Tell me about your elopement/small wedding

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2nd time for us both, we have 3 kids between us. Our families live a long distance apart and his Mum is poorly with dementia and can't really travel. We're planning to have a small ceremony at the registry office, maybe 12 or so guests.

Can anyone tell me about theirs? Did you walk down the aisle, did someone give you away, did you walk down together. Did you still have a bouquet, what did you wear? What did you do afterwards? Did you choose music for register signing etc.

We're certain that the small ceremony is what we want I just have no idea what I want to do with it.

Thanks!

Bumping 😊

We got married in the registry office. Not a registry office wedding with room for guests etc, literally an office first thing on a weekday, children and 2 witnesses only. Then dinner with family.

Personally I loved it. It felt really special and about us and our family and not everyone else. We wore nice clothes and had a night in a hotel after etc. But it was more about the being married than the wedding, if that makes sense? I've been to several weddings since, some beautiful ones, but have never regretted how we did it.

The office is actually based in the same building as my workplace and I regularly feel a little happy jolt as I walk in and think about that day even though it was 5 years ago.

Not for everyone but making it just about us and being married really worked for us. The meal after gave us an opportunity to celebrate.

We did have a registry office wedding... Sort of. A registry office marriage rather, so not sure if I can be any help with ideas.

I was 4 months pregnant so wore an empire-line dress to look a virtuous bride 👰😂
The dress was £15 from TKMaxx.

No one was invited but my mum and aunty turned up anyway which made them both a gate-crashers 😁
A neighbour and aunty ended up witnesses.
We all went to a nice beach-side restaurant and it was great to be able to treat everyone to beautiful food as there were so few of us and I couldn't add myself to the champagne bill!

The cherry was already popped, so an early night 😂

I had a nice day and wouldn't want anything else.
Enjoy your day OP! 💐

I made my own bouquet (I'm not especially crafty but I wanted to do it myself, just copied it from a bridal magazine).

It was less than a dozen people and we went off on honeymoon straight after.

There's lots of lovely elopement packages that are very reasonable - the local one to us throws in witnesses if needed, a bouquet, a cake and a nights stay but we didn't need that as we were flying straight out.

I got a white floral print dress that's actually I think for bridesmaids but we were on a budget and I liked it - I did my own hair but copied a video on YouTube. Dh had a nice suit and I made the buttonhole thingy from the leftover flowers from my bouquet.

We had a song personal to us playing. It can be a lovely personal thing to have a smaller wedding- nowt wrong with a big do, but it was right for us

Aw all sounds lovely! Thank you for sharing. I love the idea of sharing it with a small number of very special people.

We had twelve people and didn’t tell most of the guests until a few days before the wedding - just asked them to keep it free to go out for lunch. We wore jeans and I had a white, floaty top. We chose music and the children did some readings. I had a small bouquet - just went to a florist that morning and chose some nice flowers and put them together. I made a cake with tiers as well. We all went to the park afterwards and then back home for cake, then out for a meal all together. It was really nice and no hassle to arrange.

How lovely! I just want to spend quality time with the people closest to us. No pretence.

Well we have planned a little one! Twenty guests at a hotel with a 4:30pm ceremony. Eldest son giving me away. Dinner and drinks after, and off on honeymoon. I’ll report back in feb as to how successful it is!

Register office. I had a simple silk dress made by a dressmaker. No-one gave me away. I carried a hand-tied bunch of flowers. Had lunch at a country hotel for our parents and a few friends. In the evening we had a ceilidh and invited 200 people. Just a buffet of snacks. It was brilliant!

Oh wonderful! Good luck!

Awesome! Massive party at the night time. Sounds great x

We are getting married on May 30th 2023 on a Tuesday Morning, just us two, my mother & his sister as witnesses, then a meal for 4 of us in the afternoon and then a honeymoon to Greece the next day. No stress, low cost and my dress is from Tesco!. We have 5 adult children and 9 Grandchildren between us and none of them are coming but we have their blessing and best wishes to do it the way we want to. Cant wait

Sounds perfect. Enjoy xx

DH and I, two witnesses and a registrar. I got a day off work. No flowers, music, photos, reception or honeymoon. I went back on call for a 56 hour shift as a junior doctor the next morning! The whole thing cost £13.50 - the cost of the licence in those days. Being autistic, I could never have faced being the centre of attention, having to prance about in a silly dress, etc, so we just got it over with as painlessly as possible, with minimal fuss.

Wow! Great you found a day that worked for you! X