the threat of being canceled that I just didn't want to deal with the risk. We're taking an intimate approach now, with only 30 people attending our wedding – immediate family, grandparents, pastors, and a few close friends for the bridal parties.

With the size and scale of the celebration settled, I'm actually really excited to move forward! We've got a beautiful little event space lined up that's going to be perfect for a reception dinner – and even better, we get to have the ceremony in our home church, which is very small, and if our guest list was any bigger, we wouldn't be able to have it there.

So, even though it's difficult not being able to invite all of our closest friends and family members, there are plenty of blessings that will come along with our micro-wedding. I'm so excited to plan our menu, put together our decor for the spaces, and take engagement photos! Stay tuned, I'm looking forward to posting whatever else I can in this fun engagement stage.

Thanks for reading!