How Much Does It Cost to Elope in Winnipeg?
- Carmen Barnett
- Jul 8
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 22
The answer is easy: as little as you need it to cost to keep it simple, or as much as you want to make it unforgettable. (And did you know both options and everything in between are available right here in Winnipeg?)
What will it cost for us to elope?
That depends. If you loathe attention and prefer to have a friend with a marriage commissioner appointment marry you and your love in the safe and private confines of your very own dining room, you can do it with a budget of less than $250. But, if you live for the thrill of, say, 15,000 spectators watching as you exchange I Dos at the sidelines at a live CFL halftime, (if that's you, you really need to check out our elopement options at Princess Auto Stadium here) that'll cost you around $6000-$8000, depending where in the season you want it. What if you're one of the couples who wants all the trad wedding vibes: elegance, formal ceremony, but in a wee glam venue with just the two of you? That'll run you somewhere in between, likely around $4,500. Still the fraction of the cost for a larger traditional wedding, but you already assumed that, didn't you?
As I've built Brick & Vow, immersing myself into the world of modern eloping (and as someone who cancelled a big wedding to elope myself), I've come to recognize that couples are seldom asking how much eloping will hit their bank accounts. They're really asking about the cost costs.
When couples ask about the cost to elope in Winnipeg, I don't believe they're asking only about money.
The financial cost to eloping is universally understood to come in drastically lower than weddings, even without knowing exact totals for different tastes and experiences. Whether we're talking civil ceremony at City Hall, with a family-member marriage commissioner, destination elopement abroad, or sky diving in the Andes (don't fact check me on the Andes, ok? I'm confident you can do just about everything for the right price), the consensus is in: elopement wins the budget debate nearly every time. So when couples ask about the costs, my feelers perk up, because I know what's at the heart of their question. What they're really asking is what will eloping cost their nervous system. They need to validate that they can marry meaningfully without over-extending, over-exposing, over-performing, over-planning, and hurting every family member and friend who won't be reading an invite, but a guilt-ridden social media post that you got hitched without any of them.
Extremely valid. And incredibly common. In fact, guilt is the leading cause of large traditional weddings. I'm kidding only because I'm hypothesizing that there's at least some truth to it or no one would ever regret big weddings, and that's simply not the case. Plenty of people look back on their traditional wedding days fondly. Just as many don't. I did a little informal research dive into facebook wedding group comments asking about wedding day regrets. Three-hundred and eighteen comments were made, of them, more half stated they wished they'd eloped. Not very scientific, but I note that not one comment from commenters who stated they eloped mentioned regret.
I believe that although we are well into an era of being more self-aware, holding healthy boundaries, practicing self love and exercising more agency in our lives, many of us continue to struggle to put them all to use when it comes to deciding and planning how to marry. Because of that, the costs that reduce ease as much as budget, have to far out-weigh the cost to disappoint people we love.
Traditional weddings have become so synonymous with stress that we accept that it comes part and parcel. Planning stretches into years. Budgets climb (add 30 percent!). Family opinions may feel like a hostile takeover. Seating charts are sensitive political documents that can start feuds if handled improperly. We’ve been gaslit so well for our entire lives that well before we’re planning one, we know it will be long and arduous. Can we collectively agree that's a special brand of mass insanity?
So, yes, it’s fair that the lesser-documented form of marrying stirs concerns, even if it's due to wedding industry proximity. Then tack on the stigma that has followed elopement for generations: shame, embarrassment, family upset. There really aren't a lot of statistics available to cite the impact of eloping on couples who chose it. Try to find quantitative data on this. Go ahead, I’ll wait. No, I won't, I'm joking because I’d wait forever---because there is none. Neither is it a topic we've been bombarded with for our entire lives. Not in movies, or on Pinterest. Not in jewelry ads. Outside of Las Vegas (where I eloped, by the way), eloping's still somewhat of an elusive topic. And humans love to imagine worst case scenario for everything without sufficient detil to disprove our fears. Add its not-so-great reputation causing family rifts and it's easy to see how doubt and mistrust linger around eloping.
Luckily, that’s all changing.
Eloping doesn't mean running away anymore.
For a long time, people associated eloping with sneaking off because of disapproval or a pre-marital pregnancy. It is still used for those reasons today, but not only those reasons. Just like your smelly little brother, eloping has matured. One key aspect remains, though: it still focusses on the couple instead of guests. What began as a necessity, has become a lasting change. Couples choose elopements now for the flexibility, affordability, ability to prioritize their financial goals and to marry in whatever form feels authentic to them.
Demand has grown over the past decade, especially since the pandemic when public health restrictions forced smaller weddings. Traditional weddings are still important, but couples are increasingly questioning the expectations and pressure around big weddings. Second marriages, later-in-life marriages and marrying after giving birth are more reasons couples choose to elope. Values are shifting toward scheduling flexibility, beautiful design and experience-based weddings without stress or decision-fatigue.
Current market research estimates the average Winnipeg wedding at approximately $29,000-$58,050, encouraging many couples to seek weddings that better reflect their financial priorities while still wanting a meaningful and memorable wedding experience (from Wedding Connect, 2027 Wedding Costs in Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Global elopement rates among Millennials alone since 2015 has increased 45%. According to the Talker Research June 2026 Affirm survey, data shows Gen Zs now have an estimated 41% of the market and a whopping 92% of that early group are willing to break with traditional wedding expectations to reduce cost or stress. In short, this is no longer your grandmother’s elopement. Unique, intimate elopements and ceremonies are here to stay and they’re reaching mainstream status more each year.
Seventy per cent of eloping couples spend less than $5,000 on their wedding, (the higher end of the average cost to elope in Winnipeg) with 35% spending under $3,000, according to Zippo Market Research’s 2026 elopement statistics. Here in Winnipeg, elopements range from $150 on the lowest end, $615 for a civil ceremony at City Hall (you can read my article for alternatives to City Hall weddings here) between $1,900 and $5,500 for fully and professionally handled exceptional venue and experience elopements with us at Brick & Vow, (view all our elopement packages here) to upwards of $12,000 - $15,000 for destination elopements out of province. It comes down to the scope of experience you choose. And that’s the key. There are finally choices now, and lots of them.
For many, eloping will be just the two of them. For others, it may include a handful of the people they love. And for others, it will involve a mind-blowing unforgettable experience on a short timeline that’s deeply personal to them.
That could mean a chic restaurant, their Aunt Beth’s incredible back yard, a killer downtown view, a luxe venue, a stadium, a polar bear swimming overhead, a helicopter, a historic property, or another uniquely Winnipeg location, undiscovered so far by anyone but them. Where they had their first date. Said their first "I love you". Where they can marry in introverted bliss. There is no right way. There is only the right way for you.
However you choose to elope will impact your investment of time, money and energy on priorities after you marry. But there are professionals who will look after all the details for you so you don’t have to do it yourselves. And even if you do decide to DIY your elopement, the hit will be far less to your system than a big old fashioned wedding 18 months from now.
So, what actually does affect the cost in an elopement ceremony then?
First, the basics. Every legal marriage in Manitoba requires just a few essentials:
You must both be legally able to marry.
You need a valid Manitoba marriage licence.
Your ceremony must be performed by an authorized marriage commissioner.
All in all, you can cover all three of the requirements for around $150 - $200 and with very little effort (you can read how to get a marriage licence in Manitoba here). Everything else beyond that is preference.
Photography. Flowers. Unique location. Permits. Styling. Seating. Content creation.A post-ceremony celebration. None of them make your marriage more meaningful. They do give you freedom to shape your experience to match your priorities. Each of them adds a budget cost. Done DIY, each will require planning, time, and financial investment. For those who want it all looked after for them, Winnipeg has options as well.
The biggest misconception about eloping
It’s not the shotgun wedding trope or even that you’ll hurt someone’s feelings. There’s no guarantee you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings with a wedding, either. The biggest myth is that giving up the big wedding dream to elope means you’ve settled.
I thought this would be the case when I cancelled the big venue and decided to elope. There was grief in that decision. I also felt some shame around it. (I have another article on this, because it’s not talked about a lot). After I thought about it more, I realized wedding planning took a heavy toll on me and my relationships. Smashing myself into a shape I wasn’t, only to please people I wasn’t even marrying, to measure up to a dream that wasn’t my own but that I’d been sold…that was the real definition of settling.
Couples who feel pressured into having a wedding they don’t align with, can’t afford, or have to perform to get through it—that, my dear friends, is settling.
Memorable doesn’t mean biggest or most expensive. Doing what makes you truly happy, even if you have to hold healthy boundaries with people you love (usually very, very much) creates peace and freedom.
Some people have the gift for big weddings, long planning, massive lists and organizing one hundred decisions every day for a year. Perhaps they’re in financial situations to hire someone to execute it all on their behalf. And for those individuals, the thriving and healthy big wedding market will continue to be there for them.
We’re not all like that. Some of us are introverts or private people. Some of us have modest incomes, are budget conscious, focussed on investing those costs into other priorities, or all of the above. And that’s okay. Big weddings don’t have to be for everyone, and they’re not. Eloping is never second best when it offers you freedom to marry in alignment with who you are.
My philosophy
You’ll never please anyone if you try to please everyone. When you stop trying to recreate someone else's dream and start to focus on your own, everything changes.
We were sold a wedding day that promised a magical day, when in reality, the magic exists only because the two of you found each other on a floating rock with 8 billion people. You’re the magic sauce and you don’t lose it because of a day. So, you may as well go right ahead and break tradition. While you’re at it, you may as well break it spectacularly.
Get married in whatever way feels the least cost prohibitive to you. This is why I created Brick & Vow—to bring all the pieces together where couples can plug their own magic into an elopement experience that’s fully and professionally handled, feels authentic, and reduces costs in all the ways that count.
If that feels like the kind of elopement you've been thinking about, feel free to learn more about Brick & Vow and our exceptional elopement experience packages.
With love,
Carmen
Comments