The Best Intimate Venues In Toronto For a Wedding - 2023 Edition

^^ a wedding ceremony at propeller coffee; a beautiful open space for a wedding located in west toronto ^^

^^ the small outdoor patio is perfect for a smaller wedding at f'amelia restaurant, located on a quiet street in cabbagetown ^^

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the cozy space inside archeo restaurant in the distillery district is ideal for a more intimate feel

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^^ the fun and moody interior of piano piano restaurant in harbord village ^^

^^ hotel ocho's intimate but airy space on spadina avenue ^^

ask us what we think the sweet spot is when it comes to size for weddings, and you'll hear us say between 70-90 guests -- not too many to feel like you couldn't get around to speaking with everyone, but not so few that it might feel impossible to narrow down the guest list. and from a photography perspective, with this number of guests we usually feel confident that we can capture everyone at least once over the course of the event. over the years of photographing weddings in and around toronto, here are a few of our favourite smaller venues (that sometimes don't even feel like a "wedding venue"!) that we think are perfect to host your smaller, more intimate wedding.

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our list of top small and intimate venues for your wedding in toronto:

propeller coffee near the junction | see our photos here and here.

f'amelia restaurant in cabbagetown | see our photos here

archeo restaurant in the distillery district | see our photos here and here.

piano piano restaurant in harbord village | see our photos here.

hotel ocho on spadina avenue

the gladstone house on queen street west

cluny bistro in the distillery district

assembly chef's hall in the downtown core

indie alehouse in the junction

george restaurant on queen street east

mildred's temple kitchen in liberty village

the ace hotel toronto on camden street

the drake hotel on queen street west

DOWN-TO-EARTH, REAL LIFE ADVICE FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY, FROM OUR AWESOME COUPLES TO YOU

ok, so for a lot of people planning a wedding seems like a bit of an overwhelming task at first. it definitely felt that way at points along the way for us when we got married!we tend to work with couples who are more on the laid back side, who don't really aspire to be the center of attention but just want to create a fun, down-to-earth day for everyone to enjoy, with all the right touches to make it memorable & true to who they are.we wanted to put together this post as a way to connect our awesome past couples with our future ones, to pass along their advice on how to go about having an awesome wedding day. keeping sight of what's important & keeping it low stress and fun, both in the planning and also on the day itself! we hope it's helpful to read through what they have to say.

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"it really helped to sit down and talk about what getting married and what the wedding celebration meant to us - why we were even doing it, the values behind it and what we hoped it would be to our guests. this helped us to hone in a few key values that guided our decisions about the day.

we wanted to honour and give to the people who had journeyed with us and the way we try to do that naturally in our own lives is through our time. so as we planned and went through it, it was important that we made and gave time to those closest to us, like our wedding party and our families, and also saw this as just one part of our relationship with these people - not just with the wedding as an "ending" point. this process was SUPER helpful for us! it helped us to prioritize and cut things out that we didn't feel aligned with these values, and i think it helped us plan a day that was so comfortable and relaxed.

take time to get to know your vendors/photographers and feel out people you will feel comfortable working closely with on the big day. there's enough pressure already, it makes a huge difference when you feel like these people are your friends! my last little word of advice is to try as much as you can to be journeying together as you plan the wedding. come back to each other as you make decisions, ask for input, ask and hear what is important to the other person. this made a big difference for us in feeling like the day was "both of ours", and not just one person's aesthetic or preference." -- season & jonathan

"i wouldn’t change a thing. i think one of the things that helped us have such a smooth, fun wedding was neither one of us expected to get stressed. everybody talks about how stressful wedding planning is, but really it’s no different than planning a dinner party or night out. make lists and have fun! if you’re getting stressed out, change something!" -- matt"accept the fact that weddings are expensive. there will be moments where you’ll feel incredibly irresponsible for spending so much cash on one day (especially if you’re on a budget, like we were). remember that this is one of those big life moments that you’ve been saving for, and enjoy the thrill of it instead of stressing out. it helps if you can set aside the money you’re planning to spend in it’s own account right away. you won’t feel like you’re dipping into your day-to-day expenses every time you need to make a big purchase." -- julie"the best advice we can give is to…1. hire jenn and dave because they are amazing people who do an awesome job!2. do what you want, where you want! i can’t begin to tell you the amount of flack we got when we told people we were getting married at a summer camp, on a long weekend in the summer. we disregarded the complaints, stuck to our guns and went forward with our ideas, and it all worked out. we still get comments about having the best wedding ever. in the end it is about the two of you -- if you are happy, relaxed and loving life, your guests will feed off that energy and feel the same way.3. don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the minimal details. no one is going to remember whether you had chair covers, or what colour your napkins were.4. find a quiet place at some point during the evening, just the two of you and reflect on how great the day was."-- kass & matt"no matter how much planning you do, some of the best moments of the day are going to be unplanned. our first dance ended up being an impromptu moment when our friend singing a cappella invited us up to dance to her song in our open mic session. it's one of our favourite memories of the day that wasn't planned at all. that being said, we are glad we planned for a quick moment of alone time for the two of us after our ceremony. we snuck off and popped a champagne bottle right after our ceremony, and each had a glass of bubbly while taking in the high of just getting married.jenn and dave surpassed our expectations in essentially every way, and as we are photographers ourselves, we already had high expectations. and most importantly, it felt like we just had two more friends hanging out for our wedding weekend who happened to be taking photographs. hiring jenn and dave was the best decision we made, besides deciding to marry each other :)" -- laura & paul"i'll always remember seeing emma for the first time in her dress and spending time with her before all the hubbub. that was so much better than i could have hoped. my favourite time with you two was during the first look. it was a beautiful setting with my beautiful wife to be and two people who made it feel exciting, fun and special. if i had to pick just one highlight, that would be it.  but really, the whole day was like that." -- remi & emma"schedule some down time. for us, it was the first look, doing some setting up with our close friends afterwards, and enjoying lunch with them before the ceremony. there was also some down time between the photos and the dinner when the two of us could just hang out and catch up on how the day was going.don't take yourselves too seriously. it makes for more fun and great photos." -- mitch & sylvia"there are so many great moments from the day, the excitement of getting ready to see james after what felt like the longest time of not talking, the tearful happiness of that perfect moment when we became husband and wife and the joy of knowing that a new exciting journey was beginning. i had such a fun time taking pictures with our friends, seeing the reaction of our guest as they watched our slideshow and having our parents watch over us throughout the day as they somewhat let us go.everything about our day seemed to be perfect and the best part of the day for me was definitely the moments we had together like our first dance when it felt like everyone disappeared. looking back we know that everything wasn't exactly how we had it pictured in the beginning of our planning stages, but so much of the details are lost in the overall experience that it really doesn't matter. it is so nice to now look back on our pictures and see everyone we wanted there, smiling, laughing and having a good time." -- tricia & james"something is gonna go wrong! if you accept this up front, you'll roll with it so much better on the day of. for us, it was our seating plan - the venue put everybody's name cards in the wrong place, which meant everybody ended up sitting in the wrong seat! it seemed like a disaster, but then after 5 minutes people kinda sorted themselves out, found a seat (maybe not the right one) and things went along just swimmingly. as it happens, we got a couple of comments from guests about the lovely people they met at our wedding, many of whom wouldn't have met if it wasn't for the mix-up. things might not work out 100% to plan, but it's a wedding, everybody's in a good mood, and people adapt. and hey, if nothing goes wrong, well that's just a nice bonus!for me (emily) the first look was the absolute highlight of the day. it was so nice to be able to see each other in a relatively low-key setting before the ceremony. it totally calmed me - the whole morning, while spent with my closest friends, felt a bit hectic, and then i saw graeme and everything felt ok. i also liked that we got most of the group photos done before the ceremony, as it meant we could spend cocktail hour with our guests. i was happy that we spent the time before the ceremony out front of the venue, taking photos, as i really liked getting to see and greet guests as they arrived. it just heightened the feeling of celebration before the ceremony." -- graeme & emily"this is pretty standard advice that i know you've heard before, but it's so so true: (1) do not get caught up in the details of the day... they don't matter that much in the end. if you have time and you're not stressed and you enjoy it, great, but really all that matters is the fact that you're getting married, i.e., the ceremony. and the food and music. and booze. :)  (2) enlist help from friends and family early on. you will need it!!!!  (3) the day really does go by as fast as everyone says it does. you blink and it's over, so really think about how you want to spend the day and what you want to be doing, and make sure that the plan is clear to everyone involved. (4) having jenn and dave photograph your wedding is like having your besties shoot your wedding. do it! you won't regret it. and your guests will love them! :)" -- anna & daniel"(1) don't try to do it all. there are a million different traditions/photo-ops/instagram or pinterest inspired details out there. if you try to do them all you will get lost. pick the things that are most important to you and do them right. spend the time and money on what matters most and ditch the rest. no one will notice or care if you omit the cake cutting (or the cake all together)! (2) when the day finally arrives, let it all go. you have done all you can do to prepare in the days and months leading up to the wedding. now is the time to sit back and enjoy - the ship has set sail! if you spend your time fretting about the perfect positioning of your centrepieces or the groomsman who showed up with the wrong colour shoes you are going to regret it. you are about to marry the person you love - don't let anything (or anyone!) get in your way of enjoying every moment of your day. every wedding has at least one thing go wrong. let it go and laugh about it later!" -- claire & tom"the best advice we were given about our wedding was all related to helping us stay calm and present. some things that really helped us were:

find yourself someone to manage your day. we were lucky to have a stage manager friend offer to be our point person for the weekend. our family, bridal party and vendors were all told to refer to them for any questions the few days before the wedding. they really took the heat off of us as events ramped up.

also, make sure you eat! we put it in our schedule a specific time that we had to eat. we’re so glad we got to enjoy our delicious dinner and avoided getting hangry as the night went on.

lastly, find a moment to be together just the two of you after the ceremony. the day is so busy! having time together to let it all sink in helped us feel connected and calm for the rest of the evening." -- candice & arthur

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tons of thanks to our lovely couples for contributing their thoughts!

happy planning! x