Danielle Woodcock was planning her wedding when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which first delayed the big day and then forced its cancellation. When she relaunched this project, in 2021, she decided to go in a different direction – a microwedding.
Her guest list, which once numbered around 100, dwindled to 30 relatives, and eventually she and her partner James Costello spent less than $10,000.
Before she went the microwedding route, the venue and food alone were going to cost well over $10,000, she explained.
While many couples have had smaller weddings in recent years due to pandemic restrictions, the highest inflation in decades is leading many to opt for a microwedding, which typically has a maximum of 50 guests.
Although rising costs were a factor when Mme Woodcock went back to preparing for the wedding, the pandemic also caused her to rethink the whole event.
Their October 2022 wedding, hosted by Toronto Micro Weddings, was intimate, personalized and — most importantly — fun, she said, instead of stressful and budget-busting.
“We didn’t feel like we lost anything. »
TD Bank’s annual Love and Money survey, conducted in November 2021 of American couples, found nearly a third of its respondents were planning a micro-wedding – and that was before inflation peaked. on both sides of the border, in the summer of 2022. That was also before central banks started raising borrowing costs.
Tiffany MacIsaac and her husband started Toronto Micro Weddings through their event planning business in 2018. This part of their business has grown significantly during the pandemic and inflation has only made it more attractive, she observed.
I think the pandemic has forced people to turn to micromarriages. But the more people have moved to other people’s micromarriages, the more it’s become something just socially acceptable, and a progressing option.
Tiffany MacIsaac, Creative Director at Toronto Creative Events (TCE)
Mme MacIsaac adds that “the requests are incessant”.
Many couples these days feel like they have to choose between having the wedding of their dreams and being able to save for the future, she said. “We wanted to create a package that did both. »
Ceremonies on ephemeral places
To help cut costs, companies that plan micro weddings partner with event providers and venues, acting as middlemen to facilitate the process.
Toronto Micro Weddings’ base package for a ceremony and cocktail starts at $8,000, and Mme MacIsaac is also happy to make recommendations for items not covered in the package — she often directs brides to places that rent wedding dresses.
Some couples take the micro-marriage trend even further and opt for “ephemeral” weddings.
For the latter type of event, a company sets up a wedding venue for a day or a weekend, and couples can pay to use it, usually just long enough to do the ceremony and drink some refreshments, explained Nataleigh Ballantyne, founder of Love Shack Toronto, a wedding planning company.
Mme Ballantyne and her husband started their business with a pop-up wedding venue in a shipping container in Toronto, which opened in July 2020. The space can accommodate up to eight guests, Mme Ballantyne wanted it to have a Las Vegas chapel-like feel, and it was an option for people getting married despite pandemic guidelines.
Although the shipping container project was temporary, Love Shack Toronto now offers a bouquet of microweddings and pop-up weddings.
A common misconception about microweddings is that since they cost less, they aren’t as special, Ms.me Ballantyne.
“I think micro weddings allow people to really prioritize what’s important to them that day,” she explained, recommending couples make a “list of essentials” so they can determine what they need to prioritize financially.
The guest list is often the hardest part of a small wedding, Ms.me Ballantyne, but her advice on prioritization extends to guests — listen to your heart and focus on what’s most important to you.
“If you can’t live without some people, you have to do what seems right,” she said.
Toronto Micro Weddings clients Alicia and Khaled Maadarani got married in July 2022, and they said inflation was a big factor in their decision to have a micro wedding.
As they considered their options, they realized that a 50-person event would cost them around $13,000; their bill eventually came to $8,000.
It was a big relief for the couple, who say they were able to worry less about money before and after the big day.
“I feel like as long as you have people you love and care about, that’s all that really matters,” Alicia Maadarani said. Stressing over a big wedding with a big budget isn’t really worth it. »