Love at First Site (Visit): Inside Toronto's Vegas-Style Elopement Chapel, Two of Hearts Chapel

Hannah Stein reflects on building a love letter to Toronto, creating a space where couples can celebrate with authenticity and pizzaz

By: The Lace Ledger Staff

Most often, we think of weddings as celebrations of the devotion between two people. Yet, before we can devote ourselves to a partner, we first have to remain devoted to the life we want to build.

For Two of Hearts Chapel founder Hannah Stein, that meant refusing to accept a version of a wedding that was aesthetically basic and boring, not to mention egregiously overpriced. Overwhelmed and underwhelmed by lacklustre "big wedding" options, she imagined something more fun. A place where couples could celebrate on their own terms, leaving with treasured memories instead of years of debt.

So, she created a space where couples are invited to begin the next chapter of their lives surrounded by whimsy, leaving behind the pressure of a traditional wedding in favour of the simple luxury of enjoy the moment.

One year after opening its doors, we connected with Hannah to reflect on her journey into the wedding industry, the joy of building a business unlike anything else in Toronto, why the most meaningful ceremonies are often the least complicated and what witnessing dozens of love stories has taught her about devotion—to one another and to ourselves.

1. One of the things we loved most about your story is that Two of Hearts Chapel was born from lived experience. Before you became part of so many other couples' love stories, you were navigating your own. Could you tell us about that chapter of your life and how it ultimately led to the idea for the chapel?

Absolutely. Also, thank you so much for saying that it was coming from a lived experience because you're very right. I've had a pretty non-linear career path in general. I'm a professionally trained dancer, studied at TMU's dance program for three years, dropped out, and started working front desk at a real estate agency. That's where I met a mortgage agent who was hiring and looking for someone to train from scratch. I had zero business experience getting into that field, but I got the job and ended up working with him for five years.

Working in mortgages gave me an advantage I’d realize later on; I was his only employee, so I didn't just learn the industry, I got to watch him run a business and help build the systems behind it.

Eventually, I resigned; I was genuinely looking to start some kind of business but had no idea what or where. I've always just stayed open to whatever opportunity came my way. At that point in my life, I was looking for something to sink my teeth into.

In tandem, my partner and I had been together five years, engaged for a while, and we just did not vibe with any of the options out there for weddings. I found the industry itself frustrating, I call it "Big Wedding." It felt like something that should be precious and experienced exactly how you want to experience it had been turned into something repeatable, for profit. A lot of people have been shown what a wedding is supposed to look like, and that adds stress and pulls you out of the moment, and being in the moment with my partner was the most important thing to me.

So, when we were wedding shopping and wanted something "Vegas style" that simply didn't exist here, and going to the US wasn't happening, I had this moment of, “what if I take whatever money we'd spend on a wedding and open a business instead?” Chapels and elopements aren't new, but I thought: if I feel this strongly and have a vision for what I want it to be, there have to be other people feeling the same way.

I've lived in Toronto my whole life. I love this city, and I wanted to add something special and unique to it. So I thought, what if I bring love and fun and safety into the city, something kitschy? We need more fun, more play.

2. So many of us have an experience that leaves us thinking, there has to be a better way. We might even imagine what we'd do differently—but very few people actually follow through. You did. What gave you the confidence to take that leap, what did those early days of building Two of Hearts Chapel look like and what advice would you give someone who's sitting on an idea they can't stop thinking about?

This is such a great question, and honestly, it's one I'm still figuring out. I joke that I opened the chapel purely on delusion and blind faith in myself, but that's really how it started.

If I'm being fully honest, opening and renovating it in under three weeks was the easy part. The hard part has been actually running the business and keeping the momentum going.

It's not that the spark is gone, it's that "quitting your 9-to-5 to work for yourself 24/7" is a very real thing. It's like having a baby, it needs constant attention, constant thought. That's forced me to face things about myself I hadn't had to face before, which has been both a blessing and one of the hardest things I've ever done.

The early days looked like a lot of research. I posted on TikTok before I even had a building in mind, so those first few months were pure learning. I'd never hosted an event, never run a business like this, didn't know anything about the wedding industry. Luckily, social media meant a lot of people were interested in connecting, so that first month was really just meeting with anyone who'd meet with me: florists, photographers, officiants, anyone willing to teach me something about the process or maybe work together down the line.

A lot of my confidence came from something I learned through dance, specifically improvisation. You're out there in the tightest clothes imaginable, learning things on the spot, executing over and over, getting better in real time. Sometimes you have to do things you're not confident about, and it's scary, and you just go. In an improv circle, you take a leap of faith trusting you'll land on your feet, and if it doesn't work out, at least you practiced courage. That's really stuck with me. It's a practice, not a one time thing, and I carried it into daily life long after I stopped dancing, because we never know how things will work out, but we can't let fear stop us from trying. Nothing feels worse than "I should have done that."

I think it's also worth really sitting with why you're starting something. Is it to get rich fast? To give back to your community? To build community? To fill a gap in yourself? There are so many questions worth asking yourself, but don't let them scare you off, because it will always be easier not to do something than to do it.

I also think social media has made us feel far more watched than we actually are, which makes people more scared to take risks than they should be. And honestly, what's the worst that happens? It fails. People fail all the time. But how lucky am I that I built something people actually resonate with? It baffles me daily.

For anyone sitting on an idea: you're not alone in how you feel, and there are people out there who'll vibe with it. You will find your people. The more you can just be yourself and trust yourself, the better. You have to do it scared, because there's no other way.

3. You describe Two of Hearts as "a stage for love stories that refuse to take themselves too seriously," and that philosophy feels wonderfully refreshing. What makes the experience of getting married at your chapel different from both a traditional wedding venue and a City Hall ceremony?

With Two of Hearts, I wanted a completely different, over the top aesthetic, something that breaks what a wedding is "supposed" to look like. I hated that when I was wedding shopping myself, not only is everything expensive as hell, but it all looks the same. So when I was designing the chapel, I knew my aesthetic wasn't going to be for everyone, and that's completely fine. The people it does resonate with, it resonates with hard.

I talk about camp a lot, and one thing that's always stuck with me is a line from Susan Sontag's essay, ‘Notes on Camp’: camp is seriousness that fails, but takes itself seriously. That's exactly it. I take the business seriously, I take the fact that you're getting married seriously, but it happens in a completely unserious environment.

I've seen that take the pressure off my couples to ‘perform’ what a wedding should be. They just get to show up and be themselves.Every couple does that differently, but it always feels authentic to them. I still haven't fully figured out how the space allows that, but it does.

For traditional weddings, it comes down to budget and overwhelm. When I was planning my own wedding, I was completely overwhelmed by all the details. I was never going to be a matching linens person or a seating chart person. But even just figuring out an officiant, a photographer, a venue, whether we wanted food, all of that took away from what I actually wanted my wedding day to feel like. I didn't want to be stressed on my wedding day. I wanted to relax, and I wanted it to be affordable enough that we could actually put money toward our future together instead.

That's why I've been continually fine-tuning my packages. I'm always learning what actually matters to people. I wasn't even sure at first whether to include photography, in case people didn't want it. But through talking to couples, I've learned the two essentials are an officiant, to make it legal, and photos, especially since I designed the space to be genuinely photogenic, with a different vibe in every corner.

4. It feels as though your chapel arrived at exactly the right cultural moment. More and more couples are choosing intimacy over extravagance, investing in experiences instead of expectations and beginning their marriages without the financial burden of a six-figure wedding. Why do you think so many people have been waiting for a space like Two of Hearts?

It's funny, I posted my first TikTok video on the day Trump announced he was going forward with the tariffs on Canada. Perfect timing, honestly, because I think a lot of us were missing the same thing I was missing: whimsy and fun. I'm 28. I feel like a lot of us are having a hard time right now and feel pretty powerless to the systems currently in place.

I think a lot about what actually defines a Vegas-style chapel, since obviously we're not in Vegas. But the idea around Vegas is this carefree, loose, campy, over the top thing. We needed a place in Toronto where that could exist. And beyond that, a place where queer people and marginalized people feel safe. I've had a number of couples come up from the States now, queer couples, who don't want to get married in actual Vegas because they don't feel safe there.

I think it comes down to a lot of us not wanting to be told what we have to do and how we have to perform it, and that goes for love and style too. Some of the outfits people show up in are incredible, absolutely iconic, and that's what makes me so happy.

At the end of the day, people just want a space where they can be themselves and feel safe, and I think what a Vegas-style chapel represents and encompasses.

5. After witnessing so many ceremonies over the past year, you've had a front-row seat to hundreds of modern love stories. How has engaging with couples impacted your perspective on what modern marriage looks like?

With the couples that come through, some are getting married because they need a visa and want to start their life together here. Some have been together forever and just never resonated with any option until they found Two of Hearts. And some genuinely couldn't care less about the ceremony itself, they're just happy to be there with their person.

The throughline I see with pretty much every couple is that they don't treat the wedding day as the start of their lives together. They come in already as partners. That was exactly my mentality when I was engaged too, I didn't want this to be the best day of my life. It doesn't have to be. I work hard to make it as special and smooth as I can for them, but they walk in already married in their own minds. This is just another step. Is it fun to get dressed up? Absolutely.

I think it's outdated to treat marriage as the start of your life, or as something that has to be the best day of your life because that also adds so much unnecessary pressure. I'm also seeing people invest less in outfits the traditional way, a lot of them rent dresses or buy vintage. Shout out to Space Vintage Bridal, a lot of my couples get their outfits there.

Again, I know I'm not for everybody, but for the couples who do resonate with me, my packages let them start this chapter without paying through the teeth. It's not the start of your life, it's a continuation, a moment to pause and celebrate what you've already built.I've married couples who've been together a short time and couples who've been together since they were kids. Love knows no timeline, and taking a moment to notice it and mark it is beautiful.

6. We imagine no two ceremonies are ever quite the same. Looking back, are there any moments or love stories that continue to make you smile because they embody everything you hoped Two of Hearts Chapel would become?

It's wild to think I opened August 5th, 2025, and it's now July 27th, 2026, and there have already been about forty weddings at the chapel. So many magical moments. I actually keep a book where I write down something that stood out to me from every single wedding, a moment, a detail about the couple, anything I want to hold onto, because truly everyone is so different.

One couple recently put on an entire storytelling performance about their love, complete with musical numbers, and at one point they were running around in fake vampire teeth. Hilarious, and so beautiful, because it was so completely them. Another couple came in on their lunch break, just the two of them, t-shirt and jeans, with me and my partner as witnesses, and they were so happy just being themselves with zero performance. I had a poly couple whose witnesses were their other partners, which felt like such a beautiful thing to get to be a part of. I had a couple whose dog was the ring bearer, with a custom little ring collar. Another couple rode in on actual motorcycles. I'm endlessly fascinated by how people choose to celebrate.

One thing that matters a lot to me: I never charge extra for special requests. As long as it's within my ability and doesn't extend the actual time (normal stuff, if you go over time it might cost a bit more), I would never charge someone extra for wanting to make their day special. A lot of venues do that, cake cutting fees and the like, and it genuinely bothers me. I don't think a lot of venues in Toronto would have let that motorcycle entrance happen without charging for it.

One more, this didn't technically happen at Two of Hearts, but I was honoured to be part of it. Something Co, a queer-led events group in Toronto, asked me to partner with them on a Valentine's Day event where we live-married three queer couples on stage in front of hundreds of strangers. My officiant, who's also a drag officiant, ran the ceremony, and I brought over decor to give it the Two of Hearts feel. Standing at the back of the room watching that happen, less than a year after opening, in front of decor that came from my own head, was genuinely magical.

7. Let's talk trends. Which songs have couples been walking down the aisle to most often this year, and have there been any unexpected choices that completely stole the show?

I have a growing playlist of songs couples have walked down to, both their processional song and their recessional song, which starts right after the kiss. Some of my favourites: one couple used the entire Lord of the Rings soundtrack, someone walked down the aisle to the Austin Powers theme, and there's been a lot of Rocky Horror. So many good ones, I'll just let the playlist speak for itself.

8. Looking ahead to 2027, are there any emerging trends—whether in ceremonies, fashion, overall aesthetics, unique requests, etc.—that you think are just beginning to take shape?

It's hard to speak to trends for the wedding industry as a whole, since I'm in such a small, unexplored niche, especially in Canada. Funny enough, some of the big wedding shows and magazines have reached out, but they never have a category for me, they try to slot me in as a "barn wedding" or something, which isn't it.

In terms of what I'm actually seeing come through the chapel:

A lot of flowers in the hair, simple bouquets often picked from a loved one's own garden.
First looks are pretty 50/50, definitely not mandatory, and a lot of couples are getting ready together.
People love bringing pets, one couple couldn't bring their actual cat so they brought an almost life-size cardboard cutout instead, which was iconic.
I'm seeing less pressure around exchanging vows publicly, a lot of couples handing each other letters privately instead and just doing the legal minimum out loud.
Dates matter more to people than whether it's a weekend, they want their anniversary, a lucky number, something significant to them.
Every couple I've had has supported small businesses for favours, sourced from local artisans or family.
Cake cutting isn't as big a deal as people think anymore.
Bubbles are always a hit, and a lot of people bring old point-and-shoot cameras for photos.
Groom fashion is still pretty limited, basically a black suit, but the ones who push it look fantastic.
I had a bride recently swap her veil for little bows in her hair that mimicked one, which I thought was so clever.

This is purely based on what walks through my doors, I actively stay off the internet when it comes to wedding trend content, because I don't want to be influenced into thinking there's a right way to do things or start chasing trends. I try to spend as little time as possible looking at other venues or wedding content.

I also have to shout out my photographer, we actually went to high school together, and I hired her specifically because she's not a wedding photographer. I wanted to get away from traditional posed shots. Some couples still want that, which is totally fine, but her style is much more cinematic and moment-driven, and she follows their lead completely. Film is a big part of my packages too, couples love film photography and film video, and I've seen a lot of couples do Super 8 video. Everyone's leaning vintage right now.

9. After helping so many couples begin this next chapter together, what has the last year taught you about devotion? Has your understanding of love changed since opening the chapel?

Beyond the devotion between couples themselves, the choices they've made to stay together, the hard times they've clearly worked through by the point they're getting married, what stood out to me is the devotion to themselves. Nobody's had to bend to be with the other person. The person standing across from them loves them exactly as they are. Of course you change and grow in a relationship, but that commitment of, "I love you, I see you, we're going to grow together, and I accept you as you are," is a whole other level of devotion.

It's funny, I knew I was opening a wedding chapel, but I didn't really think about the fact that I'd get a front row seat to this love, constantly, until my very first wedding. Every couple shows it differently, but you can see it.There are so many different kinds of love, and every couple has built their own specific version of it, one where they get to feel fully themselves. Not having to change who you are at your core is the best kind of devotion I can think of.

10. Two of Hearts has already become one of Toronto's most joyful little landmarks, but it feels like you're only getting started. As you look ahead, what dreams are still waiting on the horizon—for the chapel, for your team and for the couples who will walk through those doors next?

Hearing that Two of Hearts is being recognized as part of the community in Toronto means so much, more than you probably know. I grew up watching Honest Ed's get torn down, I've lived in and loved this city my whole life, and so much of what makes Toronto special keeps disappearing. That breaks my heart, because I know what this city can offer. So being seen as part of that fabric is genuinely an honour.

My biggest hurdle right now is just that I'm a new business. My focus has had to be good service and getting clients through the door so I can pay rent and pay my people. My goal has always been, once things stabilize financially, to lean into all the community projects I have in my head. I opened the chapel wanting it to be a community space, for artists, small businesses, anyone in Toronto who needs an accessible space.

Looking ahead, I have a lot of small ideas. I want to find a way to connect with people who don't live in Toronto, or aren't engaged or getting married, but who connect with the vibe. I'm thinking about a snail mail club, highlighting local Toronto artists, where people get prints, stickers, little things each month. Still working out the details, but I really want to spotlight local artists. I want the space available for shows, for art, for whatever people need it for.

My aesthetic clearly resonates with people, I just need to keep building on it. One of my favourite things right now is a wall where couples sign little custom Two of Hearts cards, I keep everything, because everyone who's walked through those doors has helped build this place. I'm hoping to expand what I can offer over time, but a lot of it comes down to money as a new business owner. Once I have more financial flexibility, I can't wait to put real energy into community outreach. I'm genuinely excited about where this can go.

The weddings may be whimsical, but what lingers long after the confetti settles is something with more depth. Again and again, Hannah has watched couples choose one another without first asking the other person to become someone different. There is something deeply reassuring about that kind of love.

Perhaps that's the real magic of Two of Hearts Chapel. It reminds us that devotion isn't measured by the size of a celebration or the cost of a reception. Sometimes it looks like two people creating a life that’s entirely their own, then taking a moment to celebrate the fact that they found each other along the way.

Explore Two of Hearts Chapel to learn more about its ceremonies, packages and subscribe below to receive our free monthly digital issue, where conversations like this continue to unfold.

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