AIBU to try to organise a small wedding in 7 weeks?

[honeybuffe]

Basically in 7 weeks the registry office has an opening and myself and dp have decided to try to get married on this day. The reason is we both have family in Australia and NZ (a sister each) who will be home for Xmas. As they are coming home we thought it would be great to try and organise a wedding for when they are both home as neither of us would feel comfortable asking them to fly home just for purpose of our wedding due to massive costs of flights, loss of holiday time from work etc.

My question is, is this really feckin possible? We are going to court in a week to see if we can get granted an exemption to marry in under 3 months(usual legal requirement). The lady I spoke to felt that in the circumstances ie family home not likely for another 4 years unless we specifically asked them which I just couldn't put them under that pressure, together 8 years 2 dc etc she felt certain we would get granted an exemption.

I'm thinking I will rent a dress, buy boys a nice outfit in Xmas sales, get v basic rings, sister could take photos as she has a good camera, friend could upload some music that we could play and go for lunch after. Max people is 40 at a guess. (2 large ish families and prob 4-6 v close since kids friends each).

All that said is it madness? Or between that and Santa will it be a disaster and we'd be better off waiting a couple of years. Ds are 6&4.

Lovely idea YANBU.
I think the smaller weddings are the nicer ones (more intimate).

Yes, just be prepared for people to be staring at your stomach trying to work out if you might be pregnant :-) I went to a sudden wedding recently and there was much speculation among the guests.

Totally doable. We did! Worked well as didn't Pfaff about with unnecessary stuff like favours etc, just did what mattered and then got on with being married! Go for it - your family will appreciate it and you'll be married!

Do it!

I love small weddings. Or any wedding where the couple are totally suited.

So long as all the important people are there and you have the licence and somewhere for a bit of a knees up afterwards you're sorted. The rest is just a shopping trip away from completion!

Wish more wedding were like this. I can't bear all the pomp and twatting about that so many weddings are these days

Ha kentishgirl we have 2 ds already, 6 and 4 so even if I were pregnant again it wouldn't be a reason for us to rush up the aisle! But I'll definitely keep an eye out for suspicious looking sideways glances!! If only to wind them up by rubbing my stomach, definitely never "glowed" on either pregnancy, so will have to make sure I don't look nauseous and rough or that would really give them something to guess about!

Don't worry about the weather. We had torrential rain and gales and I still loved every minute of it.

I did a rush wedding fwith 120 guests in ireland - had 3 months to orgainse before we emigrated and it was bloody fantastic wedding if I say so myself
say yes to every offer of help - i had flowers cake make up hair done etc as 'gifts' from friends

We did it in 3 weeks. Got my dress from BHS's end of season sale, borrowed bridesmaids' dresses, did the reception at our house and asked guests to bring a dish rather than a present. Didn't have a photographer, but asked guests to get an extra copy printed for us. MIL bought a cake from Marks and got a friend to decorate the top. It was a brilliant day.

Thanks googietheegg and movingonup. Definitely will be leaving out as much "faff" as possible, favours etc. Not to take away from others that do it, but in the time we have and the budget we have it definitely falls into the unnecessary list. It really is about having as many from our family there to mark the occasion, some nice food and a bit of a session in the evening. I do think we are suited, (except on the days he snores like a truffle pig, on those days I plot his downfall) and really we do just want to get married. I explained it to my mom as we want a marriage and aren't too worried about the wedding if that makes sense.

Don't you only need 16 days notice to get married? So no special licence needed??

It's very doable- we booked and planned our wedding within 6 weeks! We booked the registry office and then worked around that! We had a small ceremony, went off for dinner at a very nice restaurant and then went to our evening do that my mum organised in the evening - it was brilliant!
I wouldn't have been able to stand all of the faffing around getting everything sorted and inviting lots of people, so it suited us down to the ground!

My sister found out that my mother had terminal cancer on 27 Dec. She got married on 23 Jan. It wasn't a particularly small wedding 50+ during the day and about 150 for the evening. 7(!!!) bridesmaids and 2 flower girls. She did already have the dress, but it needed alternations.

All perfectly doable if you cut down the faff and just get on with it. She would have liked a more diy wedding but that wasn't feasible, but a perfectly lovely wedding was certainly feasible. Out of season you can book venues at short notice - and lots of helpful bridesmaids come in very handy. They were delegated to sort some things out and just trusted to get on with it.

irregularregular what a lovely thing to do and memories to have, I'm glad it worked out so well for your sister. I'm sorry the reason for the rush was your mother's illness but I hope your family enjoyed it all despite the sad circumstances.
movingonup I'm in Ireland and it is a legal requirement to give minimum 3 months notice, the only way around this is to be granted an exemption by a judge to marry in less time. We have a court appointment on the 24th November.