Where to get married low key

[30yearoldpensioner]

Hi there, first time poster here! I was hoping to get other people's experiences of getting married low key.
We have been together for 10 years and have 2 DC.
I literally want to get married, no fuss, not even guests. It would be me and DP and 2 DC and then two friends to help with DC and witness.
I have looked at Vegas wedding packages and it would be around £2k.
It seems that the local registry office wouldn't be cheap either really.
What have others done and were glad they did?
I am in uk

The local registry office should be really cheap, why is it expensive?

We did that then all went to a lovely local restaurant for lunch, then back to ours for drinks & cake.

We went to the County Council office for our wedding, similar to you, we’d been together 7 years & had 4 dc. We only had my Dad, FIL & his partner & DH’s best friend & partner (friend invited himself ). Our Dad’s were our witnesses. The 2 registras were lovely & made it really special. I wore a dress but not an actual wedding dress & my dc wore their ‘fancy’ clothes. We went for a pub lunch after, which our Dad’s paid for (we were planning on paying but they insisted). The ceremony cost £150, the meal I can’t remember fully but I’d guess around £80-£100. I loved it & looking back there’s nothing I’d change.

We got married in a register office, just us and the kids. We paid £ 120 which I think is about average . Then we had lunch in a nice restaurant - no fuss at all.

Thanks for your reply. Maybe I just haven't looked into it enough. I got as far as looking at giving notice and that would be £90 so just presumed the price would keep going up.
I will look more into this.

*bernard
Bertie

thanks, this all sounds right up my street. I'm the same with not even wanting a traditional wedding dress, will obviously make some sort of effort but not a great deal! My DD's would probably want to go all out with pretty dresses which is fine. I am being swayed this way. I'd got it into my head I wanted Vegas but I feel this is even more fuss than I want. Thanks for replies

Get married in Scotland - you need 28 clear days notice (you can post all of your documents because there is no residency requirement prior to marriage)

Standard marriage notice fee is £30 each, plus £10 for the certificate. Ceremony fees differ in each authority, but in general it's around the £50 mark, meaning the full ceremony with no bells and whistles will come in around £120.

You can wear jeans if you like and get married in so many gorgeous locations, like the beautiful shores of Loch Lomond, the Isle of Arran, Edinburgh... the choice is yours

*thunder
Thanks this sounds great. Could even combine it with a trip in our caravan! Thanks

You're very welcome - hope that whatever you decide it's just how you want it!

We had a holiday booked in Florida. We rang the town hall of Naples where we were staying and booked it. This was 27 years ago and cost about $40 which was about £20 then. It was perfect. To me it was purely about the marriage and not just a wedding...

I think with registry offices you can get married for cheaper at the more unpopular times ie. not Fri/Sat.

Registry office (a few years ago, Scotland c£150?). Vintage dress for fun £25, lunch for 4. Job done.

We got married last month in Vegas for £2k including flights, a week in the New York New York hotel, ceremony and all that was required with it.

Booked ours less than a week ago. Doing the notice thing this week and getting married 29 days later. Basis ceremony at the register office, costs £35 each for intention of marriage fees (which I think applies to every wedding anyway) and £50 for the ceremony. It didn't matter what day it was to us but it works out that it's a Saturday.

Ring around register offices. They may have availability for a simple ceremony if you're flexible.

local registry office and back home for party in the garden. That's what we did. Entire cost about £500.

I'm in Scotland. If you get married outside you'll need a registar/celebrant. We are eloping in 5 weeks and my humanist celebrant is £420. Lodging the marraige schedule was £70.