Register office wedding with 2 witnesses

[staffieslobber]

No guests, no music, no readings etc.

Anyone had one? What was it like? Do you regret it (the wedding, not the marriage!)?

Did you wear a wedding dress? Exchange rings? Get photos? Do any of the traditional stuff? And did you take your husband's name? (I had kind of planned to, purely because his is nicer and goes better with our daughter's name (she has my surname currently) but now I can't decide )

We did it 2 months ago, not a register office but beautiful venue, one family member and a witness from venue. Had a wonderful day with the all the bits from a big wedding that we wanted with none of the drama or politics big weddings bring. I’m glad we did it our way.

2 strangers
Photos
Rings
Dress
Car
Flowers

Perfect! In gretna green.

I did. No regrets, although now divorced. It was at a time when all our friends were getting married and the discussions I had to listen to from friends about whether the bridesmaid dresses clashed with the chair covers, and what wedding favours to have, did my head in - they were full on bridezillas whereas I hated the whole concept of the big day and being Centre off attention.

Yes, not U.K., in judges chambers. Took two friends as witnesses, judge got her secretary to take a photo of all of us with her. Used official standard vows, ring from the market

Should say we went for lunch at a local bistro place afterwards, nothing special really though the waiter upgraded the bottle of cava we ordered to champagne on the house

I took DH name because I do not wish for my arsehole of a father's name to continue anywhere and if I can stop that then I do all I can to make sure.

No family fallout though mil was most put out because she couldn't boast to her friends about it all, she soon got over it and now 3 years later, when dh brother is arranging his wedding we keep hearing how they wish they'd just decided to do as we did because its so stressful. (Their family is huge, mil and fil won't be seen in the same room together so certainly cannot sit together etc its all so stupid and makes things too complicated)

We got married like this in May. My closest friend and partner were our witnesses (we also had back ups). He wore a suit he already had and I worn a wiggle dress. No music, or readings but we did exchange rings, although I have kept my name. Photo's were taken by friends on their phones and we all went for afternoon tea to celebrate.

It was the wedding I've always wanted. I've told selected members of my extended family and all have been nothing but supportive of us.

And no, absolutely not to taking DH’s (nicer than mine) name. I can’t fathom why anyone would do something so reactionary in 2021. My name is my name. DS has both our surnames

It's my dream to do such a low key wedding, not that I've been asked but yanno if it comes up then I want gretna, two random witnesses and my dogs with me.
However the name thing is a sticking point. When previously married I took his name and as it's way better than my long, difficult to spell, foreign, always have to explain the meaning, always have to spell it out maiden name. Now I've had married name longer than I ever had my own name. I couldn't go back, but neither do I want current partners name. And (I've not asked to be fair) I think current partner might not want me to have another mans surname.
It's not an immediate problem I know but its puzzled me many a night when I cant sleep anyway.

@Congressdingo

And no, absolutely not to taking DH’s (nicer than mine) name. I can’t fathom why anyone would do something so reactionary in 2021. My name is my name. DS has both our surnames

It's my dream to do such a low key wedding, not that I've been asked but yanno if it comes up then I want gretna, two random witnesses and my dogs with me.
However the name thing is a sticking point. When previously married I took his name and as it's way better than my long, difficult to spell, foreign, always have to explain the meaning, always have to spell it out maiden name. Now I've had married name longer than I ever had my own name. I couldn't go back, but neither do I want current partners name. And (I've not asked to be fair) I think current partner might not want me to have another mans surname.
It's not an immediate problem I know but its puzzled me many a night when I cant sleep anyway.

Ask him, if you want to marry him, @CongressDingo!

And his insecurities are his own task to deal with if he has a problem with you not being relabelled as having transferred ownership, surely. You should use the name you want. It’s no one else’s decision.

My name is Irish, completely non-phonetic in English, long, and generally needs to be spelled out at least twice, but it still never occurred to me to change it to DH’s nice, phonetic surname. Same as it seldom occurs to men to change their difficult, non-phonetic in English surnames on marriage.