💝 Why Small Weddings Are 2026's Most Authentic Celebrations With Sarah Anderson Owner of Wolfville Wedding Chapel

[Music] Welcome to I'll Seat. I'm your host, Allison McGill. On this weekly podcast, I will immerse you in the world of weddings. Whether you're about to walk down the aisle, you're a diehard romantic or a wedding lover. I'll Seat is the perfect combination of wedding inspiration and feel good escapeism. Every week tune in for spirit of conversations with industry icons, including fashion designers, style experts, event planners, photographers, lorland cake artists, as well as some real-life Jess Marries. You can expect lively and honest chats as my guests fill all the tea with their insider intel. Don't be late to the party. Subscribe to I'll Seat now on the podcast platform of your choice. [Music] Today on I'll Seat, chatting with someone who's located in one of my favorite areas of Canada, it is a gorgeous spot in Nova Scotia and then anapolis valley. Am I saying that right, Sarah? The Annapolis valley, yes. I've got that. Okay, so we've got Sarah from the Woolfville wedding chapel. Welcome to the show, Sarah. How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. You're doing such cool stuff in Woolfville, which is a tiny pocket of Canada that probably more people are exploring thanks to people like you. But it is. I was just saying I was there some years ago now in your backyard. Actually, I did a photo shoot and such a gorgeous spot. When I learned about what you're doing with your wedding chapel and where you are and just your whole philosophy, well, I had to have you on the show because you're doing really cool things and it's very of the moment of the now. But you've been doing it since 2021. That's right. Yeah, this is our fifth year in business operating as a wedding chapel. Amazing. So tell me a little bit about how we'll get to the chapel. But tell me how you got there first because I think from what I know about you, but I want to learn more. You were sort of in the wedding biz, marrying people around these coasts before you kind of planted some roots with the wedding chapel. So let's talk a little bit about that, Sarah. That's right. Sure. So I've been in the wedding industry in Nova Scotia for almost 10 years now. I used to be a teacher and became a JP. I quite literally saw an ad in the newspaper that the province was hiring people to perform wedding ceremonies. And I was like, that would be fun. That's something I want to do in the summer because I like to say busy and I didn't have kids and I thought I had endless time. So I became a JP and started marrying people who were coming to Woolfill to get married. The very first wedding I performed was actually an allotment. And I think from that moment, I was kind of hooked on the idea of the allotment. I very quickly realized that people planning tiny weddings still needed help or maybe didn't even want to plan those, but knew they wanted something small. And so I started a business called East Coast pop-up weddings, which was essentially allotment planning for people who wanted to do things a bit more adventurous, sunrise hikes. We've done some helicopter weddings in the Highlands in Cape Breton, hot air balloons, hiking capes split at sunrise type thing. And I really love that. I do that for a number of years. But in the back of my mind, I always wanted to open a wedding chapel. I love Vegas and color and kitsch. And I always found I was like encouraging people to just like take it one step further with whatever they thought their crazy idea was. So eventually I found some real estate in Woolfill that fit the bill for what I thought the wedding chapel needed. And we opened in 2021 in the middle of the COVID pandemic. And how smart and how kismet that had happened in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic, you were ahead of the curve there. You were already doing all those things and you had the vision. Because as we know, that changed everything. And it's continued to shape how people are getting married today, which is very interesting to me. Yeah. Yeah. Now, let's, before we get into talking specifically about the chapel, I want to talk about the destination of Woolfill and where you're located. Because, you know, not everyone's been to Nova Scotia, but everyone needs to go to Nova Scotia because it is honestly one of the most breathtaking spots in Canada. I feel I'm in Ontario. So I'm in the middle. I feel like we have the West Coast, which is amazing. And the East Coast, which is amazing. You have like incredible, like ocean shapes. And I mean, it's really a beautiful special place. It's particularly in the summertime. It's just magical. I agree. Yes. Everyone does need to come to Nova Scotia. And I'm right in Woolfill, which is the Annapolis Valley, which is wine region for Nova Scotia. We're surrounded by, I think, 14 wineries were known for our, well, we can't call it champagne, but our brute, essentially, like a sparkling white. We get really cold winters in very hot summers. And that makes for great, great growing for champagne. So Woolfill and this area in general is already a bit of a tourist destination. We kind of tick all the boxes in terms of like outdoor adventure hiking options, ocean, you want your Nova Scotia lobster roll, you can get it here, you can have the wine, etc, etc. So the valley definitely seemed like the perfect spot to kind of launch a wedding chapel. And I got to say Nova Scotia is super topical right now with the heated rivalry craze that's gripped the world. Rachel, the author is of course from Nova Scotia and we love this Canadian success story. That's right. I feel like Nova Scotia is even more on the radar for people that it may not have been before. We love that. We love to support. We love to support local. So you're right in on the main street of Woolfill. That's right. Yep. And tell me a bit about the chapel because I love that you reference Vegas. I mean, there is no place on the world like Vegas for that row of wedding chapels that have been there forever and ever. People continue to go like they are so busy and they offer something for everyone and people love that catch and they, you know, this is not new that people do this. They sort of check in, have the quickie wedding, have the fun. But no one's captured it quite like Vegas. So it took a really long time for it to trickle down into other places I feel. Yeah. We were definitely the first chapel type experience in Atlanta, Canada when we opened. And I think it just feeds people's need for something. Yeah, maybe quick and dirty. Like we're always going to lean into that a bit because it's fun. But just the one stop option for people. I'm a big believer that small doesn't mean it has to be lesser than. And so my goal for the chapel was to create something really beautiful and welcoming and celebratory. But for a fraction of the price and for like a lot less kind of snowballing and rabbit holes than you see with traditional weddings. Right. And you're open 365 the chapel. We are. Yeah. Seven days a week. And I know just when I was doing my research just to book a wedding couldn't be easier. Like you go on, you click your date and you click your time and you click your package and you're good to go. That's right. Yeah. Everything was designed with ease in mind. So yeah, you can book your wedding online. Pay. Obviously you can come see this space before you get married, which some people want to do. But the majority of couples kind of show up sight unseen, park out front, walk in, and tie the knot. Which I love to see. That's amazing. I mean, I think I know sort of in your branding you chat about, you know, just show up and something cute. That's all you have to do, basically. Yeah. And whatever that looks like for you. So there's yourself. There's a justice of the piece and an efficient and a photographer that you have on staff. So that's provided for people. And then decor wise, like this is the beauty of a place like yours is that there's no thinking involved. It's all done for you because it's already staged and styled so beautifully. That's right. Yeah. That's the name of the game. Just keep the checklist to a minimum. So everything's decorated styled. We just actually underwent a five year facelift slash Renault because I was sick of looking at pink wallpaper. I needed to refresh. But yeah, the idea is that you can come as you are. We've had people show up in blue jeans, gowns, limousines, really extravagant to really just what they feel comfortable in. And that's really important to me that people feel like they can do that. Your wedding day should be a reflection of who you are and your story and what got you to now. And if that means you're showing up in business casual, so be it. Right. Now I want to talk to you. I want to dive into just talking about a little bit, but what's happening with couples getting married today and just generally the wedding space because there's a big shift that's happening. There's a generational shift. What's important to people has changed. We talk about people leaning into authenticity a lot and just what you're saying, you can, you know, you do your day anyway, right? Which you always could. But I feel that that's really important and very top of mind for particularly a Gen Z who's really stepped into the wedding, you know, arena right now. Like this is a generation that's getting married. And they're getting married differently. And since, you know, you've been you're a 10 year veteran, you will have definitely seen this shift happening. Yeah, I love to see it. I feel like people, like you said, have always kind of been able to do what they want. But now are really kind of holding on to that. and following. through and I think that really started I started to notice that was COVID you know you were essentially forced to elope during the height of the pandemic and so people started saying you know if I can only do it this way like it's really gonna be my way and suddenly people felt like they had permission to do that and they were cutting the guest list and you know their vision board looks completely different than what their parents may be envisioned for them and it's really important that they honor that so I feel like yeah Gen Z's taking that one step further and really doing away with so-called traditions and expectations if I ever tried to have a Diet Coke tower at my wedding my mom would have canceled the whole thing so I love seeing people kind of lean into whatever the heck they want imagine that a Diet Coke tower is controversial but you know you're right nobody would be doing that but it's really again this really goes back to what we're talking about it's like leaning into who you are so it's really not it's like at every touchpoint of your wedding which is I think amazing and fun and there's no reason why we shouldn't have been doing it before but there was you know a pressure from family from you know previous generations and that's not to say it was bad but you know times we're just changing yeah yeah and people's priorities are changing people are getting married later in life they are career driven they might want to start a family or buy a house or just travel and so spending the tens of thousands on the wedding which can sometimes don't get me wrong I love a big wedding and they're here to stay as well but doing the family reunion thing for your parents or whatnot just isn't as appealing to people or isn't as much of a as a priority as maybe at once was absolutely and I'm sure Sarah in your business and at the chapel you hear so much like I do when people get engaged they say weddings are expensive I had no idea and you wouldn't know because you've never if you've never done it before until you're stepping into the into the fray as it were you have no idea what the investment is and it's significant and it's only it's only getting more expensive like as we know things don't go down they go up but you know just the cost alone people it's eye watering for people when they learn the cost of like flowers and venues and like all of that and it you know I want to say you're like three planning items in and you're already over budget and you've got like 20 more things to do yeah yeah yeah there is very much this kind of I don't know how to describe it this mentality I've just I've just had so many friends and family members who say like when I get engaged for e-loping but then they get engaged and end up planning the big wedding which is so fun but you end up just going down this rabbit hole of Pinterest and expectations and it is easy to lose sight of of maybe what you want in your heart or what you want as a couple so yeah I love to see this a little bit of a mind shift mind mindset shift that's happening yeah I do too now I know that in your business at the chapel you have four guiding principles that are everything goes back to can you talk to me about those yeah for us obviously inclusion is very important to us love belongs to everyone so we are very gender inclusive at the chapel in our language in our offerings and our slogan is all hearts are welcome at the chapel we're inclusive of all genders orientations and cultures that's really important to us like I said earlier small is the new big micro weddings and e-lopens are sustainable and personal and usually almost always entirely waste free which is a big big deal for us transparency like you just set around pricing no hidden costs kind of what you see is what you get we outline everything on the website so people truly know what the cost of the wedding is and a big one for me is community first so supporting local vendors serving local wine and trying to boost what's already a great Annapolis Valley vibe here the creative vibe down here in the valley celebrating that and leveraging that a bit and I have to ask like how much of the traffic will get get into this how much of your traffic is local destination how do people hear about you like what's the farthest someone's traveled do you get walk-ins so many questions yeah look at me all the questions I wish we had walk-ins so in Nova Scotia you actually have to get your marriage license ahead of time we don't we can't issue a license you have to go to the province to do that so no yeah good to know no walk-ins per se but we do book some pretty last minute weddings I have a wedding tomorrow afternoon that they booked yesterday we marry people from all over the maritime provinces we've had a lot of what I would call like a road trip wedding people who just happen to be touring Nova Scotia come across Woolfill or the chapel and then decide hey let's just go get married go buy an outfit or they don't so we've married couples who've done something like that from Europe from the States from Vancouver and I love I love that it's often just the couple on the trip or the couple and maybe their kids and there's something really special about kind of taking the plunge last minute it just helps couples kind of strip away all the unnecessary things and focus on them getting married so there definitely is a beauty in in spontaneity and in last minute as well that being said we do book weddings ahead of time like our 2027 calendar is open but yeah for the most part we're marrying East coasters as far away as maybe Ontario or Alberta and usually with like three four or five months notice a little bit of planning especially if travels involved but yeah 2027 just sounds like such a bizarre year to me I don't know why 2026 sounded weird but 2027 it just sounds like how are we this far along in the 2020s already so when you say that I'm just like wow really well I know you know it's kind of like I always say when it's the first of the month it's the middle of the month and we're almost we're like we're not too far away from June at this point where you know middle of March so it's it's pretty nutty now for some more time is this where you this where people you do a lot of pre-booking kind of thing summer into fall I imagine yeah summer and fall I would say spring and fall are kind of the new summer at least in Nova Scotia July and August tend to be insanely humid and uncomfortable and so if people want to do like the outside dinner or party or photos afterwards I think June is like the new July and October is really big for us and is there day of the week this is what I'm curious about to day the week that's busy or is it the weekend weekdays I think like Friday Thursday Friday Saturday are pretty busy but we tend we can accommodate you know eight or nine weddings a day so I usually tell people if you have a specific date and time that you need to get married you should book ahead a few months ahead but if you're open to a certain weekend or you just have like one date that family happens to be around we can always accommodate most of our weddings are 20 or 30 minutes long so it's nothing for us to do several weddings on a day on a Friday or Saturday so eight to nine weddings is your is your max I mean I'd keep going if I had to and what's your start time do you do is it like you can get married at seven in the morning or do you have like a little more of a schedule yeah we usually open around 11 in the morning or 12 but we tell people if you want that morning wedding and go get breakfast or that's better for kids schedules or whatnot like we'll we'll we'll we'll say yes to anything what's the most popular time slot four or five six o'clock depending on the season and depending on sunset times people love like a four or five o'clock wedding and then go get some drinks or something to eat afterwards do people generally bring guests with them you can accommodate is it up to 20 guests you can accommodate in the trouble that's right yeah we have allotment packages and we have a wedding package for up to 10 guests and then our larger one is for up to 20 our most popular has always been just the true allotment where you bring to witnesses or we provide them for you if you want to keep everything hush hush and then our next biggest package would be most popular would be our largest with 20 guests I think people find it really hard to cut down to 10 it's like if you're inviting eight or nine or 10 you might as well invite 20 so we have that middle package that not too many people take us up on but it's there if you if you can six attend I love that and I like that you mentioned couples who come to you and they truly allow when they keep it hush hush because I just recently did a TV segment about a loping because there's a lot of talk about it's you know when a 2026 biggest trends which you know which you know has been happening for some time but but my thing was I think if you're a loping like that and you're I like the idea of still keeping it hush like it's like a really personal moment between two people so that was one of my things if you're gonna if you're gonna go in and do it keep it a secret like because that's that's part of the fun of a loping is the reveal people don't know yeah absolutely yeah and I'm surprised at the amount of people who say keeping the secret has been very easy oftentimes we ask you to that's good to know yeah and we often ask people you know like what is your plan how are you gonna share the news and so many couples haven't even thought of that haven't had not thought that far. You know, we send the photos after the wedding and we're like, you could always share photos and do an announcement. Some people will call their loved ones right from the chapel. Something that's becoming more popular and I love is just if your family and friends are close by just showing up in your wedding clothes afterwards and telling them you got married. We had one couple visiting from Ontario. They got married and they were going to drive home where their wedding clothes the whole trip and stopping at all their friends and aunts and uncles places between here in Ontario and just announce their napsules to them on the way home. That's so cute. Yeah. It's so interesting you saying that they don't find it difficult to keep a seeker which kind of gives me faith today in the digital age where in the social era where everything is so so public and people do crazy things to go viral including weddings. I mean, I know you know about that trend. People wanting a viral wedding. This is a complete opposite. So this is really going back to we've been talking a lot in 2026. We're going back to more sort of an analog thinking and age where people are into sort of older school things because we're fatigued from all of this on time. Very true. Yeah. Yeah. So that's very interesting because that's not an easy secret to keep. Let's be honest. I mean you're excited about it. You kind of want to tell someone and then actually you don't tell anyone and that's amazing that that still happens. Now do you find afterwards? Let's talk about the social component because this is also kind of a fun reveal when people are like boom I'm posting with wedding photos and nobody knew. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. I mean we love sharing photos but we always ask ahead of time like are you okay with a sharing? Absolutely no pressure. More and more couples every year are declining the option to have their photos shared and I secretly really love that because it is your day and you should be able to share the news your own way or not. If you don't need that external validation why share your wedding photos. So yeah I just feel like people are like you said moving away from that kind of craze like I need to share and and have immediate access to things or gratification and people are really treasuring that those moments that they have together with their in their wedding. So to date how many weddings have you done at the chapel? I think I read around in and around 400 is there more than that now? I think we're around 420. Yeah. 420. Yeah. Do you have one? I know it's hard to pick because they're all like children but was there one or two events that really stood out to you that you really loved that really just got you? Oh yeah so hard to choose. We had a couple who got married in their 70s. They were high school Oh I know I already had goosebumps I love them so much. They were high school sweethearts and their families kind of kept them apart. They went on to marry other people. They were both widowed and they reconnected in their 60s and then got married in their 70s and they were so in love and their kids were so happy for them and it was just really joyous, really beautiful. Definitely one of the best parts of the job is just being a witness to all that. Yeah that's a really memorable one. What else is the best part of your job? You've got a pretty cool job. This is really interesting. It's different and every day must be like unlike the next which is really fun. Yeah I mean we're kind of the church for all. We marry people on their first, second and third marriages, people like I said who were forced to alope during COVID, people who always wanted a big wedding but couldn't afford it, people with young and adult children and but the one common thread I think between all of them is that they get to show up as who they are. Comfortable and ready to tie the knot and I think having a front row seat to that is definitely the best part of my job. Hearing people's stories, seeing nerves up front and hearing people share their stories is something that will never get old to me. I love that. Are you on site from most of the weddings, Sarah? Are you there? I do a lot of the weddings in the summer fall but Megan Patterson, our in-host JP I would say does maybe 70% of the weddings. So you're still officiating like when your JP is not? That's right. Yeah and sometimes I'm just there to be there as a witness or just just because. Yeah just because. Yeah I love that. Now when people come to you I'm also curious those people, particularly those who are like keeping in touch in a secret, talk to me about the nerves because that's maybe a different level. Are people nervous that they might not, that they're making a misstep because people are there and they feel like because I feel like you know with weddings there comes a certain amount of guilt sadly from like the whole ecosystem of what we know and family being involved and you know there's a lot of feels. Yeah I feel like with every year people are less and less apologetic about the allotment. I always kind of say like this isn't your mom's allotment. You're not running away in shame or secret. It's often just because it feels right for you. There's so many times where people come to the chapel and and say you know I cannot be in front of a crowd like I love my family to death but the thought of eyes on me makes me feel sick so we have to do it this way. And I've done so many weddings where people feel like that but still go ahead and do the larger wedding and they're a ball of nerves. They're having an out of body experience at the altar because it feels so uncomfortable. So I think if you know that about yourself and you're actually able to honor it you're going to be so much more at ease on your wedding day. I feel like in 2026, 2027 I don't expect to get invited to anyone's wedding anymore. I know people are doing their own thing. I know everything is expensive and so I feel like people who are aloping are like I said less apologetic and just more confident in the decision. It's very rarely a case where someone is saying my parents don't know and they don't want me to alope. It's usually just we have some family drama or our parents are elderly and can't travel or we just wanted a weekend a way to do this and our family love that for us and respect that decision. I love that. All of this is so rooted in reality which is really refreshing Sarah and I imagine like just dealing with people and you know keeping it real for a lack of a better term but this is exactly where we're at in this moment in 2026 people getting married how we feel how we you know interact with one another like why shouldn't we be ourselves? It's a high time right and it's empowering which is what I like about what's happening in weddings right now because people don't need people don't feel bad they feel okay they feel good about what the decisions are making. Yeah you don't need permission and you don't need to give an explanation either. Exactly. No explaining. Let's talk about your costing because really affordable to come to you. So your top of the line package you have a couple of different levels but if it's like top tier and we're bringing 20 guests and we're getting all the bells and missiles cost for that. $2,900 and that includes your ceremony you're in the space for an hour. It includes a champagne toast for everyone, photo gallery and we also have a retro photo booth in the space that's open and available for all your guests to use and makes for great keepsakes and takeaways. So you have access to all that for $2,900. That's amazing. That's incredible. Thank you. And that and that is actually a very reasonable wedding budget because I think for the longest time well since I've been in the industry which is quite a while I mean the magic number of the average of what a wedding cost in Canada is $30,000 which is absolutely not true. If you're going for a you know a traditional wedding with all the things and like I don't even want to say 120 guests anymore I want to say more like 50 or 60 guests you're not paying 30,000 dollars. No it's much more than that. It is. Yeah. And to be able to come to you and have a beautiful celebration with all those things for such a reasonable cost this is again where I'm happy. I mean don't get me wrong. I love those big weddings too. It's whatever suits you but now there was never any option to you know you would go to City Hall in a lopen it would be you know fairly basic. That was what was going on if you didn't want to do it the traditional traditional route. Yeah that's right. And maybe you want to do something small but so many venues have a minimum buy-in that just makes it really not worth it if you're if you have a small guest list. So yeah big on just keeping it small and beautiful and just as celebratory as a larger wedding. When I first opened the chapel I wasn't sure who we were going to attract. I didn't know if we would simply attract budget conscious couples or if it would be the whole gamut and it really is for everyone. We married lots of professionals. We host lots of weddings where the couple goes on to take all their 20 friends out to dinner and or do plan an extravagant honeymoon. So even if there's money to play with couples don't necessarily want to spend it on the wedding. And I'm happy to have you. And I love that for them. There's so many other ways to spend your money and still get married and still have something beautiful that reflects you and celebrates everything. Absolutely. And I like that you really underscore it doesn't mean that it is you're not going small with anything when you choose this type of a wedding and you come to a place like Welfill Wedding Chapel to get married. You know, it's beautiful, lovely experience. You can come in in a tux and address or you can wear your denim. You know, it's whatever. But you know, I think there's still people still some people still have the old school thinking that if you're going to just do something simpler and a lope like that that you're kind of not having the wedding experience as it were and that's not true. Have you ever heard anyone say they regret aloping? No, because I basically did it myself. And like it's sort of I had just my parents on my wedding and now I did have it. I had it at a beautiful hotel that my husband and I like. It was a lunchtime wedding, but we didn't tell anybody. My parents knew was a surprise. This was in 2009. So I was well ahead of this curve. And this is also when I was, you know, editor of, you know, a large wedding magazine in Canada. So I kind of knew what I wanted and it was a lot of fun because it was we kept it quiet, you know, and people were not surprised because we had been a couple for a long time, but they sort of were surprised. And everybody sort of tied it back to like, but you're in the industry and I'm like, that doesn't make a difference. That's what we want. Yeah. And no, I mean, no, nobody, I never like I would do it all again exactly the same today. And you're absolutely right. Nobody who loves ever says, I wish I did it differently. Yeah. No. Because there's no drama. I know. And you can still have the big party and we see that all the time too. And so, the loping and someone is inevitably going to throw throw you a party if you let them or you go off and throw your own party or wait for the dust to settle a bit and then do something in the summer or what have you when you have vacation from work. There's so many ways you can do it. And I love seeing seeing people do just that, whatever the heck they want. Yeah, exactly. So people can book 365 at Wolfel wedding chapel, one of Canada's most picturesque, beautiful regions. Your chapel is gorgeous and you have I love your whole philosophy. And this is a really great conversation, Sarah, because you know, we just brought some reality back to the space and people get lost in that when they get engaged and they're thinking about how they want to get married and they're maybe thinking that they want that simpler thing. But as you said, people are less apologetic, but we're here to encourage people who might be on the fence. Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Do it your way. Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for being here, Sarah. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode of pile seat. If you did, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review on the podcast app of your choice. I'll be back next week with a new guest. Follow me on Instagram @alisonmigil. I'd love to hear from you.