Two years ago in 2016, we published a list of the best small wedding venues in Toronto and GTA. It became a popular post. It’s an interesting perspective to see the best wedding venues from a wedding photographer’s standpoint. We still loved the venues which had made the list. Graydon Hall especially remained one of our top wedding venues in the GTA. We enjoyed witnessing small intimate weddings and decided to throw in another list of the best small wedding venues in Toronto. We defined a small wedding as a wedding of less than 100 guests. Like the 2016 best of list, we had recently photographed weddings in all venues which had made to our 2018 list. So we had fresh memory and firsthand experience with these wedding venues. You can click on each venue image to see a recent wedding we shot there. It’s a short list this year but it covered venues from budget friendly to upscale, from rustic to elegant, and from versatile open spaces to ready-made well decorated restaurants. The five finalists each had their own uniqueness and could be the besting wedding venue for your wedding depending on the type and size of wedding you’re planning to have. We hope you fell in love with one or all of these small wedding venues in Toronto as we did.
Click each picture below to see a real wedding that’s photographed at the venue.
Aga Khan Museum Wedding - top the list we had Aga Khan Museum in North York. Situated in just north of downtown Toronto by the Don Valley Parkway, Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum was one of the most unique and elegant venues in the GTA. It’s one of a kind and it’s perfect for brides and grooms who appreciated culture, architecture and aesthetic in general. Its in-house restaurant Diwan offered an excellent menu. It’s the most private space out of the five small wedding venues in Toronto we’ve selected. Although the reception space might be limited for small weddings, Aga Khan Museum was surrounded by the most beautifully landscaped garden in the GTA - the Aga Khan Park and the museum itself was big. It’s a all-in-one venue for your wedding day’s getting ready, ceremony, wedding photos and reception. There’s also the option for an outdoor ceremony and reception. We must say that Aga Khan Museum along with Graydon Hall Manor which also located in North York were our all time favourite wedding venues in GTA. Their ease of access, varieties of aesthetic outdoor and indoor spaces, unique architectures and great privacy and thus intimacy made them the top wedding venues in Toronto for elegant weddings.
The Great Hall Wedding - the Great Hall had the same refined simplicity and classiness to its look as Aga Khan Museum. It’s a more versatile venue as unlike the Aga Khan Museum, it’s intended to be an event venue. It’s the perfect space for brides and grooms who appreciate a minimalistic and timeless look and prefer to have a wedding in downtown Toronto. While the getting ready room (the Drawing Room) and ceremony space (the Conversation Room) in The Great Hall were dominantly white in colour and had a clean look to them, the reception hall (Main Hall) was classic featuring an elevated stage and a horseshoe balcony. We found that The Great Hall had a very particular appearance that attracted certain couples. It’s often love at first sight.
George Restaurant Wedding - restaurant weddings had a natural and intuitive feeling of intimacy to them. George Restaurant was one of the most popular restaurant for small weddings in Toronto. It’s conveniently located 5 minutes from the Don Valley Parkway and adjacent to a Toronto boutique hotel - The Ivy At Verity. While George Restaurant could host a wedding of up to 110 guests, there’s also this very intimate private room (picture above) available for the smallest celebration. George Restaurant was ideal for intimate restaurant weddings with a city vibe.
Jam Factory Wedding - Jam Factory right by the Don Valley Parkway was a rustic, open space ideal for DIY weddings. It’s perfect for brides and grooms who were creative and wished to have a warm and laidback wedding. Although you can always hire a wedding planner and a decoration team to doll up the space, some brides and grooms who opted to have their wedding at Jam Factory preferred to be hands-on and hand made a lot of the decoration pieces themselves. Also for those of you who were coffee lovers, Jam Factory situated on top of the Merchants Of Green Coffee. Jam Factory was ideal for a rustic city wedding with an industrial twist.
Enoch Turner Schoolhouse Wedding - Enoch Turner Schoolhouse was a minimalistic historical site and a absolutely beautiful wedding space for brides and grooms who preferred a minimalistic look or who wished to fancy it up with their own big ideas. It’s within 5 minutes walk from Distillery District and could be a decent alternative for an unique wedding in the area. The indoor space featured a high ceiling and gorgeous natural sunlight well into reception on a typical evening in Toronto’s summer. It could also be transformed into a sizeable dance floor after dinner. It’s no coincident that the most recent wedding we shot there happened to be a mixed wedding of Jewish and British background. The dance floor was well occupied and sweats and swirls and swings were everywhere. Enoch Turner Schoolhouse was perfect for a romantic and fun wedding in downtown Toronto or as an alternative to a Distillery District wedding in the same neighbourhood.