Micro Wedding on Lake Como: How to Plan a Wedding for 10 to 30 Guests

A micro wedding is a wedding for roughly 10 to 30 guests: your closest family and friends, a real ceremony and a long dinner, without the size of a 100-guest event. Lake Como suits it unusually well, because many of its best places, from villa gardens to private boats, are made for small groups and become harder, or impossible, with a large one.

We film weddings of every size on the lake, and the small ones are often the most personal. This is how we would plan one.

What is a micro wedding?

A micro wedding sits between an elopement and a traditional wedding. An elopement is usually just the two of you, sometimes with a handful of people. A micro wedding keeps all the parts of a wedding day, from getting ready to the ceremony, speeches and dinner, but for a guest list small enough to fit around one long table. Most couples choose it to spend real time with every guest and to put the budget into the place, the food and the experience rather than the headcount.

Micro wedding or elopement?

If you want your parents, siblings and best friends there, it is a micro wedding. If you want the day to be about the two of you, with the freedom to move from place to place at sunrise, it is an elopement. Our elopement guide for Lake Como covers that second path. The planning differs mostly in logistics: 20 guests need transport, a dinner venue and somewhere to stay, while two people can go almost anywhere.

Where can you have a micro wedding on Lake Como?

Small groups open doors that large weddings can't. A few of the options:

• Villa gardens with small ceremony formats. Villa Monastero in Varenna offers symbolic ceremonies for up to 30 people through its official booking site.
• Villas you hire for the whole group. Several lakefront villas are rented for exclusive use and sleep a small wedding party, so the ceremony, dinner and stay happen in one place. Our Villa Balbiano guide describes one of them.
• Town halls. For a legal ceremony, the town halls of the lake villages have wedding rooms that suit a small group well.
• A private boat. With 10 to 12 guests, the whole party can go out on the lake together for photos or an aperitivo before dinner.
• A restaurant terrace. Many lakeside restaurants take a private booking for a group this size, which is much harder to find for 80.

For the larger villas and their capacities, see our list of Lake Como wedding venues.

Legal or symbolic?

Both work for a micro wedding. A legal civil ceremony needs documents from home, two witnesses and a town hall slot, usually in office hours. A symbolic ceremony has no paperwork and can be held wherever you have permission, at the time of day you choose, so it is easy to plan it for golden hour. Many couples marry legally at home and hold the symbolic ceremony on the lake. We explain the paperwork in How to Get Married in Italy.

What does a micro wedding day look like?

A day we often suggest in summer:

1. Late morning: getting ready at the villa or hotel, with the family close.
2. Lunch: a light lunch for everyone, which takes the pressure off the evening.
3. Two hours before sunset: the ceremony, in a garden or on a terrace, when the light turns soft.
4. After the ceremony: portraits of the two of you and a short boat ride while guests have an aperitivo.
5. Sunset: one long table, speeches between the courses, dinner into the night.

In spring and autumn the sun goes behind the mountains earlier, so everything moves a few hours earlier. The Lake Como destination guide has sunset times by month.

How do you film a micro wedding?

With fewer guests, every face is in the film, so it becomes a portrait of your closest people as much as of the place. We film it like a documentary, quietly and without staged scenes, and spend more time on the moments a large wedding rushes: the speeches, the conversations at the table, the boat ride. One filmmaker is often enough for a group of 10 to 20; with more locations or more guests, two filmmakers make sure nothing is missed.

FAQ

How many guests is a micro wedding?

Usually 10 to 30 guests. Fewer than 10 is closer to an elopement, more than 30 is a small wedding.

Is a micro wedding cheaper on Lake Como?

The total is lower than for a large wedding, but the cost per guest is often higher, because couples choose a better villa, a private chef or a boat they could not afford for 100 guests.

Can we have a legal ceremony with 20 guests?

Yes. Town hall wedding rooms on the lake usually fit a group of this size. You will need the legal documents, two witnesses and an interpreter if you don't speak Italian.

When is the best time for a micro wedding on Lake Como?

May, June and September give long days and warm evenings. April and October are quieter and cooler, with earlier sunsets.

Do we need a wedding planner for a micro wedding?

Not always, but it helps with boats, permits and a venue for dinner. A local planner also knows which villas take small groups.

Can a micro wedding be filmed like a full wedding?

Yes. It has all the parts of a wedding day, so the film has the same shape: getting ready, ceremony, speeches and dinner, just with fewer people in it.