As the popularity of micro-weddings continues to grow, so does the number of venues in Philadelphia offering packages for ceremonies with no more than 50 guests and a cost under $1,000, writes Erin McCarthy for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Angela Gaspar, a Philadelphia wedding photographer, recently married her now husband, Avi Rubinsky, at Philly Elopement Co., the couple’s new Kensington micro-wedding venue that can host up to 16 guests.

They spent a total of about $2,000 on the wedding and plan to spend the money they saved on their honeymoon.

While micro-weddings are still in the minority, with around 13 percent of couples opting to invite 50 or fewer people to their ceremonies over the last year, the industry has significantly expanded in the last decade.

Stacey Thomas, owner of the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, has seen growth in demand for both elopements and micro-weddings at her venue in East Falls. The venue hosted around 100 weddings when it just opened in 2013, and more recently has done between 600 and 800 weddings a year on average.

She also noticed that the demographics of the couples have changed, as it was usually older couples opting for micro-weddings but now “younger people are also choosing to do this,” said Thomas.

Read more about venues for micro-weddings in Philadelphia in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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