Maybe you want the beautiful flowers. For couples dreaming of an intimate celebration, a Florida Keys micro wedding might be the perfect option.

Maybe you still want to get ready at an amazing resort, have your hair and makeup done, pop champagne, wear the dress you’ve been dreaming about, have beautiful portraits together, cut a cake and sit down to an incredible dinner.

If you’re planning a Florida Keys micro wedding or elopement, you can still have all of that, just with fewer people and a lot more freedom to make the day feel like you.

And honestly? You don’t have to.

One of the things I love about micro-weddings and elopements is that having fewer guests doesn’t have to mean having less of a wedding. Sometimes it gives you more freedom to create the wedding you actually wanted in the first place.

And the Florida Keys happen to be one of my favorite places to do exactly that.

You can leave the city behind, bring the people who matter most, get married near the water and turn the whole thing into a few days together instead of one very rushed wedding night.

A micro-wedding gives you permission to simplify, not to remove the moments that matter.

A Smaller Guest List Can Give You More?

Weddings can get expensive very quickly, especially here in Miami and South Florida.

We’re constantly seeing these incredible weddings on social media. The flowers, the fashion, the tables, the venues, all of it. And of course you start thinking, I want that too.

But then the guest list starts growing.

More people means more tables, more food, more flowers, more chairs and more of the budget going toward taking care of everybody else.

And sometimes that means cutting back on the things you really wanted.

That’s why I think more couples are looking at smaller weddings differently.

Instead of giving up the experience, they’re making the guest list smaller.

Maybe now you can stay at the resort you really love. Maybe you can have the flowers you’ve been dreaming about. You can hire the photographer and videographer you really connect with. You can have an incredible dinner or turn your wedding into a weekend with the people closest to you.

That’s what “smaller can feel like more” means to me.

More time together.

More time with your closest people.

More time sitting around a table with people you actually know.

More room in the budget for the things that matter to you.

And more time actually enjoying your wedding instead of trying to make your way around a room saying hello to 200 people.

I’ve photographed intimate weddings where families are coming from different states and even different countries. Sometimes the wedding is one of the first times everybody really gets to spend time together.

So they come in the day before. Maybe there’s a welcome dinner. They spend the wedding day together. The next morning they have breakfast, go out on the water or stay another day.

Now it’s not just a wedding.

It’s time together.

Fewer people doesn’t have to mean less of a wedding. Sometimes it means more of the wedding you actually wanted.

Elopement, Micro-Wedding or Intimate Wedding

There isn’t one official rule for what these have to look like, so let me tell you how I look at them.

An elopement is really centered around the two of you.

It might literally be just the couple. Maybe your parents come. Maybe your siblings. That’s it.

I recently photographed an elopement where the couple had already legally married at the courthouse, but they still wanted to have their own experience and document it.

They got ready together at their hotel. We popped champagne. They had a little cake. We did some fun, slightly editorial photos in the room and then headed over to Vizcaya for their bride and groom portraits.

Afterward, they went to a beautiful restaurant.

Just the two of them.

And I loved that.

That was how they wanted to celebrate their marriage.

They still got dressed up. They still had champagne and cake. They still had beautiful portraits and made the day feel important.

They just did it their way.

A micro-wedding can look much more like what you think of as a traditional wedding.

You can still get ready in separate rooms. The bride can be with her mom and sister while the groom is with his dad, brother or best friend.

You can still do a first look with your dad.

You can still do a first look with each other.

You can have family formals, a ceremony, cocktail hour, champagne, cake, speeches, dinner and your first dance.

It is still a full wedding experience.

There are just fewer people.

Then there are small or intimate weddings. For me, that can easily mean 50, 60 or even around 70 guests and still look like a very traditional wedding.

I actually had around 70 people at my own wedding, and for me it was perfect.

Sometimes a small wedding is simply your wedding, with fewer people.

Your Micro-Wedding Can Still Feel Like a Full Wedding Day

This is something I really want couples to understand.

Just because you’re having 20 people does not mean your wedding needs to feel like a two-hour event.

Maybe you get ready separately at the resort.

You have your first look.

You take your portraits.

You do family photos.

Then you get married by the water and actually join your guests for cocktail hour afterward.

Maybe there’s a champagne tower. Maybe you cut a cake. Your parents give a speech. You have your first dance and then everyone sits down together for dinner.

Or maybe you don’t want all of that.

Maybe your ceremony ends and everybody goes to an amazing restaurant for one long dinner together.

That can be your reception.

You also don’t need bridesmaids and groomsmen just because you’re having a wedding.

Your friends can come as your friends.

And if you’re not the couple who wants to dance until midnight, you don’t have to create a huge dance party because that’s what everybody says a wedding should look like.

Keep what matters to you.

That’s really the beauty of it.

Why the Florida Keys Feel Like a Destination

This is one of my favorite parts.

Once you cross from the mainland into the Keys, everything starts feeling different.

The city starts staying behind you. There’s water, bridges, palms and that island feeling.

You start slowing down.

And this is why even couples who live in Florida can come down to the Keys and still feel like they’re having a destination wedding.

You went somewhere.

Your family and friends can also do so much while they’re there. Boating, fishing, snorkeling, diving, paddleboarding, going to a sandbar, eating at waterfront restaurants or just hanging out by the water doing absolutely nothing. If you want to see what that slower, intimate Islamorada feeling can actually look like, take a look at AnnMarie and Cody’s Three Waters Resort wedding.

And sometimes doing nothing is exactly what you need.

You don’t have to leave Florida to get that Caribbean feeling.

For a micro-wedding or elopement, I think it works even better because everyone can make a little vacation out of it.

Maybe your family comes in early.

Maybe everybody stays another day.

And after your wedding, you don’t necessarily have to pack everything up and fly somewhere else immediately.

You wake up the next morning and you’re already in vacation mode.

Your honeymoon can basically start right there.

Key Largo, Islamorada and Finding the Right Fit

I photograph weddings in both Key Largo and Islamorada, and I really don’t think one is better than the other.

For me, it comes down to the resort or property you fall in love with.

Key Largo is the first major Key you get to from the mainland, so it’s really convenient, especially for people coming from Miami or flying into South Florida.

You have beautiful resorts like Baker’s Cay, good restaurants, stores, and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is right there too.

You’re in the Keys, but you’re still not that far from the mainland.

Islamorada takes you a little farther down.

To me, Islamorada is kind of a sweet spot. Kat and Kenny’s Islander Resort wedding is a great example of how Islamorada can feel like a destination without making everyone travel too far. There are a lot of beautiful resorts, waterfront restaurants, bars and things for your guests to do. It feels a little more like you’ve really gone away somewhere.

And then between the two you have Tavernier too, so there are more choices than people sometimes realize.

I wouldn’t pick Key Largo or Islamorada just because someone tells you one is better.

Look at the resort.

Do you love it?

Do you want everyone staying in the same place?

Do you want to get married right by the water?

Do you want dinner outside?

Do you want something more private or do you want a resort with a lot going on for your guests?

Pick the experience first.

The Key usually follows.

You Don’t Need a Traditional Wedding Venue

This is another place where a smaller wedding gives you so many options.

You don’t need a giant ballroom.

I’ve photographed a micro-wedding at Playa Largo where the ceremony was by the beach and dinner was outside under bistro lights and the stars.

It was beautiful.

And because there weren’t 200 people, they didn’t need to move everyone into a ballroom afterward.

Restaurants are another option couples sometimes don’t think about.

You can reserve a private room, part of a restaurant or even a rooftop and have cocktails, dinner, cake and your celebration there.

There are also smaller boutique properties throughout the Keys where everyone can stay closer together and the whole weekend feels a little more private.

The venue doesn’t need to look like what everybody thinks a “wedding venue” is supposed to look like.

It just needs to work for what you want.

Photography Coverage Is About the Experience, Not the Guest Count

Every Florida Keys micro wedding is different, which is why I build the photography timeline around what matters to you.

This question comes up a lot.

“Claudia, there are only 20 of us. Do we really need eight hours?”

And my first question would be:

Tell me what you’re dreaming about.

Because I don’t decide your photography coverage based on how many people are coming.

I need to know what you want captured.

Do you want getting-ready photos?

Are your details important to you?

Do you want those beautiful solo portraits in your room before we go outside?

Do you want photos with your mom? Your sister?

Do we need time with the groom and his parents?

Are you doing a first look with your dad?

Are you doing a first look with each other?

How much time do you want for your portraits?

How many family groupings are important to you?

Do you want photos with all the guests who came?

Then what happens after the ceremony?

Are you joining cocktail hour?

Is someone doing a speech?

Are you cutting a cake?

Are we popping champagne?

Are you having your first dance?

Do you want part of dinner photographed?

That is what tells me how much time you need.

Not whether you’re having 20 people or 80.

You could have 20 guests and still want six or eight hours because there are a lot of parts of your day that matter to you.

Or you might tell me, “I don’t need getting ready. I want the ceremony, family photos, portraits and a little bit of dinner.”

Okay. Now we build something completely different.

It isn’t about the number of guests.

It’s about what you want captured.

And the same thing goes for having a second photographer.

A micro-wedding doesn’t automatically need two photographers.

If the logistics are simple, I may be able to photograph the groom, move over to the bride and stay with you through the rest of the day.

But if you’re getting ready far apart or important things are happening at the same time, then yes, a second photographer may make sense.

There should be a reason for it.

The First Look Is About More Than Photos

There’s something I really want couples to understand about first looks.

Sometimes people think photographers recommend a first look because we just want more time to take pictures.

Yes, of course it gives us more time for photos.

But it’s really about you too.

The photos are yours.

The experience is yours.

And the time is yours.

Doing a first look can mean we get some portraits and family photos done earlier.

Then your ceremony ends and guess what?

You may actually get to go to your cocktail hour.

You can have a drink with your friends, hug the people who came to celebrate with you and enjoy that first sunset together as a married couple instead of spending the entire time trying to catch up on photographs.

And if you keep telling me, “Claudia, I love candid photos,” then we need to give you time for candids to actually happen.

You need time together.

You need time to talk, laugh, hug your people, have a drink and forget I’m even there for a little while.

That’s where those moments come from.

A good timeline isn’t about me trying to squeeze more photos out of your wedding.

It’s about giving you enough space to enjoy it.

This is also why sunset matters so much when we create the timeline.

Look at the sunset time for your actual wedding date and then work backward.

What time is the ceremony?

How long is it?

Are family photos happening afterward?

Do you want couple portraits after the ceremony?

If your ceremony ends ten minutes before sunset and you’ve been dreaming about beautiful natural-light portraits, we need to know that before the wedding day.

That doesn’t automatically mean you have to do a first look.

It means we need to make the timeline make sense.

And personally, I also wouldn’t automatically cut out getting-ready photos because you’re having a small wedding.

Especially for the bride.

I love those quiet portraits in the room before we step outside. Everything is fresh, we’re in a more controlled environment, and we can take the time to create some really beautiful solo photos.

The same goes for the groom.

And if you have an amazing relationship with your dad, don’t skip over a first look with him just because the wedding is small.

That can be one of the sweetest moments of the day.

A micro-wedding gives you permission to simplify, not to remove the moments that matter.

Small Doesn’t Mean Cheap

A micro-wedding can cost less than a large wedding.

But that doesn’t mean a micro-wedding has to be cheap.

Those are two completely different things.

Maybe you’re not feeding and entertaining 200 people, so now you can put more of the budget toward the resort you love, your flowers, photography, video or an amazing dinner.

Maybe you want to create an incredible weekend for 25 people.

Maybe you’d rather have the beautiful wedding you wanted and then go on the honeymoon to Italy.

It really comes down to how you want to spend the money.

Sometimes smaller isn’t about spending less.

It’s about spending differently.

And maybe it also means not paying for 50 guests who are mostly your parents’ friends and whom you barely know.

Now, if you really want those people there, that’s different.

Have the big wedding.

There’s nothing wrong with that either.

Planning for Heat, Humidity and the Outdoors

If you’re coming to Florida from somewhere else, there is something you should know.

It’s humid.

It gets hot.

And yes, you’re probably going to sweat.

That’s Florida.

So instead of pretending that doesn’t exist, think about how much of your wedding you actually want outside.

Maybe you want your ceremony by the water, but you know you’ll be happier having dinner and the reception inside in the air conditioning.

That is completely fine.

Or maybe you want the whole thing outside under the stars.

Beautiful.

Then the month you choose matters even more.

August and September are going to feel very different from November, December, January or February.

And when you’re looking at venues, please look at Plan B too.

I know everybody wants to see the beautiful outdoor ceremony space.

I do too.

But ask what happens if that space can’t be used.

Where do you go?

Is there a covered area?

What does the indoor option look like?

And here’s the important part: would you still be happy getting married there?

That’s what you need to know.

You’re not planning for something to go wrong.

You’re just making sure you actually love the venue, not only one part of it.

A Few Florida Keys Planning Mistakes to Avoid

One mistake is thinking that because the wedding is smaller, you don’t need to plan as much.

You still do.

You still want to research your vendors.

Read their reviews.

Look at their real work.

Talk to them.

If you’re planning your wedding from another state, your venue’s preferred vendor list can absolutely help you start, but don’t feel like those are the only people you’re allowed to hire.

Do your own research too.

Find vendors you connect with and people who understand the kind of day you’re trying to create.

And don’t underestimate your timeline just because you only booked four or six hours.

Actually, sometimes the shorter weddings need us to be even more intentional because we’re trying to fit the things you really care about into less time.

And if somebody recommends something to you, ask why.

If I tell you I think we should start earlier, ask me why.

If I recommend a first look, let’s talk about why.

I don’t want you doing something just because I said so or because that’s what everybody does at weddings.

I want you to understand how that decision affects your day.

The timeline should work for you.

A Micro-Wedding Isn’t for Everyone

And that’s okay.

If you’ve dreamed your whole life about having everybody there, your college friends, childhood friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, your people from every different part of your life, then you may not want a micro-wedding at all.

Maybe you have a huge family and you’re genuinely close to all of them.

Maybe not inviting your cousins would break your heart.

Have the bigger wedding.

There are also family expectations sometimes, especially when parents are helping pay for the wedding and there are people who are important to them too.

A micro-wedding isn’t better than a big wedding.

It’s just different.

But if you’re looking at 150 names on a guest list thinking, “Why are all these people coming to our wedding?” then maybe that’s telling you something.

Sometimes the Destination Already Means Something

Something else I’ve noticed with Florida Keys weddings is that couples don’t always choose the Keys randomly.

There can already be history here.

Maybe you grew up in South Florida.

Maybe your family is here.

Maybe you came to the Keys growing up.

Maybe this is somewhere the two of you have vacationed together.

Or maybe your families live in completely different places and South Florida ends up being the perfect meeting point.

Daniela and Matthew are a great example.

They live in Washington State, but Matthew came to the Florida Keys when he was younger and vacationed here with his cousins. He and Daniela had also spent time here together.

They had family coming from different places, including Venezuela, and Key Largo made sense.

So it wasn’t just, “This looks pretty. Let’s get married there.”

There was a reason behind it.

And I love that.

Your Wedding, Your Way

If you want to get out of the city, bring your closest people, slow things down a little and turn your wedding into part of a vacation, the Florida Keys can be such a beautiful place to do it.

And if you want a beautiful wedding but you don’t want the huge guest list, you still get to have the wedding experience.

Get dressed up.

Have the flowers.

Do the first look if you want it.

Take the photos.

Bring your parents and siblings.

Pop the champagne.

Cut the cake.

Have the first dance.

Have the dinner.

Keep the things that mean something to you.

That’s the whole point.

A micro-wedding gives you permission to simplify, not to remove the moments that matter.

Seriously, a Florida Keys micro-wedding or elopement can be simple, elevated, relaxed or full of traditions. It really comes down to what feels like you.

And if you’re thinking about an intimate wedding or elopement in Key Largo, Islamorada or somewhere else in the Florida Keys and you’re trying to figure out what your day could actually look like, tell me your vision and vibe.

Let’s chat about it.