Taking newborn abroad for wedding

[HopefulBeckie]

My brother is getting married 7 weeks after my baby’s due date abroad. I really want to go as we are both close but I am so anxious about taking such a small baby abroad! My kids will always come first so we are all prepared to have to cancel last minute but I will be gutted if I have to miss the wedding. I also have a toddler too so it’s not going to be easy.
Does anyone have any tips? I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get my baby registered in time as I know with my first we had to wait several weeks to get an appointment. So im not even sure if I’d be able to get a passport in time.

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently
1 week fast track
The earliest you can get an appointment is the next day after you apply.
Your new passport will be delivered to you by courier 1 week after your appointment.
You can use this service to:

• renew a passport
• change personal details on your passport (for example your name, place of birth or gender)
• replace a lost, stolen or damaged passport
• get a child passport

It's £135.50 for kids but prices have gone up every year for the past two years. If the due date is in the summer you'll also have the stress of just getting an appointment anywhere near you. You might be better off just doing a check and send service with the post office. There's an extra fee but the failure rates are lower as they check and double check everything is correct and will take the photo for you or you can use a snappy snaps link.

Apparently the failure rates for people taking their own pics is quite high. We tried it and it was a nightmare trying to take one with no shadows or any background creeping in but they've relaxed the rules now and newborns can have their eyes closed.

I travelled home to see family when dd was 6 weeks old. The easiest flight (with a child yet). Dd was registered within a week and passport sent for immediately and back in about 2 weeks.

I first took my baby abroad when she 8 weeks. To be honest it was much easier than than when she was older, I was breastfeeding so I didn't need huge amount of equipment or luggage.

We took DC1 at about 5-6 weeks, 8 hour flights. DC2 went at 3 weeks - he was a week late and we didn't leave hospital for three days from complications. As long as you can register the birth and have passport forms filled out ready to go as soon as you have the birthdate and photos, it's doable. DC are dual citizens so we had to get two passports each before we could go (flying to other citizenship country). The admin and flights aren't fun (DC mostly slept, but the amount of stuff...), but doable.

You can book the flights before the baby is born. You just have to call the airline to add the baby to the booking. You can request the bulkhead/bassinet seats at the same time.

I took DS to see my family (shorthaul flight) when he was about nine weeks — for me it wasn’t passport stuff, it was waiting until he’d had his immunisations. (Though worth saying that although we booked the registrar appointment the day after he was born, it was nine weeks before they had a free slot…)