Small/registry office weddings q + a

[Namechange70839581648]

I thought it would be fun to answer questions for people like me who has a registry office wedding planned so we can all see what kind of day you had and any tips to share . please join in for past weddings and future weddings

1 how many guests?
2 hired/hiring a photographer

3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding?
4 will the bride be walked down the aisle
5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub..
6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom
7 having a honeymoon
8 any tips to share that could be helpful

We'll be having a small Covid wedding in a few months (hopefully!!)

15 guests
No photographer but future SIL will be bringing her good camera and taking some shots
Sleeping together the night before
I'm hoping my dad will walk me in the room, not sure if there will be a very big aisle!!
Afternoon tea at the hotel we are getting married at, then we have booked a room at the hotel for the night so will probably order room service and relax
I am having a green dress (more a bridesmaids style than a wedding dress) and he has a lovely 3 piece suit
No honeymoon booked due to Covid but we would love to save for a trip to Disney with the children
No tips as I am rubbish at organising things and am far too anxious about doing something wrong.
I have a question, what are people doing for flowers? Trying to decide if my fake bouquet I have in a vase at home would be acceptable, whether to pay for a bouquet to be made or try my hand at making my own eceb though I'm appalling at flower arranging 😁

Sorry, I DID have paragraphs in my post to make it readable, my app sometimes decides that the paragraphs are in actual fact unnecessary 😤

how many guests: 2 mandatory witnesses

hired/hiring a photographer: no

sleeping separately the night before the wedding?: no

Will the bride be walked down the aisle: no

plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub..: went to the pub for lunch!

What dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom: me, a very simple white gown, DH wore a suit, no tie.

having a honeymoon: no

any tips to share that could be helpful: enjoy your special day

Oooh interesting thread!

1. 2 guests, my mum and dad

1. No photographer

1. Sleeping together the night before

1. Not walking down the aisle, I personally would feel a bit silly when there is only 5 of us in there total!

1. Not sure yet, will be interested to hear what others have planned for after

1. Suit for the groom, I'll be exactly 38 weeks pregnant so have no idea! Not a white dress I don't expect!

1. No honeymoon just lots of sleepless nights whilst dp is on paternity with our lovely newborn

1. No tips! We've been together 5 years but only been engaged a couple of months and only booked a few weeks ago! Just glad we can get it done before baby comes fingers crossed she stays put until 38+1! Very glad to be doing it in covid times as I've always wanted a tiny wedding never been a fan of being the centre of attention!

How about you @Namechange70839581648 what's your day looking like?

@TheChild Sounds brill, enjoy your day I think I’m going to buy a bouquet of flowers but it won’t be too expensive. I’ve seen some fab bouquets with fake flowers though

1 how many guests?
15

2 hired/hiring a photographer

Yes, splashed out on a good and very experienced one for 2 hours

3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding?
No

4 will the bride be walked down the aisle
No

5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub..
Photos / confetti somewhere pretty then a meal

6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom
Monsoon lace dress and groom will wear a suit he already has but bought a new tie

7 having a honeymoon
No

8 any tips to share that could be helpful
Confetti is more expensive than you'd think! Don't forget to buy a cardigan or something in case it's cold. Don't forget to wear in your wedding shoes before the big day.

Sounds fab, I would just have me and dp but we decided to invite family

1 how many guests? 22 guests, close family and a few friends

2 hired/hiring a photographer. No photographer, I hope the guests will take lots of photos for us

3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? Yes we are sleeping separately

4 will the bride be walked down the aisle. Yes my dear father is walking me down the aisle

5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub... Taking guests to dinner in a local restaurant the going home to start married life!

6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom. Dp is wearing a shirt and tie, I’m going to wear a white dress but haven’t decided on one yet

7 having a honeymoon. Yes not booked yet but will be having a fortnight abroad

8 any tips to share that could be helpful. No tips that’s why I created the thread

Are you all taking your husbands name? I am, I can’t wait to be a Mrs

@jojododobobo I’ve seen some pregnant brides in long floaty loose fitting dresses and it looks really nice

I forgot a question

Are you getting hair and makeup done? I will be

1 how many guests? - 10

2 hired/hiring a photographer - didn’t bother

3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? - I didn’t want to

4 will the bride be walked down the aisle - yes I was

5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub.. - our favourite restaurant in a country hotel opened just for us

6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom - green long dress for me, suit for dh

7 having a honeymoon - we’d had that earlier in the year

8 any tips to share that could be helpful - if you’re not having a photographer ask guests to take lots of pics, but mainly have a brilliant day and enjoy spending time with your guests (which is so much easier at a smaller do!).

@Namechange70839581648 thanks, I have had a look online but have no idea how big I will be and it's difficult to know what they will look like on. So frustrating many places don't stock maternity clothes for you to try on as I won't be able to afford to buy 5/6 dresses and send back the ones I don't want!

Where are you thinking of going for your honeymoon?

I'll be doing my own make-up but getting my hair done

Is anyone else on this thread getting married somewhere not local to them? We've got a nearly 200 mile journey to make at the end of the month and I'm worried about fitting everything in the car!

1 how many guests? - We had 10 day, 20 evening (in total)
2 hired/hiring a photographer - yes but heavily discounted
3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? - we didn't
4 will the bride be walked down the aisle - we walked in together
5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub.. - we had a 3 course meal in a posh hotel for 10, then cake and alcohol for 20 in the evening
6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom - wore a quiz wedding dress, husband wore a suit
7 having a honeymoon - we didn't
8 any tips to share that could be helpful - got a dried flower bouquet from etsy other than that can't think of any other than relax and enjoy the day

1. Hair and makeup done - yes I did because I wanted to look presentable

I love reading all these. It’s also made me want to spend the night together beforehand, we could do something special, romantic meal maybe.

@jojododobobo we haven’t decided about the honeymoon yet but was thinking of splashing out a bit as we’ve saved loads of money having a small wedding and I would like a memorable honeymoon. You should plan a special holiday when little baby is a bit older and can enjoy it

@firstimemamma Sorry ours is local, where are you getting married if you don’t mind me asking? Is it closer to family etc or just a special place? London has a lot of nice registry office type places to get married which I didn’t know about, if it was just us two I would have considered that

For those who had small family weddings did you send invites? I’ve seen some really pretty ones on Etsy but don’t know if it’s pointless when it’s just family - when I could just text them

@Bluesky6016 we’re not sending invites as our family are all local so they know where the registry office is and hotel for the meal. i think it’s a nice idea though so if you’ve seen some I think you should send them

@Namechange70839581648 the wedding will be in Derbyshire, right up in the Peak District but we live in the south east! We chose it because it's significantly easier for all our guests to get to and also it's just so beautiful. I'm so excited. Going to travel up a good couple of days before the wedding to make a lovely little break of it and also so we're not stressed or held up in traffic etc the day before the wedding. Is your wedding soon op? Ours is early June

@Bluesky6016 yes we did send invites but they were less than a fiver from the card factory! If you want to spend more though and you can afford to then go for it.

@firstimemamma Sound fab I hope you have a nice day! Ours is next Feb we wanted to make sure the covid restrictions would be over

I’ve been married 10yrs in August but had a small r/o wedding here’s what we did;

1. 23 including us and DD

2. No photographer, we both hate having our picture taken. We have some absolutely beautiful photos all natural shots.

3. We slept together the night before, but I left at around 5.30 to get ready (we married at 11.30).

4. Yes, my dad walked me down the aisle.

5. We had a BBQ in our back garden. Everyone was cooking what they wanted, drinks were in big tubs full of ice. Everyone left (apart from the people staying at our house don’t ask!) by around 7/7.30 we put DD to bed, had a Chinese and watched TV

6. I wore a wedding dress DH wore a suit.

7. No honeymoon - we keep threatening to have one but life has got in the way

8. No tips apart from enjoy! It really does go so quickly.

9. My cousin (who is a hairdresser) did my hair, I did my make up.

1 how many guests? 30 I think
2 hired/hiring a photographer yes
3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? No, but we did it all the wrong way round and had a 'reception' the night before by hiring a venue and they put on a bbq and dance etc. I was 4 months pregnant so couldn't do the drinking luckily so woke up with a clear head but very tired!
4 will the bride be walked down the aisle yes
5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub.. we had a little afternoon tea at a local hotel
6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom white dress for me, grey suit for husband
7 having a honeymoon not yet - (had been on family holiday earlier that year, had baby later that year and now lockdown)
8 any tips to share that could be helpful the only person who knows what it should look like in your head is you so don't worry if things go wrong, no one will know and in the grand scheme it doesn't really matter

Oh and after the tea we spent the night at the hotel.
Hair done professionally but I did my own makeup

And we had bubbles instead of confetti, bought some bubble machines to increase the impact of guests blowing them and then did lots of pics in local park

1. We had 30 Guests

2.A friend who was a Photography enthusiast took Photographs for us.

3.Yes, DH went to Stay at his Sisters House.

4.No, The Registry Office was quite Basic and did not have an Isle to walk Down, l arrived after DH, and was just Shown into the Wedding Room by a member of staff.

5.We booked a Meal for our Family and Guests at a Local Bistro near to our Home. We had a Three course meal with Wine and a free Bar. There were Three choices of Main-course, but only one Person ordered Grilled Salmon, everyone else opted for Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding! No one ordered the Vegetarian Pasta Bake!

We bought the smallest Two Tier Fruit Wedding Cake Available, a Total of 40 portions, l regretted afterwards not having one tier of Sponge cake for those who don’t like the fruit version, but it wasn’t really the done thing back then!

1. I wore a 50’s Style Tea-Length Ivory Silk Satin Dress trimmed with Lace and a Matching Lace Jacket, by Designer Ronald Joyce. I had a matching Headdress, and Cream Shoes, my Bouquet was of Stargazer Lilies, in shades of Peachy Pink, with tiny White flowers in between.

7. We had a Wedding night in the Bridal suite in a local Posh Hotel, followed by a Late Honeymoon, and Flew to Spain in the Autumn.

1. I had my Hair Done, but l did my own Makeup.

1. If l would change anything, it would be not to have had a free Bar. Not just for the cost involved, but some people abuse it, to a point that they are ill, make a fool of themselves, or in our case one Guest got pulled over for Drink Driving on their way home. They appeared to be Drinking Lemonade, which looked innocent, but spiking it with Vodka when no one was looking. We only found out about it when we received the final itemised bar tab. It did not help matters because they forgot that one of our guests was the Mother of a serving Police officer, and he spotted the state they were in when he collected his Mother, just as this Couple were driving away and decided to follow them. They were clearly not in a fit state to drive.

DH bought a new dark Beige suit for the occasion, to complement my Peachy Pink colour Scheme!

@Bluesky6016

For those who had small family weddings did you send invites? I’ve seen some really pretty ones on Etsy but don’t know if it’s pointless when it’s just family - when I could just text them

We did yes as some guests were coming from afar and my parents and in laws were insisting on them!