In praise of the courthouse wedding | Canada Voices

One of the most surprising celebrity wedding images of the year did not involve a cathedral veil, a castle in the Cotswolds or a reception that looked as if it required a structural engineer.

It was Dua Lipa and Callum Turner leaving London’s Old Marylebone Town Hall after tying the knot in May. The details were still celebrity-grade: Lipa wore a custom ivory Schiaparelli skirt suit with a wide-brimmed Stephen Jones hat, white gloves and Christian Louboutin pumps, inspired by Bianca Jagger’s iconic 1971 wedding look.

Turner wore a dashing navy double-breasted Ferragamo suit. And yes, the couple followed it up with a three-day celebration in Sicily that most people can only dream of. But the image that has stuck is not the maximalist fantasy, but one of simplicity: A stylish couple on the steps of a town hall, surrounded by a small circle of friends and family.

Pop star Charli XCX and The 1975’s George Daniel similarly made waves when they got hitched last summer at London’s Hackney Town Hall. She wore a custom off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood minidress, Jimmy Choo slingbacks and oversized black sunglasses; he a navy Giorgio Armani double-breasted suit.

Although civil ceremonies are generally considered muted, style and personality were hardly spared at either event.

No longer a sad, bureaucratic errand on the way to something better, the courthouse wedding is making a compelling case as an intentional, emotionally focused alternative to the exhausting sprawl of contemporary weddings.

And sprawl is, indeed, the word. In Canada, even “average” weddings can be financially punishing. According to WeddingWire Canada and The Knot’s 2025 Global Report, the average Canadian wedding costs between $30,000 to $42,000. And they’re only getting pricier, thanks to the rising cost of just about everything, including vendors and venues.

There are signs that smaller weddings are no longer just an early pandemic-era compromise. In the U.S., The Wedding Report found that the average wedding guest count fell from 184 in 2006 to 131 in 2024, and celebrations of 50 guests or fewer made up 18 per cent of weddings in 2024, up from 10 per cent in 2013. According to Pinterest’s 2025 Annual Wedding Trends Report, Gen Z is particularly keen on city hall and courthouse nuptials, with the platform noting a more than 190 per cent jump in searches for “city hall elopement” by the demographic.

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In any major city, the practical details alone present striking savings. In Toronto, a marriage licence costs $180, while a civic centre wedding chamber can be booked for $136.85 for a 30-minute block (couples still need to supply an authorized officiant and two witnesses).

That gap between the price of getting married and having a wedding is part of the courthouse wedding’s allure.

Carmen Luk, principal event planner at Toronto’s Devoted To You Inc., agreed that courthouse weddings are getting more attention because of high-profile celebrities such as Charli XCX and Lipa, but said that they’re hardly a new concept. In many parts of the world such as China, Germany and France couples will often have a civil ceremony before a religious or symbolic celebration. In many countries across Europe and Latin America, civil ceremonies are the only legally recognized form of marriage.

“I don’t see courthouse weddings as replacing traditional weddings. I see them as expanding the choices available to couples,” Luk said. “Today’s couples are much more intentional about what they’re spending money on and where they want to place emotional value.”

Rainbow Chan, owner and creative director of Toronto’s Rainbow Chan Weddings, has also seen a growing interest in courthouse and micro-weddings over the past few years. “There isn’t one ‘right’ way to get married any more,” she said. “Whether it’s 300 guests in a ballroom, 20 guests at city hall or a destination wedding over several days, what people remember most is how the celebration made them feel.”

Larger celebrations remain popular, she said, but many couples are separating the legal marriage from the celebration, signing the paperwork simply and hosting a larger party later. Sometimes, as with Lipa or Charli XCX, the legal marriage is the opening act. Other times, it’s the whole event.

For sustainability professional Shelby Spurlin, who married her husband Anthony Lieu at a Toronto courthouse last June, the decision was partly financial and partly emotional. “For us, it was definitely about avoiding going into debt over one day,” she said. “We hear so much about couples spending $30,000-plus on even a relatively basic wedding in Toronto, and we knew that wasn’t something we wanted.”

Their total came to about $3,000, including the courthouse fee, professional photography, outfits and a bouquet. Afterward, they went to King Taps, a restaurant and bar, for happy hour with friends and family. They put their savings toward a honeymoon in Japan.

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A misconception about courthouse weddings is that simplicity equals the absence of style. But for many people, it just means that style is less likely to be buried under obligations.

It’s a sentiment shared by Toronto musicians Madelyn Kirby and Luke Robinson, who got married at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall in May before hosting a larger celebration at another venue, Hart House, the next day. Kirby said the courthouse ceremony gave them a “quiet, meaningful moment” with immediate family, while the subsequent party was for their wider community.

The ceremony was intimate and personal: Justice Melanie Kraft, a family friend whom Kirby has known since childhood, officiated; Kirby’s brother was the photographer; and both of the couple’s mothers served as witnesses. It was followed by lunch at Terroni, an Italian restaurant. “Looking back, there was something really freeing about stripping the ceremony down to its essentials,” Kirby said. “It reminded us that a wedding doesn’t need to be elaborate to feel significant.”

Though some couples might choose to go big for social media, Luk said it’s also inspiring many couples to go smaller if that’s what they’re seeing online.

“I encourage couples to remember that this is one of the first major decisions they’ll make together as a married couple,” she said. “It’s important that the celebration reflects their shared values rather than everyone’s expectations.”

That said, there can be something wonderful about gathering everyone you love in one room, dancing badly as a collective and letting the aunties gossip and friends give one chaotic speech after another. Particularly in cultures where weddings are major community milestones, bigger celebrations aren’t seen as frivolous. They’re about family rituals and belonging.

But as Luk put it, couples don’t need to choose between a courthouse and something more meaningful.

“Those are not opposites,” she said. “At the end of the day, there is no prize for having the biggest wedding. The best wedding is the one that feels authentic to you.”