LOS ANGELES — As the couple sauntered down the aisle, an instrumental hip-hop version of the wedding classic Canon in D oozed from a boombox, and a small crowd, most of them perfect strangers, danced and cheered in celebration.
The bride wore a sundress and a veil she picked out moments earlier and the groom a black button-down with a fresh haircut from his family’s salon down the street.
The ceremony itself took less than 10 minutes — affordable, memorable and intimate, exactly what Ana Soriano and Luis Moreno had wanted.
“It was just us,” she told him moments after their nuptials. “You and me.”
Both in their early 30s, the couple met on Myspace 13 years ago and got engaged at a cathedral in Italy a few months before the pandemic shutdowns. Moreno, a studio engineer, lost his income overnight, and wedding planning moved to the back burner.
The couple knew some relatives had spent close to $50,000 on weddings, but they wanted to prioritize saving for a down payment on a home. And being inclined to avoid the spotlight, they liked the prospect of skipping the pressure of a big gathering.
They had settled on a backyard ceremony until the groom’s sister saw something on Facebook about the Old Brown House, a wedding chapel in Highland Park recently opened by a couple who, for years, officiated free weddings at Burning Man. Before the pandemic reorganized their lives and priorities, Soriano said, she felt some pressure to have a larger, more traditional wedding — but this had been so much better.
“Plan B is now Plan A for a lot of people,” said Connie Jones-Steward, an L.A.-based wedding officiant, who said the demand for small ceremonies has remained high since restrictions were lifted.
Largely gone are the days of Zoom weddings and socially distanced outdoor ceremonies, but some of the other pared-down celebrations that were once a pandemic necessity are now increasingly a top choice.
Some of the lexicon popularized during the shutdowns — “micro-wedding” and “minimony,” the portmanteau of mini and ceremony — still dominates the bridal blogosphere, and hundreds of companies have cropped up to cater to tiny gatherings.
Google searches for “elopement” — a term whose definition has evolved in recent years, to suggest a small, destination wedding more than something furtive — are even higher now than during the first wave of pandemic shutdowns. A survey conducted by a diamond company a few months before the pandemic found that more than 90% of millennials said they would consider eloping. Their top reason? Saving money.
Jones-Steward — who offers a beach elopement package starting at $399 — keeps in touch with many of the couples who eloped during the pandemic and learned that some who originally planned to have another big ceremony down the road ultimately decided against it, realizing they were grateful to have avoided the stress and cost. These days, she said, many of her Gen Z and younger millennial clients prioritize saving for travel and a down payment.
“They’d rather have this quickie ceremony,” she said, “and spend the money on a world cruise for a honeymoon.”
And if marital longevity is your goal, there’s evidence that’s a good call.
A pair of economists surveyed more than 3,000 people who were or had been married and found that those who spent $1,000 or less on their wedding were significantly less likely to get divorced than many couples who had spent more. Going on a honeymoon, however, correlated with a longer marriage duration.
