Lauren Klamen describes her wedding as nothing short of perfect. Fresh flowers came from Rudy’s Flower Truck (her favorite florist), live music set the mood, and the rabbi that watched her grow up officiated the small Inns at St. Alban’s wedding. Even the rain let up for the celebration.
However, this is not the wedding Lauren and her husband Chad Klamen were expecting. To help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the couple went from a 250 person wedding to a party of 16 almost overnight. They plan on hosting a larger ceremony in September 2021.
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The Klamens’ wedding plans are not unusual. Having a small, intimate wedding first and then a larger ceremony is quickly becoming a popular trend among couples who cannot wait until after the pandemic to get married, and it even has been given an affectionate name: the “minimony.” For newlyweds Nohn and Amber Vasant, who are both from St. Louis, the option made perfect sense.
“A wedding isn’t just about who’s there with you, it’s about entering into a marriage with the person you love, and I don’t think anything should get in the way of that,” Amber says. “There’s always going to be a time later on down the road that you can celebrate with your friends and family, but a marriage, in my opinion, is between two people, and that’s how I wanted to start ours—in an intimate setting with just the ones we love.”
Lauren, however, says it took her some time to let go of her large wedding dream. With Chad and their family’s help, she was able to warm up to the minimony idea.
“I was definitely upset about it at first, but Chad was so good at reminding me what the whole point of it was, [which] was we got to get married and spend time with each other,” Lauren says. “It’s really easy when you’re planning a big wedding to get wrapped up and forget what it’s all about, but Chad did an amazing job reminding me, and our families, too.”
Before the pandemic, Chip and Laura Moll planned on getting married in Indianapolis at Laura’s parents’ home. Understanding nobody knows for sure when the threat will subside, the couple decided to have a small wedding at Tower Grove Park on a new and more significant date.
“We decided the original date of June 6 when we were supposed to get married wasn’t really meaningful anymore, so we were like, ‘Ah! May 20 is a special day to us,’ and we decided to go ahead and get married and celebrate each other on a day that was already special to us,” Laura explains.
Like the Molls, having a small ceremony allowed the Vasants to share their vows in a personally significant way. The couple was originally going to be surrounded by approximately 40 guests on May 24 for their wedding in Mexico. By pushing back their trip until next year, Nohn and Amber were able to put a special twist on their wedding.
“We actually kept it a secret from everybody,” Amber says. “We had only told his sister and the photographer, and then we waited until just a few hours before the event to tell the children. They were very surprised, and they were excited because they were not originally coming to Mexico with us.”
Nohn’s sister, who acted as officiant, their children, and the photographer were the only ones gathered in the Vasants’ new backyard to witness the wedding.
While each couple’s wedding was unique to them, all were glad they made the decision to go ahead and get married.
“Everybody is making memories during this time, good and bad, and for us, these are some really good memories that we’ll have,” Chad says.
“I hope we’re starting a new trend in weddings, because the people that matter most to you are the people that got to be there,” Lauren says, adding that before the pandemic she wouldn’t have considered such a small wedding. “But I hope people realize intimate weddings can be amazing.”
