Small/registry office weddings q + a

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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

@Bluesky6016 we did invites.

1 how many guests? Just us, photographer and the photographs friend as witnesses
2 hired/hiring a photographer? Yes
3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? Staying together the night before
4 will the bride be walked down the aisle? No we will arrive and go in together
5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub? We will go for a meal, just us and then a walk, few drinks etc
6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom? I am wearing a white top and skirt and he is in shirt and chinos
7 having a honeymoon? We are staying in the city we marry for a few nights
8 any tips to share that could be helpful? Just relax and enjoy it!

We’ve just given notice this week for our registry office wedding on 19 July.
Plan is to be v small, with our two ten year olds and our mums as witnesses (my dad too if he wants!) .
I’ve not thought about it at all as we’ve been together 23 years so when I was filling in the form today for the ceremony I realised how paired back we’ve made it.
To be honest it’s made me really nervous as I’m terrified at speaking in front of people, even ones I know and love so I’m now quite nervous. Stupid of me as I want to be married but for some reason I feel quite stressed about doing it in front of even a tiny audience!
In terms of honeymoon- we’re going away on a staycation with the kids that afternoon so I suppose it is one albeit an adventure holiday for the children 😂

@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

I got mine off Etsy, just for the evening do though and they're gorgeous. here's the link

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/663762515/rose-gold-and-navy-wedding-invitations?ref=notif_fbis

We're getting married in September at Gretna Green.

1 how many guests? - 16
2 hired/hiring a photographer - comes with the package.
3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? - no
4 will the bride be walked down the aisle - my 2 sons will walk behind me as it's not wide enough for the three of us and I couldn't choose just one.
5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub.. - meal at Gretna then walk to a pub nearby where they've reserved a space for us.
6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom - I'm wearing an ivory dress, OH and all the men, blue jeans, white shirt and jacket.
7 having a honeymoon - staying at a hotel in Scotland then going to the lakes for the week.
8 any tips to share that could be helpful - not sure yet.

If the Qu is re Small weddings then I had a small wedding.
26 of us inc Bride & Groom.
Stayed separately the night before. Walked down the aisle.
Had buffet food at home afterwards. Did have a photographer. Had my hair done but did my own makeup. I wore a trad white dress. Had a honeymoon (week abroad). If I were to do it again (I'm getting Divorced this year, after 20 years, last 4 apart, sorry for voice of doom) then I'd defo have less than 10 people and no fuss at all.

I had 14 guests.
No photographer but friends took lots of photos.
Had a pub meal after. No cake no speeches
We walked in together but didn't spend the night together before.
He wore a suit, I wore a flowing red dress, I carried some fresh red roses.

We went on holiday with mum and dad after so not really a honeymoon

Enjoy your day.

1 we had 30 guests
2 We hired a photographer. I don't think anyone has ever regretted having beautiful wedding pictures to look back on and having been asked to shoot several weddings "as a friend" or at a severely discounted price, I can say that it truly is an unreasonable effort to ask as a favour - unless you really are prepared for unedited phone pics.
3 Yes - one of of the best decisions we made was for me to stay at our hotel the day before the wedding. My husband came to join me once I'd got ready the morning of and we had a wonderful time with him seeing me for the first time in my dress, and taking pictures in the lovely grounds. It was a special time and we were able to spend the whole day with our guests instead of disappearing for pictures. Best decision ever! And the pictures look like we had a very expensive venue when we didn't.
4 My dad walked me down the aisle and he would have been disappointed not to have the opportunity but it really depends on if it's important to your dad / family member!
5 We saved so much money by doing things ourselves. We prepared picnic baskets for each family with lots of treats including strawberries and small fizz bottles. It worked out so much cheaper than paying a caterer and the food was lovely. Since we couldn't have it in a garden (rules banned it at the time) we found a community cafe to host us for 500 pounds. We were able to bring our own alcohol which was great.
6 If you'd like to have a lovely dress, don't cheat yourself out of the experience just because it's a small wedding! I had a custom made dress and it was magical to see it come together. Other friends have found stunning vintage dresses in charity shops for less than 100 pounds. Whatever your dream dress scenario is, don't compromise on it because of the small wedding! My husband loved picking out his suit.
7 We really lucked out with travel rules and a short window of opportunity and booked something the day before the wedding. It was amazing and cheap.

• flowers: you can have great flowers and save a load of money by decorating your venue yourself. We raided aldis and lidls the day before the wedding and our ceremony venue was bedecked in gorgeous flowers for a fraction of the cost a florist would have charged. There are so many youtube tutorials about making everything from bouquets to wedding arches and it's actually fun to do yourself.

-Ask your guests for help, but not too much. It's a fine line between including people and using them. We had pro musicians in our guest list so we paid them to play for the ceremony and we had amateur musicians too. So we asked them if they'd fancy supplying one item each for the reception entertainment. It worked amazingly in the end and nobody was bored but I hope nobody felt used. -The best thing you can do for your guests is to respect their time. Waiting times between ceremony and reception are the worst - by doing pictures before the ceremony you can avoid that. You can also avoid having to pose everyone for a group pic by getting everyone to turn around at the end of the ceremony and face the photographer just before you walk out, and that way everyone is in a nice picture but you don't have to annoy everyone by getting them to pose on the steps or something. -Do have fun with it and be creative / put yourselves in the wedding. If there are food specialties or traditions that represent your families it's lovely to include them. Get children to be flower girls / page boys, they love it! Make your own invites / programs etc. -Choose music you love and play it. -Sometimes buying is cheaper than renting, as we discovered with chair covers and sashes. Ebay is your friend. -Save money by using dual purpose items. Mini plant pots make fantastic table decorations and favours all in one. Our reusable cutlery / plates etc were in the picnic packs for our guests to take home after and they saved us needing to do washing up etc

1 how many guests? A witness each. We had a civil partnership during lockdown and could have had more, but it was not worth the risk

2 hired/hiring a photographer? No, witnesses took pics for us

3 sleeping separately the night before the wedding? No

4 will the bride be walked down the aisle? We walked in together, had always planned to

5 plans for after the ceremony (go home, meal, pub.. We went for a meal at a lovely restaurant then spent the night at a lush hotel. Again, that was always the plan

6 what dress/outfit will be worn for the bride and groom? I wore this: www.bluebanana.com/en/product/1023498/15863/banned-ladies-proud-peacock-blue-dress
with this: prettykittyfashion.co.uk/collections/petticoats/products/bottle-green-extra-volume-net-vintage-rockabilly-50s-petticoat-skirt
Groom wore a navy suit he already had but bought a bronze silk tie set that cost more than my outfit 😂

7 having a honeymoon? We had a few nights in a Cotswolds cottage, it was lovely

8 any tips to share that could be helpful? Nobody will remember favours or what colour the bows are in the back of tables. They will remember standing around for endless photos and whether they had enough to eat & drink

9 are you taking your husband’s name? Absolutely no way. I did offer him my name, or say we could both double barrel, but he couldn’t be bothered

10 did you send invites? No, just told everyone a date, time and place. Waste of money IMO