To feel that I can’t get married…

I don’t think it will look like you have no friends! I think it will look like you wanted a small wedding so only invited a small number out of a larger pool of people. Loads of people choose smaller weddings for financial reasons or because they prefer the vibe, specially second time around I think. I’d be amazed if anyone thought anything of it. I’ve got friends who have remarried who invited me to their first but not their second wedding because the second one was much smaller.
Get married and have a lovely day with your select group of loved ones, it sounds great tbh!

Sounds like a lovely amount of people for a wedding!
DH & I were the only ones at ours

Elope! Everyone will think it's romantic and having got married that way myself I can vouch it was stress free. No worries about people's food preferences, entertainment or who you need to invite.

We had a small wedding of total 45 people. Held in a converted stable on what was a farm, but now an event venue. Was lovely as enough bedrooms for everyone as well. Married at 2.30pm. Chat and pictures after with dinner at 6 ish. No seperate evening guest list. People all met up for breakfast the following morning. Everyone said it was one of the most relaxed and fun weddings. We got to see and chat to everyone and they were all close family or friends.

I had 2 strangers as witnesses when I got married and then 10 guests when we had our ‘wedding’ aka now renewal.. you can have a wedding with no guests!

At the time we scrapped together 49 (but I round to 50), and I Think it was my husband that had twice more than me. I only had three actual friends who had no partners on the day and my husband had at least 10 friends and some had partners.

If I could redo, I would go to a registry and have dinner with immediate family on both sides.

Best of luck on you day, OP 💐

The best wedding I went wto had 17 people. It was so intimate and special. Everyone who that was there was they genuinely adored the couple, it was magical.

I got married 3 years ago aged 56. We had 30 guests, afternoon ceremony, champagne afternoon tea in a small barn, music from a playlist and no speeches. So many people said if was a fabulous day and everyone had time to talk to others and it was so relaxed. I absolutely adored it, so much better than my first big white wedding at 21! Only those that really mattered to me were there and because it was small it was not overwhelming. It was literally perfect!

We had 6 people at ours. And that was including the registrar and her deputy....

We got married with 2 total strangers as witnesses. It’s our 38th anniversary on Saturday.

Better a few who matter than hundreds who don't. This is about you two, really. Enjoy it-no one remembers how many guests were there in a few years anyway.

I don't think any of your guests could care less. Agree with PPs that small weddings are often more relaxed and enjoyable, especially as the bride/groom I assume as you actually have time to spend more than 5 mins with each guest.

ETA: If you are more upset/embarrassed about not having more friends in real life, then maybe after the wedding you could start a new/pick up an old hobby to make some more friends.

We were a grand total of 11 at my wedding, including us!
Me + husband
1 sister each
My aunt and uncle
My grandmother
My parents
Husband's parents

It was a beautiful day. And the best part about having such a small wedding is that you can really talk to everyone properly. Photos hardly took any time at all and we could keep to sensible timings too as a result of us being such a small party. We were married at 11.30 in a ceremony lasting half an hour, had photos and lunch immediately afterwards, and were done by 3 or 4pm. Bliss!!

We've now been married for 15 years and have 2 kids so I'd say it's going OK 😉

My sister OTOH got married a couple of years back and it was overwhelmingly huge for me...4-stage hen do and massive wedding with 100s of people there. After the hen do and again after the wedding I just didn't want to speak to anyone for about a year. They'd better stay married is all I can say after all of that 😅

Are you really ready to get married?
This sounds like you want to get married to please others, rather than for love.
Quality rather than quantity is how you should judge who you invite.
Good luck

To be honest that sounds like plenty of friends and family to me! I wouldn’t want a big event anyway and lots of people seem to want to avoid being guests at huge expensive weddings these days! You only need to look at some of the nightmare wedding threads on here.

You could opt for a family and best friends only wedding with lovely meal afterwards. That would be my choice

My daughter is getting married in 18 months - they are keeping it small and only inviting people who are actively in their lives - no random cousins they haven't seen since they were kids etc. In fact, she has a strained relationship with her Dad and it is unlikely he will be invited - he is not an active part of her life and brings her stress not joy. Focus on what the people mean to you, not how many there are x

I'm planning for 40 and I reckon about 30ish will turn up (depends on plus ones basically). Just go ahead and start planning, enjoy it! Don't turn your wedding into a popularity contest. A beautiful venue near us caters for weddings with 15 people and it's gorgeous! Small weddings are more relaxed, you're going to have an amazing time & probably a bit more to spend on the honeymoon ☺️ let's face it for many of us even if there were 500 ppl there we are probably only close to a fraction of them anyway and at huge weddings you get so little 1-1 time and just end up doing the rounds to say hi xx

Hi op these threads are usually about keeping numbers low because of money etc. I would say only invite who you want to share your special day. It’s not about numbers or filling a room you could literally have your wedding then go for a meal. What’s important is you and dp,

I see where you're coming from and understand why you feel embarrassed about this. But TBH, if I were to get married today, I'd definitely have a small one, as it's almost 100% hassle-free and for some reason, feels more comfortable.
Anyway, you mentioned around 15 ppl who would fall under the acquaintance category, right? Would it be weird to add them to the close friends and family category so you'll have more people at your reception?
I do think, in spite of everything, that what really matters is that you'll be marrying the love of your life and will have your family and dear friends with you on yours and hubby-to-be's special day. Trust me, when you look at the photos in the future, that's what is going to make you happy, and not the number of ppl who attended.

if I did it all again, I would love a small bit luxury wedding. A colleague remarried her ex and they rented this small hotel exclusively had 20 guests all weekend and their wedding and the weekend just looked amazing. Lots of quality time with their kids and families.

We had 14 at our wedding and it was perfect

Numbers dont matter. If you love each other and have 2 witnesses that’s all you need.

If you really wanted to marry each other it wouldn’t matter how many people are at the wedding. Just go for something completely different if you’re worried about instagram comparisons. Just remember though a lovely instagram wedding doesn’t equal a long and happy marriage!