Miju Kim and her husband Hoyoun Ji, are part of a larger trend in which many couples are either splitting their wedding in half or hosting two entirely separate celebrations.Supplied
Grayson Paquet always thought he’d have a traditional wedding with hundreds of guests. But when he met his partner, Mitchell Duram, and the two began discussing what they wanted their big day to look like, he changed his mind.
The Calgary-based couple recently held their wedding ceremony on May 30. Contrary to Paquet’s childhood fantasies, it included a grand total of five people: Duram’s mother and Paquet’s sister as witnesses, Paquet’s brother-in-law as the officiant and the grooms. They went out for a nice dinner with this inner circle afterward.
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At the end of June, the couple will hold a reception with 60 friends and family members – complete with dinner, dancing and speeches. It’s the two-part dream wedding Paquet never knew he wanted.
“I realized I didn’t want to spend the whole day making sure I hit every table and greet every person,” Paquet tells The Globe and Mail over Zoom. “Splitting it in two allowed us to keep the ceremony as a really intimate, special moment for us to look back on.”
Paquet and Duram are part of a larger trend in which more and more couples are either splitting their wedding in half or holding two entirely separate celebrations.
Celebrity and influencer couples have posted photos from their multiple events since at least 2019. But in 2025, the dual-wedding trend is no longer reserved for the elite – it’s also for couples who want a taste of both the traditional and non-traditional when it comes to their big day.
“I think there’s a sense that the traditional wedding is a lot for some people and they just want to simplify it,” says Connor Esau, the Calgary-based wedding photographer who will be capturing Paquet and Duram’s ceremony.
Mitchell Duram, left, and Grayson Paquet split their wedding in two to prioritize goals like buying a house and adopting.Supplied
Gen Z in particular are going the less traditional route and choosing to prioritize what matters most to them, Esau says.
In Duram and Paquet’s case, cost was a major factor in deciding to hold a separate, smaller ceremony, which allowed them to keep expenses down and save for their future.
“We want to buy a house and adopt,” Duram says. “We don’t want this to be slowing us down on those goals.”
The price of hosting a wedding has been steadily rising over the years, putting the traditional celebration of love out of reach for many couples. A recent report published by Your Wedding Atlas suggests that the average wedding cost in Canada is roughly $32,000, though this can fluctuate significantly based on the size, location and style of the wedding.
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While holding two weddings may seem like a more expensive endeavour than having just one, Esau says splitting up the ceremony and reception is typically a more affordable option.
“If you do everything on the same day, then people try to make everything big and that is where things get expensive,” Esau says. ”If you separate them out, you can really focus on what you want and spend the money on that.”
Esau says there is also a growing desire for privacy: In his work, he’s noticed it’s become increasingly common for couples to not want to stand up in front of big crowds in such a vulnerable moment. It’s less about a public declaration, and more about a private moment between people.
In some cases, couples may choose to hold two separate celebrations for cultural or geographical reasons. Miju Kim and her husband Hoyoun Ji got married in November, 2024, in South Korea. Kim was born in the United States and has lived in Toronto for most of her life, but her extended family, her husband and his family are all located in South Korea.
The celebration in South Korea was traditional and grand, with 275 guests and a white wedding dress. Contrarily, just a few weeks ago in early May, the couple rented out the bar section of a Toronto restaurant and held a cocktail party for their friends with drinks, small bites and cake. This time, Kim wore a short dress.
Kim says getting the opportunity to do both allowed her to honour different parts of herself.
Miju Kim and her husband Hoyoun Ji had a traditional celebration in South Korea and later had a cocktail party for their friends in Toronto.Supplied
“The big production was so much fun, but there’s also the side of me that’s a little bit more casual, a little bit more fun and less extravagant,” she says. “I really enjoyed doing the smaller celebration – it gave us the opportunity to really mingle and spend time with all the guests.”
Some couples might also choose to hold two weddings as a result of, or in attempt to avoid, family conflict. While weddings are ultimately about the two people getting married, family members tend to have opinions about how things should be.
Jaclyn Spinelli, a licensed therapist and owner of True Self Counselling in Hamilton, says when everyone’s expectations don’t align, tensions can flare.
In fact, a survey this year by Zola found that 42 per cent of couples said family dynamics were the biggest source of stress in their wedding planning.
“Emotions and expectations are heightened and there are a lot of people to please,” says Spinelli, who specializes in helping people overcome people-pleasing patterns and set healthy boundaries in relationships, particularly with family. “It becomes impossible to conform and please everyone, so when you can’t do that, you may start thinking about alternative arrangements like two weddings or a separate ceremony.”
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In these cases, Spinelli suggests figuring out exactly what it is that you want and what you’re willing to compromise on. Once you’re clear on that, you can communicate it firmly and respectfully to your loved ones.
If, on the contrary, the choice to have two weddings or separate celebrations is coming from what you and your partner truly want despite outside expectations, Spinelli says that’s self-advocacy.
“If other people have their thoughts or feelings about it, that’s their prerogative, but you’re truly standing in your values; it’s your day and you’re saying exactly what you want and giving it to yourself.”
In Paquet and Duram’s case, the couple say they’ve worked to communicate clearly with one another any time a family member has expressed any expectations or wants when it comes to their wedding. It has empowered them to set boundaries with family when necessary.
“You want your guests to have the most fun and to be happy, but I think ultimately weddings need to be about the people getting married, and oftentimes that turns out not to be the case,” Duram says. “So if people want to have two weddings, three weddings – whatever they want to do, I think they should do that.”