Couples embrace ‘micro weddings’ to focus on other life priorities

The last two years of COVID-19 health restrictions and limits on gathering sizes have not only brought the small wedding into the mainstream, they've made it trendy.

Eryn and Chris Lucas didn’t set out to have a small wedding.

The Toronto couple had been planning and budgeting for the wedding of their dreams, with 120 invited guests, when the COVID-19 pandemic derailed their plans.

Forced to shift gears, the Lucas’s found themselves tying the knot two months later than planned, in November of 2020 _ with only their parents, siblings and a few very close friends in attendance.

They have no regrets.

“With 20 people there instead of 120, it was so lovely and intimate,” Eryn said. “When we look back at it, we say it was our perfect day.”

There have always been couples for whom spending tens of thousands of dollars on a single blowout day is unappealing.

However, the last two years of public health restrictions and limits on gathering sizes have not only brought the small wedding into the mainstream, they’ve made it trendy. A search online for “micro weddings” turns up an array of companies and event venues offering glamorous elopement packages and stylish small-scale ceremonies.

A smaller wedding can help a couple save money for other life priorities. Chris and Eryn say they spent less than $10,000, compared with the up to $30,000 they had budgeted for their original vision. They were able to put away that extra cash for a down payment on a house.