I bumped into an old work friend, someone I shared office space with some 30 years ago when we were both reporters at a start-up magazine. He moved on to other media jobs, we lost touch except for an occasional Facebook sighting. That's how I knew his daughter had gotten engaged. When we turned the "bumped into" into a "let's have coffee," I got more details on the wedding.
He and his wife love their daughter's fiancé; they like his parents as well. The only minor flaw in the upcoming nuptials was that the bride's mother was disappointed that her daughter and her fiancé were planning their wedding celebration by themselves. Mother and daughter have a loving relationship so that was not the reason for exclusion. Rather, the young couple were part of a Gen Z trend: small, DIY weddings.
According to an Axios posting about wedding trends, ballrooms are out, "micro weddings" are in. Axios had stats to support the observation:
The average guest count nationwide was 131 in 2024, down from 184 in 2006.
Celebrations with 50 guests or fewer made up 18 percent of nuptials last year, compared to 10 percent in 2013.
There are both charming and practical reasons behind the trend:
Charming: Couples say small weddings in cozy settings let them spend more time with loved ones.
Practical: They're a lot less expensive. Micro weddings run up a tab that's about half the cost of traditional weddings.
More highlights from the Axios newsletter:
The trend is growing: Vegas-style chapels and businesses offering curated micro weddings and elopements have opened in Boston; Dallas; Portland, Oregon, Richmond, Virginia, and elsewhere.
Intimate doesn't mean boring. City hall ceremonies have their own trending aesthetic. Pinterest searches for terms like "city hall elopement" and "courthouse wedding dress ideas" have been surging among Gen Zers.
Then there's this dose of reality:
Many brides and grooms-to-be are bracing for pricier nuptials as tariffs could hike the $33,000 cost of an average U.S. wedding, according to The Knot, a planning and registry site.
As to my friends, I raise a celebratory glass of bubbly to them, to a bright future for the bride and groom and to the young couple's current and practical sensibilities.
painting: Tarsila do Amarel, Brazil wedding
