To ask about your small (20 guests or less) wedding?

[xyz890]

Where did you get married? What did you do afterwards? How did you find somewhere small enough?

I've started looking for a venue for our small (civil) wedding, there will be about 18 guests plus us, so 20 in total. I'm finding it difficult to find venues as 'small' seems to be defined as at least 50 guests.

I wouldn't mind a registry office followed by a meal in a good restaurant. But all our local registry offices seem to have the atmosphere of a conference room in a third rate hotel!

I guess therefore that we will need to find a hotel or similar that has a licence for civil weddings and where we can also hold our reception. I don't want us to feel lost in a room that's designed to hold 50 or more guests though.

Inspire me!

It was 13 years ago. We got married in Comlongon Castle in Dumfries. I had 4 guests. DH had 10 guests. They had rooms available or some folk stayed elsewhere.
They did a package. There was a piper. (I didn't want one - but he was included!) The menu had about 4 main course options as I recall. We took our cake and hired a local photographer, but I did my own (fake) flowers. I had no MUA or hair person or any of that. We had the use of the whole facility throughout, and we didn't have a disco or anything afterwards, mainly because of the age of most of the guests. We had a civil ceremony.

It didn't cost a lot. It probably does now though!

Where abouts are you roughly OP? If you're south midlands i have a good suggestion.

@Laiste I am in South Midlands!

We hired a small country house hotel in the Lakes and had 17 guests. It was beautiful and felt like our home for the day - dining room with us all eating around one table, bar, living room, bedrooms - just lovely. Small weddings rule. You get to spend proper time with everyone and make it much more personal.

Our wedding 29 years ago was my second, his first. I wore scarlet and black. We married in our local registry office and invited family and lots of work colleagues came along to support us. We then had a private room in a very good local hotel and had a really wonderful meal. We then went off late afternoon for short honeymoon in Edinburgh. Had a party at home for our friends when we returned. It was all lovely and far better than my first traditional white wedding.

should have said - the meal was just for close family and the wedding party - about 20.

We had 22 guests, ceremony in a town hall so nicer than a 60s office building style registry office. We then had sole use of a small restaurant, was only just big enough for us all!

Hi we only had 8 at ours we googled small intimate venues. The one we wanted was booked so they recommended another one - Ocean Kave in Devon - brilliant it suited us as a small group but the venue can also accommodate larger groups. I'd highly recommend it. Good luck OP

We hired a local historical house that had accommodation for 24. Registery office for wedding and celebration at the house afterwards.

I did a Waitrose buffet, flowing drinks and hired some staff to serve and clear up.

The best bit was the house was hired for a 4 day long weekend and easily accommodated the family. So we had a day to decorate the house before the celebrations too.

Because of this and the astonishing amount it cost we did our whole wedding lavishly for under £10,000!

Budget was always a constraining factor for me, so choosing a 'boutique' venue was out of the question due to the fees for a registrar coming out of their office to attend.

Wedding No.2 - 16 guests, register office in Georgian-style building, then walked up the hill to a hotel/restaurant for lunch, private room provided for the lunch. Back to parents house for champagne and cake after.

Wedding no.3 - 4 guests (!), nicest register office we could find in local area (boring inside but quite picturesque outside), then drove 2 miles to restaurant for lunch, again we had a small room to ourselves. Back to our own house for coffee afterwards, nobody felt like opening the champagne!

25. Town hall registry office. Meal at an Italian. Whole wedding including dress cost £2,100. Fabulous day. As married as anyone who spent £35k

We had 9 guests at our local church. Choir was definitely needed! Immediate family only but our best friends were around too but didn't come into the church (they handily took DS, who was 2 and kicking off, outside with them). It was summer. Best friends arranged a picnic in the church garden with strawberries, champagne, nibbles and cupcakes and DFIL slipped an accordion playing busker he met on the canal on the way to the church £50 to come and play while we had the picnic and photos. Then we went to the local pub for more champagne (how to bring a pub to a momentary standstill at 3pm on a Friday afternoon, walk in wearing wedding dress and full veil ). Then family only went to dinner at a lovely restaurant which happened to be where DH and I first met. Loved it all, so relaxed. We also had a massive party to celebrate a week later.

I don't know if this will help either! We got married in a civil ceremony at a palazzo in Venice with 8 guests, just after the Carnevale. Afterwards the photographer took some pics around the city then we went back to the hotel and got changed, later went for pizza by the Rialto. Was actually very inexpensive! Our family flew home and we went for a honeymoon in Verona.

We live in a place where you can get married at any location you like.

We chose a very nice restaurant with multiple smallish dining rooms. We had the event on a weeknight when they are normally closed so they were willing to work with a small party. We started with drinks and apps in the bar, moved to one dining room set up for the ceremony, moved to another dining room for dinner, then back to the bar to wind up the evening. I loved it.

After the register office service and the photos we just had a buffet in a local pub that had a function room and an outdoor beer garden and play area for the children. There was no sit-down meal, no speeches, no formal 1st dance, no table or chair decorations apart from a vase of fresh flowers on each table. We had something like 25 guests altogether incl children.

We had a small wedding just over 30 and at a venue where we could have the reception and ceremony. We booked just under 6 months ahead and negotiated a huge discount as we knew they were unlikely to fill the date on short notice. We didn't want a long engagement so all made perfect sense and the money we saved went towards a house deposit. Hope you find somewhere lovely.

12 in a private room in a pub in Cornwall, a few steps from the beach. Food surprisingly excellent and all very reasonable and fairly short notice, Cornish administrative speeds excepting!

We did it at a golf club, had the service there and the meal. The grounds were lovely for the pictures, the decor was lovely. It was lovely. We had a few more than 20 but it would have easily worked with them numbers.

We got married at the local registry office. Everyone came back to ours for a glass of something and some nibbles. They all stood in the kitchen and living room. We played some good music. A bit of booze makes everyone all warm and fuzzy . But it wasn't too boozy. There was still the dinner to enjoy. We booked a local restaurant nearby, overlooking the river Thames which we all headed onto. It was lovely, simple and perfect. We had our cake there as well. I just wish I married in late spring instead of the dead of winter. It was freezing! But I LOVED our intimate wedding. No pressure at all, just total fun and ease. We all dressed up and had a ball. I can thank our friends and family for that. They're just an easy-going, loving bunch. I don't see them often enough! Maybe we should renew our vows!

I should add, we didn't do 'speeches and dancing'. We just ate, drank, and were merry. People brought their kids. It was just a good laugh.

We got married in Lincoln registry office and had found a local hotel that had a ‘snug’ for private dining. There was me and my husband, my parents and my 3 children. It was perfect.

Could anything be done to improve the atmosphere of the registry office? Failing that you could have a very brief ceremony and spend more time on the speeches part

We had 23 people including ourselves. Got married at our village chapel, had drinks and cakes in my parents garden, then had a lovely meal at a restaurant where we had a room to ourselves and we got to design the menu ourselves with the chef. It was all beautifully relaxed and we got lucky with the weather for the afternoon.

Under 20 guests and we got married in an abbey . There's an enclosed, old part in the middle (the quire) which we used. I did wonder if we might feel a bit marooned but it was perfect. Whe decided to skip the organ and had a folk musician instead. For a party we hired a storyteller, let off a load of fireworks and had a big meal at one of our family's homes. We prepped the food ourselves the day before and paid a friend (who we'd worked with in catering) to what needed to be done on the day. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had-on a par with meeting my baby- and I'd do it all again exactly the same.

Less than 20 at my wedding, in a country house hotel. Room was perfect size, we did the deed then had a drink in the bar while they rejigged the room for our meal. Loved it.