How to Plan a Micro Wedding in Toronto

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If you have been picturing something smaller than the usual hundred plus guest affair, you're in good company. Plenty of my Toronto and Ontario couples come to me wanting fewer people and more meaning, and that's exactly what a micro wedding gives you. This is my honest, photographer's take on how to plan a micro wedding, from what it actually is to what it tends to cost around the GTA. I have shot the big productions and the tiny ones, and I'll be straight with you: some of my favourite days have been the small ones. So let me walk you through it.

What a micro wedding is

It's an intimate celebration with only your closest family and friends, usually a much shorter guest list than the invite everyone approach. In practice that tends to mean somewhere around 10 to 50 people, with a lot of couples landing near 30. Fewer people, more meaning. You're not seating third cousins you've met twice, you're surrounded by the people who actually matter to you.

It still has all the real parts too. A ceremony, a proper meal, the toasts, the first dance if you want one. It sits in that sweet middle ground between running off to elope and throwing a full scale reception, and honestly it can feel like the best of both.

Your venue options open way up

Once you're not trying to fit a huge crowd, you're no longer stuck with big banquet halls. A park, a backyard, a favourite restaurant, a little private island, all of it's suddenly on the table. Smaller means you can pick somewhere that actually feels like you.

Around Toronto this is where it gets fun. I have seen couples do it in a chef's private dining room, on a quiet stretch of the Islands, in a family backyard strung with lights. With a short guest list you can pick somewhere with real character and stop worrying about whether it seats a crowd.

Your budget goes further

A shorter guest list is the single biggest way to bring costs down, and it frees you up to spend where it counts. Catering is usually the giant line item, so cutting the headcount is what really moves the number. Couples often put those savings into better photography, nicer food, and the details they really care about, instead of feeding two hundred people a plated dinner. Fewer mouths also means you can do something more fun with the food. With a small group I have seen couples bring in a private taco truck, a wood fired pizza cart, an omakase chef, or buy out their favourite restaurant for the night, the kind of thing that would be unthinkable for a hundred and fifty guests but is completely doable for twenty.

To put a real range on it: around the GTA most micro weddings land somewhere between $5,000 and $15,000 all in, with the smallest all inclusive packages starting near that $5,000 floor. Compare that to the $35,000 to $50,000 an average full size Toronto wedding runs and you can see why so many couples are leaning this way.

A few tips to plan it well

• Pick your location first You're no longer boxed in by a headcount, so start with the place that feels right.
• Spend on the vendors that matter Put the money you save toward genuinely good ones.
• Keep the reception flexible A restaurant or an on site dinner works great for a small group.
• Time the ceremony for light Roughly two hours before sunset is a sweet spot.
• Get creative with it A small guest list gives you room to break from tradition, so lean into the details that feel like you.
• Lean into the low stress Simpler logistics mean everyone's relaxed, and relaxed always photographs better.

The real perk is the freedom. When you're not wrangling a big crowd, you can pour that energy into the parts that make the day yours, a first dance in the middle of a candlelit restaurant, vows nobody is rushing through, a late night walk just the two of you, or an after party at your favourite bar. Small doesn't mean stripped down, it means you get to be choosy about what actually matters.

If you want more of this kind of thing beyond the small wedding stuff, I keep a broader list of wedding planning tips that carries over no matter your size.

Why they photograph so well

Small weddings are honestly a dream to shoot. There's no grueling 12 hour march and no wrangling a huge crowd, just candid, unhurried moments in good light. You tend to end up with more genuine photos because everyone, you included, is actually present.

That closeness is the whole reason a good photographer matters even more at a micro wedding, since the day moves fast and the moments are quiet ones. If you're sorting out who to trust with it, I wrote up how I think about choosing your wedding photographer to make that call easier.

If a big production has never really been your thing, a micro wedding might be exactly it. Small day, big feelings. When you're ready to talk yours through, reach out and let's plan it.

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