To ask you to tell me about your very small and low key registry office weddings?

[PitifulPrincess]

My partner and I are planning on getting married next year at a registry office as we're not religious, don't have many friends and don't want a big do. It will likely just be us, our young children, our parents and our siblings. We are quite introverted so the thought of even our loved ones watching us get married makes me nervous as I hate being the centre of attention!

I would love to hear about your registry office weddings, how you made it feel special etc 🙂

Just to add, we didn't have bridesmaids etc.
We had a lovely 2 tier cake from M&S with a topper from Etsy. Decor was mainly from charity shops & Shein. Husbands suit was from Matalan on sale! My mum paid for the cake (£50) and my older sister kindly bought bottles of champagne for the tables. My other sister paid for my wedding make up as a gift. We could have gone into debt and had a huge wedding but we didn't want to as this would have been for other people & not us. We just wanted to be married with those who are closest to us! The only thing I wish we could have saved for us a photographer! We have some lovely photos taken by family & friends but I'd like some more with my husband & of me alone!

We had a Rathaus wedding, in Germany, only his parents and our 2 dc there, we gave PIL 3 days notice. We opted for the non ring ceremony so no need to waste money on rings. I grabbed a dress out of my wardrobe 10 minutes before we set off, I figured pretending to be a virgin when you're both 44 and have DC looks silly. Got a takeaway on the way home and ate it in our living room, perfect and fuss free. But I do enjoy other people's big weddings.

We had a lovely service in our local registry office. About 18 people there, I think. A small meal afterwards. I wore a white dress from Debenhams that was lovely and comfortable, and a pair of shoes I'd owned for about 15 years! No wedding cake or anything. FIL took some photos.

Best parts of the day for me were DH's face when I came out of the bedroom to show him my outfit, and when we got home together afterwards, changed into comfy clothes, and had a cuppa. He was playing his guitar, I was reading my book, we looked over and caught each others eye and smiled - just a normal Saturday afternoon, except we were married now.

Enjoy the being married, have whatever kind of wedding and wear whatever you want that makes you happy!

We eloped, just us and in Scotland you can get married anywhere so we got married in a beach. Google ‘CREAR wee weddings’, I did wear a wedding dress and DH wore full kilt regalia. You can have an elopement or very small wedding.

We got married just as we were coming out of lockdown, we had 13 guests made up of mainly family (my kids, his DD, our fostered baby, his brothers and sisters and my best friend and her partner). We chose the local town hall because it was a much nicer building than the local registry offices, I wore a dress from Hobbs and he had a new suit (he loved a suit) and afterwards we headed to the village pub for a meal together. I made the cake, my DD decorated it. Everyone stayed over in a nearby hotel (we paid for the rooms as the guests had travelled a fair way) while we went home with the baby and in the morning we joined everyone at the hotel for breakfast. It was a hugely special day and I will forever treasure the memories as I was his widow by our first wedding anniversary.

We got married in 1992 when the only choices were church or registry office and, like you, are not religious so chose a registry office. Ours was at a civic centre in the middle of town. We just completed the service and signing and then went onto the venue for photographs. We had 22 to our wedding, mainly older family and very close friends. We then had a party at night for our younger friends and family.

Nowadays, I'd much prefer to pay for a service at a venue or if that's too expensive, somewhere whacky. I think whacky places are allowed now, aren't they? So long as the person presiding over it is licensed or something?

We were married in the register office Christmas Eve eve, (23rd December) 1978. I wore a cream moss crepe dress and a faux fur jacket, with a cream rose hairclip. There were about 15 people and we went for a meal in a local restaurant after.I

We didn't want a big fuss, we just wanted to get married.

We got married on Xmas Eve in a registry office.
Very quiet affair, just very close family, a handful of friends, done on the cheap as we were broke, not long bought a house.
It was a lovely occasion, have very fond memories.

me,him my son and his friend as witnesses and that was it! I had a small posy of flowers and he had a button hole. He wore a suit I wore black trousers and a maternity top! I walked down the isle to a orchestral version of Elanor Rigby and we went for drink in the pub opposite then went home. The next day we went to the seaside for the weekend. It was a nothing of a wedding but it was perfect to me. Been married 14 yrs this year with a beautiful daughter between us.All is well here!

I had a elopement wedding as both myself and my DH didn't want a big fuss.
We chose a boutique hotel in the Cotswolds and had our 2 children with us- we could have had more people if we wanted. The wedding package included 3 nights accommodation so we turned it into a mini holiday. It was perfect and I'd love to do it all over again.

We got married about 10 years ago in a registry office, we lived in London but chose a place near our home town instead as that is where most of our friends and family lived so made it easier for people to attend (also happened to be the 'same' registry office my parents got married in, except it had been torn down and rebuilt sometime in between).

Sent about 60 invites overall, only about 30 people turned up and of that maybe 20 at the registry office. I had a white and purple medieval style wedding dress that my sisters bought me off ebay for about £80 (they wanted me in something with at least some white/more traditional looking but also wanted to get me something that was more to my tastes and cheap was also fine by me). Had 1 bridesmaid who wore a very colourful dress which we found in Camden market, husband wore a very nice long decorative/embroidered black jacket/coat, top hat and snake cane (coat found in Camden Market but sourced cheaper online).

The registry office was very tidy looking, red brick and white door out the front, nice enough for a couple 'before' photos, tidy white room with a nice wooden table to sit at and sign the registry after, nice wooden cushioned chairs for friends and family to sit on. My mum got a ribbon to put on her car (she drove me to the office), bought me a bouquet of flowers (purple themed) whish she later put on my dads grave for me, baked and decorated my cake (she used to bake, decorate and sell wedding cakes as a side job) and walked me down the 'aisle' in place of my dad.

After the wedding there was a fairly nice little area right outside, with a corner/triangle shaped wooden gazebo and plenty of green foliage to take some nice photos of us and group photos, one of my sisters was our photographer (we were aiming to do it cheap, didn't have much spare cash for it). We aren't religious either, so a church would have been weird, however we followed it up with a handfasting in a field which more of our friends and family attended (roughly 30 as mentioned above), I had a change of dress to something more 'pagan', we got everyone to tie a ribbon around out hands (and kept them all), set up a simple flower arch for the ceremony, had cream tea available for all the guests and some bubbly for the toasts my mum bought at the supermarket plus a bar she hired for people to buy their own drinks too, a DJ friend of my sisters to play music and people were free to camp the night if they desired. We spent the first night in a tent ourselves, then rushed back to London the next day to get ready for our honeymoon in Greece.

Slightly different but hear me out. Both form different countries with neither sets of parents willing to travel. Neither of us religious. We eloped to Vegas. A couple of people guessed and wanted to join us, we didn't want to announce it as we didn't want to put people in the awkward position of trying to find the money to attend.

So it was us, DH's friend and his girlfriend and my best friend. I had an calf length and lace dress from Ghost, hired hair and make up artist, a limo and an an Elvis impersonator to walk me down the aisle and sing two songs. Afterwards we went went to dinner at a fancy restaurants. It was such good fun. We loved it. 18 years and 2 teenagers later, we don't regret a thing - we would do exactly the same. It's not for everyone but it was perfect for us.

My colleague went the Vegas route and loved it. Had a blast and still blissfully married 😍

We were living in Sydney, Australia where the celebrants are licensed rather than venues, so you can marry wherever you like. When both sets of parents were arranging to visit from the UK we overlapped their dates by few days and planned our wedding as a surprise, with them as the only guests. We got a water taxi to Shark Island, which is a tiny island in Sydney Harbour with just a landing stage for boats, a gazebo, and a breathtaking view. We had the ceremony in the gazebo, had some photos taken, then another water taxi picked us up to go to a posh restaurant in the city. It was a lovely, memorable day.

Hi OP are you me?! Planning the exact same type of wedding for the exact same reasons 😅

Me and DP have been together 15 years and have two young kids. Been meaning to get married for years but never got round to it (romantic.) We finally booked the registry office last week for this June. Afterwards we are going a nice restaurant local to us which has a private function room. We have 22 guests including my Dc and my nieces. Everyone at the ceremony will be coming to the meal afterwards, we will organise a couple of mini buses there so nobody has to worry about driving.

We are quite introverted and shy people, I do have a group of 4 girlfriends but I’m not inviting them - I’m not even inviting my own aunts/uncles/cousins. It becomes more of an event and I just really want to have a nice day with family in which I also happen to be getting married.

The restaraunt are arranging for us all to sit round one long table. We are having 2 courses and our wedding cake as the dessert (wedding cake is a Get Baked Bruce in a Tuxedo!) and bottles of wine and prosecco for the table. My sister has a proper camera so she will be the unofficial photographer of the day. I’m getting my dress from Rixo, they have a ‘registry wedding’ section and they’re all so pretty.

With the money we’re saving on a low key wedding we’re going on a family holiday to Majorca for 10 nights a couple of days after the wedding.

We (well, I, as my ex couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery!) booked the registery office in the town I spent most of my teens in (located within a beautiful old building).
About 25 guests.
I wore a preloved, rather unusual, hippy type dress. Did my own hair and make up.
I forgot my sandals, so did the ceremony in bare feet.
Hired a beautiful village hall 3 miles out of town. My ex is European and his sisters did the catering.
My sister helped decorate the hall.
My Dad came, which was the only sign in my adult thing of him actually giving a shit about me (he was a very traumatised, cold man and I reminded him too much of my Mum).
Mainly alcohol free as venue had no licence chosen specifically because a lot of guests and family are/were in recovery (but the people who did want to a drink snuck it in and.were very respectful).
It was such a cool wedding.
Didn't last, but fab memories and my ex and I made beautiful twin girls who are 6 on Wednesday.
I think it cost £600 in total, including outfits, as I got everything, including ex's suit second hand (the European family covered food, which was about 100, as they cooked from scratch).

We had just parents, siblings and our children, we also had a friend each attend. It was really lovely and I wouldn't have done it any other way.
It was intimate and with our loved ones.

Agreed. I have DPs who are separated and don't speak so it was either a really tiny wedding or a completely massive one where they could lose themselves in the crowd and not see each other! Went for a tiny registry office do ( back in 2000) with just DH's parents and brother (as he was convinced they'd never forgive him if they weren't invited).
I really couldn't bear the thought of a massive do and being the centre of attention.
DPs didn't come ( which one to invite?) and we had a very small couple of meals afterwards. Still married!
However, I did think ( barring DHs family) a Las Vegas Elvis wedding could have been fun!
Wore a £28 outfit from New Look. ( Still have the skirt and it's cool!)

Literally signed the papers with witnesses then went back to work. Treated it like any other legal errand eg those involved in purchasing property. Can't even remember for sure which year it was! We'd already lived together a decade and had children, just wanted to tie things up legally.

Also we asked for the legal minimum "ceremony" only so it took less than 2 minutes. Sorting out the paperwork took longer but I think the whole thing was done in 10 mins. A lot of people don't even know that we did it especially as we didn't bother with rings and noone changed their name.

Just wanted to be comfy and relaxed and feel like ourselves. DH and I both in jeans and we managed to find 2 local mumsnetters to attend as witnesses. Went back home after to bacon sandwiches and cups of tea. We did put something nice on and go out for a meal that night though just the two of us.

We got married in the guildhall of my mum’s town (it’s by the sea and very pretty). I did wear a full wedding dress and we invested in a really nice suit for my husband that he could wear again. Only our children, parents and siblings attended. My husband and I then hopped on a boat after the ceremony and had champagne up the river whilst the wedding party walked to a nearby fancy hotel where we had a 3 course meal. All done by 7pm. Our children stayed with my mum and we stayed the night at the fancy hotel.
I did have a wonderful bouquet that I had preserved after and I had my hair done the morning of my wedding at a local hairdresser. I did my own make up and my mum insisted on a wedding car ( borrowed from a lovely friend) from her house to the venue.
we also had photographer for about an hour just to capture some of the day.
wouldn’t change a thing and it was low stress, I didn’t have to worry about anyone or sorting people out.

@Ratfinkstinkypink

Aw that is sad, I am sorry.