Real Weddings, Advice, & Inspiration

Catalyst Wedding Company highlights weddings by and for game-changers. We seek to amplify and empower voices and viewpoints that are usually missing from the Wedding Industrial Complex. We're a community of badass wedding professionals who love all things funky, fresh, diverse, unique, and personality-driven; we convene twice yearly for (un)convention, a collaborative workshop, styled shoot, and dinner party. We're also the publishers of Catalyst Wedding Mag, a resource for couples looking for inspiration and affirmation that doing things differently in wedding-world is not only ok, it's wonderful!

Photo by Buena Lane Photography

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Whether a couple chooses to have a courthouse wedding as a budget-friendly alternative to a large wedding or is celebrating their new legal right to be wed, courthouse weddings are not second rate; rather they are intimate, beautiful celebrations of love.

Here are four reasons why you should consider having a courthouse wedding.

1. You will be surrounded by the people who are most important to you.

You can choose to have a private ceremony or you can invite your closest friends and family members; either way you won’t be distracted by entertaining distant relatives or your mom’s church friends.

2. It’s comfortable.

A courthouse wedding allows you to be yourself without the pressure of a performance. Since you’re not distracted by hundreds of party favors and a hard-to-swallow catering budget, you can focus fully on what matters to you. You can also showcase your style to the fullest — perhaps this means donning a large sunflower crown or buying that new septum piece that’s been sitting in your Etsy shopping cart for months.

3. You can capture some gorgeous photos.

Extended family and friends will likely request to see documentation of the day since they couldn’t attend in person. Find a professional photographer that specializes in unconventional wedding settings, or give an undergraduate art student the opportunity to build their portfolio and let them shoot the wedding. You’ll have plenty of time to take natural, unhurried photos of the love you share.

4. Despite having an intimate ceremony, you can still choose to throw a party later.

This party can happen at any time, and you won’t be paying wedding prices for all the usual suspects required at a reception. This way, you can have a low-key celebration with friends and family without the wedding politics.

We love courthouse weddings because they are intimate, less stressful, and don’t break the bank.