More and more couples now say "I do" in small, low-budget weddings because of the squeeze from the rising cost of living.
As the big wedding venue at Lake Crackenback closes, celebrants report a rise in elopements and micro-weddings - and a decline in the grand ceremony with crowds of guests and an extensive bill to match.
"There's been a massive downturn in weddings," celebrant Jo Terlich said.
She's been in the business for 20 years as "The Snowy Celebrant" in Jindabyne.
"Ten years ago, I might have had one or two elopements but now 50 per cent of my work is elopements," she said.
She defines an elopement as the couple plus the celebrant plus two witnesses (in the Snowy Mountains, "I might just grab two snowboarders," she said).
An elopement is a bit bigger, but still only 10 or 15 people.
"One-hundred per cent of this is about the cost-of-living crisis," she said.
"They are just having a couple of days away.
"Couples are just not having honeymoons, either."
As a result of the downturn, the Cuisine Restaurant at the Lake Crackenback Resort will shut its doors to brides and grooms from September 2.
"We've had to deliver terrible news to a lot of brides," general manager Anthony Cleary said.
"We are still working with 18 brides to try to try to resolve that terrible situation."
He blamed "challenging trading conditions".
The accommodation side of the resort will stay in business, as will the Italian restaurant there, but the wedding venue will cease.
In the meantime, booked-in couples have been refunded.
Apart from the economy, the pandemic changed habits and expectations, according to celebrants.
"At the beginning of COVID, people were trying to to have the big wedding but getting disappointed," Tumut-based Michelle Boyd of lovemichelleboyd said.
So the idea of smaller weddings grew more attractive, and the habit has stuck.
They are cheaper and "people don't have to deal with family dramas, pleasing everyone".
She organises "hike and elope" weddings on the top of mountains.
"It's for an adventure. You can hike in your wedding dress or change at the top," she said.
This option includes a meal overlooking a spectacular vista plus a photographer and transport (apart from the hike), at a cost of around $6000.
Celebrant Tilly Brooks of Love Marries Love noticed a rise in the number of small weddings post-COVID. "People had put off their wedding, and then they thought, 'We'll just elope and we'll party later'," she said.
Celebrant Michael Bower of Canberra Small Weddings contrasted the cost of a big wedding (at maybe $50,000) with a micro one (at $5000).
"You've got 45 grand to play with. You can put that onto the mortgage," he said. He thought there was also a longer-term move towards weekday weddings.
Companies were now springing up specialising in micro-weddings.
I Do Drive Thru Weddings promises it "can get you married anywhere from just $400, in under seven minutes".
