A micro wedding in Ottawa needs the same three legal pieces as a large one: an Ontario marriage licence, an authorized officiant and at least two witnesses. Everything else shrinks to the guest list. Choose a room built for your count, decide whether the ceremony and dinner share it, and size the decor by tables rather than guests.
Written by Heba Alfarra, Owner & Lead Designer at Sparkle Events · Last updated
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What a micro wedding is, and what the law requires
A micro wedding is a full wedding, with a ceremony and usually a meal, for a guest list small enough to fit at a handful of tables. When we plan one as your wedding planner in Ottawa, it gets every part a large wedding gets, only fewer of each.
No law sets a guest count for it. Section 25 of Ontario's Marriage Act sets only the floor: every marriage takes place in the presence of the couple and at least two witnesses, who sign the register. Add the officiant and the smallest legal wedding in Ontario is five people.
The province's own checklist is short:
- A marriage licence, valid for 3 months from the date it is issued.
- An authorized officiant: a registered religious or Indigenous officiant, or a civil one such as a municipal clerk, a judge or a justice of the peace.
- Two witnesses, who sign the licence with you and the officiant right after the ceremony.
When to apply for the licence, and everything else in the year before, is in our month-by-month wedding planning checklist.
Eloping in Ottawa
An elopement is the smallest version: the two of you, two witnesses and an officiant. The City of Ottawa performs civil ceremonies at three client service centres:
- Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West: weekdays 9 am to 4 pm, plus Fridays at 5 pm and 6 pm and Saturdays 8:30 am to 3:15 pm.
- Orléans Client Service Centre, 255 Centrum Boulevard: Mondays and Fridays, 9 am to 4 pm.
- Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive in Nepean: Fridays, 9 am to 4 pm.
You need the licence before you can book, and you book in person. The City does not provide witnesses, so bring two people aged 12 or older, plus one original government-issued photo ID for each of you. Arrive 15 minutes early: a couple who is not there at the start time has to rebook.
Why a small guest list changes the plan
A room built for 200 does not feel cosy with 30 people in it, and a venue that bills food to a minimum count can leave a small group paying for empty chairs.
Even venues built for small weddings set minimums by date. Ashlar publishes three: 50 guests on Saturdays from May to October, 40 on Fridays and Sundays in that window and on Saturdays from November to April, and 30 from Monday to Thursday all year and on Fridays and Sundays from November to April.
Below the minimum, dining is billed at the minimum. Bleeks and Bergamot says it has no guest minimum and no minimum food spend.
The date matters in a second way. Our wedding planning in Ottawa page puts it plainly: many couples book a summer Saturday six months to a year ahead, while smaller weddings and off-peak dates book with far more flexibility.
Decor changes too. With four tables instead of twenty, every guest sits close to every piece, so a thin centrepiece or a bare head table shows. The answer is scale, not quantity, and it is the last part of the how-to below.
Ottawa rooms built for a small wedding
Three Ottawa-area venues that publish what a small wedding gets, read on their own pages:
Ashlar, Munster
A restored 1890 schoolhouse at 2876 Munster Road, about 25 minutes from downtown and 15 from Stittsville, built for 30 to 65 guests. It hosts one wedding a day and gives you the property from 2:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with indoor and outdoor ceremony spaces and a tent.
- It hands you: tables and chairs for your count, white linens and napkins, glassware and tableware, dinner cooked on site, and a venue director.
- Decor: its team sets up and takes down up to five boxes of your decor.
- You still source: florals, photography, music, transport and the officiant.
Bleeks and Bergamot, west of the city
A riverside venue in Ottawa's countryside, fully accessible indoors and out, with an indoor ceremony room and a reception wing under one roof. It sets no guest minimum, books catering from a short list of local caterers, and lets you stock your own bar: you drop the drinks off the Wednesday before and its staff serve them.
Its team sets up your reception tableware and decor and takes it all down at the end of the night. Belongings and leftovers wait for pickup between 10 am and noon the next day.
Ottawa Wedding Chapel, Kenmore
A non-denominational chapel restored to its 19th-century look, about 30 minutes south of Bank Street and Hunt Club Road. It is a ceremony space, air-conditioned, with Wi-Fi so you can stream the vows to family who cannot travel. Free tours run 9 am to 4 pm.
A chapel or City Hall ceremony pairs well with a private dining room for the meal. Our guide to event space in Ottawa lists restaurant and heritage rooms that seat 12 to 40, with their published capacities, and our wedding venues in Ottawa guide compares the larger halls.
How to plan it, step by step
In this order, so each decision fixes the next:
- Write the guest list first, witnesses included. The count picks the room, not the other way round.
- Decide on one place or two. A venue like Ashlar holds both; a chapel or City Hall ceremony needs a dinner room booked separately.
- Check the venue's minimum for your date, and whether a weekday or winter date lowers it.
- Book the officiant, or the City civil ceremony once the licence is in hand.
- Ask for the venue's decor rules: open flame, what may be fixed to walls, the setup time, and how much its own team will set up.
- Book the decor by table count, once you know the floor plan.
- Name one person to run the day, so neither of you is checking the timeline in your own wedding clothes.
Step 7 is where a day-of wedding coordinator earns their place at a small wedding: the couple has usually planned it, and wants someone else to confirm the suppliers in the final week and hold the timeline.
How decor scales down without looking thin
The photograph at the top of this page is our floral centrepiece at a reception we styled in purple and lilac. It is built low on purpose, so guests across the table can talk over it, and the height comes from the tall tapers beside it rather than the flowers. That shape matters more at a small wedding, where people sit closer and look longer.
The same palette runs from that table to the head table behind it, so the room reads as one design. One arrangement dresses one table, which is why we quote a floral centrepiece by the number of tables, not guests. If your venue bans open flame, tell us early, because the candles are half the shape.
At any size, we build the three things your guests photograph: the ceremony arch or a backdrop, the head table, and a centrepiece for each table. For a head table of two, our draped head-table backdrop gives the photographs a wall of sheer pleated drape washed in coloured light. Styling the rest yourselves? A single arch or a sweet cart can come from our decor rentals on its own.
Micro weddings in Ottawa: common questions
How many guests are typically at a micro wedding?
No law or official body sets a number. Ontario's Marriage Act sets only the floor: the couple and at least two witnesses, with an authorized officiant. Ottawa venues that market to small weddings publish their own ranges: Ashlar is built for 30 to 65 guests, and Bleeks and Bergamot sets no guest minimum.
What is smaller than a micro wedding?
An elopement: the two of you, two witnesses and an officiant. The City of Ottawa performs civil ceremonies at three client service centres, but it does not provide witnesses, so you bring two people aged 12 or older.
How long does a micro wedding last?
As long as the venue gives you. Ashlar, for example, hands couples the property from 2:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. A City civil ceremony is a booked appointment, and the City asks you to arrive 15 minutes before it starts.
What do I need for a micro wedding in Ontario?
A valid Ontario marriage licence, an authorized officiant and two witnesses. For a City of Ottawa civil ceremony, each partner also brings one original piece of government-issued photo ID. After that: a room sized for your count, decor sized by table, and one person who runs the day.
Can the ceremony and the dinner be in different places?
Yes, and it suits this size. The Ottawa Wedding Chapel in Kenmore is a ceremony space, so a chapel or City civil ceremony can be followed by a meal in a restaurant private room or a small rented room.
Do we need a wedding planner for a small wedding?
Often not a full one. Many couples plan a small wedding themselves and want day-of coordination, so somebody else confirms the suppliers in the final week and runs the day while they get married.
Every fact, from its own publisher
Each fact was read on November 12, 2026 on the publisher's own page. Schedules, minimums and rules change, so confirm them with the venue or the City before you book.
- Government of Ontario: Marriage Act, section 25: attendance of parties and witnesses
- Government of Ontario: Before getting married
- City of Ottawa: Requesting a civil marriage ceremony
- Ashlar Weddings and Events: Small and micro wedding venue in Ottawa
- Bleeks and Bergamot: Home page
- Ottawa Wedding Chapel: Home page