Tell me about your short engagement

[stoptryingtomakefetchhappen0]

We got engaged a week ago and have set a date to be married for four months time. We are only having a small wedding and have some money saved already so just wanted to crack on.

Venue is booked, just need to sort out the reception now...

I'd love to hear your stories of your short engagements, and how stressful or not that you found the timeline. :D

I feel fine and that we will get it done. The hardest bit for me is choosing a budget dress. Something cute and that won't result in a nip slip!

Congratulations! We got married 3 months after proposal. Not sure if it’s very helpful as we just did registry office, about 16 guests, private room in fancy restaurant down the road, that’s it. I did my own makeup, bought a simple velvet dress (winter wedding, not white or bridal) the week before and matching posy of flowers en route to registry office. DH wore a suit. No photographer. We both hate fuss. His parents met my parents at the registry office. Married over 20 years now. Wouldn’t have changed a thing. I guess the only possible downside is when the kids were little and asked about wedding photos I would point to the smiley but not very weddingy photos my friend took.

Congrats. My hubby proposed 2 weeks after meeting we had an engagement party/wedding party 3 weeks later and that was it done and dusted haha.. few phone calls nothing major,nice registry then reception followed by a evening party at a village hall was perfect for us and all done within 4 weeks and now into our 4th year and 3 under 2s and loving it.

Didn’t find it stressful at all and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Literally phone calls and emails and one in person visit. Choosing a dress and bridesmaid stuff was a nice experience.

it really is not hard. I have put up with a lot of shitty behaviour as a serial bridesmaid due to ‘wedding planning stress’ which I now do not understand

It really doesn't take time to plan a wedding. I got sneered at in wedding shops who told me I should have ordered my dress this time last year if I wanted it for September , so I bought a Preloved one.

Had a wedding for 150 4 months after engagement. Hired a venue, booked a caterer, bought a dress, emailed out some invites, bought some booze, found a band. Don't remember it being particularly stressful but I also didn't have any "dream wedding" expectations, just wanted a fun party.

@GreenHorses are you me? We are planning on the exact same, even down the the lack of photographer!

@LadyJ2023, @GreenHorses , @Suprima @Greensleevevssnotnose - you are women after my own heart.

@Greensleevevssnotnose this is exactly why I am going to try to avoid any'wedding specific' places. I feel like I would be made out to be some sort of weirdo for having a short engagement and not wanting to spend ridiculous amounts.

I'm the same as you. The wedding is the most important (as in, getting married). Like you I wanted a nice day and my friends and family to have a good time at our 'party' in the evening. I don't have any need to 'feel like a princess'. I also hate the term 'your special day' directed at just the woman. To me, it's a special day for me and my future husband, plus our extended family!

We got engaged in September, and married in December. We had a registry office wedding for 25 guests and hired a restaurant in Battersea for a meal after, before going to the pub. It was brilliant and we've been married 26 years now. And I wasn't pregnant either, just thought we'd been together got four years so should crack on. Highly recommend it, I'm not a fan of huge weddings that take years to plan.

Congratulations!

We got engaged and married less than 6 months apart. We had about 25 people in total to the registry office and all headed to a local pub with private room afterwards for a late lunch, drinks and cake. We then disappeared off for the wedding night in a nearby posh hotel so we could have part of the day just the two of us. My dress was about £500 from a high street brand although there were much cheaper options.
Absolutely loved our fuss free wedding day!

I have to say though, we originally weren’t going to have a photographer either to keep costs down but we’re persuaded otherwise, I think she cost about £350 for a two hour slot and it was worth every penny.

I wasn’t stressed at all, once the registry office and ‘reception’ were booked and our rings were ordered, all I knew we needed to do was turn up!

5 months between engagement and wedding. Booked the church, the pub, negotiated the food and drink (chips, sandwiches, champagne). Bought a frock (Needle and Thread), made a playlist, wrote a speech, made hair and makeup appointments, sorted the photos. Emailed the invitations. Really not stressful, partly because we didn't bother with any optional bits we didn't care about (cake, flowers, table decorations, etc).

My sister did it in 6 weeks. She made her dress, parents booked the golf club and church for a Friday (no Saturdays available), we bought ready made invitations and hand wrote them quickly, I took the other bridesmaids shopping for outfits (sister didn't care what we wore), family friends made cake and did the flowers. Men already had smart suits. It was quite easy from what I recall.

PS I wasn’t pregnant either, just both mid 30s and wanting to get on with things

we got engaged at Easter and married in August (4 months). Dh is not from UK so his family had to travel over from EU, and we needed a special license.

It was actually pretty easy because the church is never used (village) and we had the reception in a barn at my parents' house.

We phoned round florists and caterers and booked them in as soon as possible, also a band to play at reception.
Then found chair and table hire etc. Dad bought the wine wholesale. My brother did photos.

Mum and I went dress shopping really late (July?) and I was going away for 3 weeks before the wedding for work. I found a dressmaker who made mine in 7 days. Beautiful dress exactly as I wanted.

I think actually it was loads better just biting the bullet and doing it, I can't image planning it for 12-18 months, that would just be a nightmare.

BUT we were quite laid back. The actually ceremony was the important thing for me, and everything else was just nice to have. I remember saying to my mum, as long as we get the vows right, then if anything else goes wrong it is just a funny story to tell the granchildren, not worth getting upset about.

Thanks for all your replies, you’re giving me some good ideas…

Once I have an idea I want to execute it NOW. So a long engagement wouldn’t be for me and I’m guessing some of you would be similar!

Like a lady above I also don’t care about table decorations or favours. I feel the more detail you have the longer you need to plan as more to sort out!

We met, got engaged and married within 10 months (and that's because my husband - then fiancé - was abroad for 6 out of those months!). I ordered a dress, veil and shoes online, which altogether cost around £95.

The church was booked and we used the hall inside the church to have a meal after the ceremony. Photographer was my brother in law and my sister is an events coordinator and a florist so that was handy! My mum has friends in the catering business so she sorted that out. I have wonderful family and friends to help so it was not stressful at all.
I really wasn't looking to spend much as I just felt that the money could be spent better than on 'one day'. I had such a lovely wedding. The whole 'day' was done in about 3 hours; we were home by 4:30pm 😂😂

Oh lovely! Congratulations...that will be a fun, meaningful, romantic and less stressy wedding.
Perfect!

100%. We also made our lives simpler by having an afternoon wedding so that everyone could have their own lunch beforehand. If you have an all-day affair, there is more to organise.

We didn’t have a particularly short engagement (9 months) but we planned the wedding fairly quickly due to moving it forward (because I was pregnant). We moved the date after my 12 week scan in February (nothing was planned before this) and got married in June.

It was very straightforward. Church service, village hall up the road. Flowers were done by a lady in the village. My hair and makeup were done by friends of my mum. I bought my dress which was actually just an ivory bridesmaid dress from a closing down wedding shop on a whim and then got a lady on Etsy to make a lace over skirt. The photographer was a student from the art college recommended by a lecturer friend of my parents. My mum made the cake, and my dad decorated it. My parents and their friends draped the village hall in fabric so it resembled a tent/marquee inside. Music was a Spotify playlist and a phone plugged into the sound system. We bought in sandwiches from M&S or Waitrose, and friends and family made cakes for afternoon tea. We had a catering van serving food in the evening. We bought a load of charity shop tea sets and lace tablecloths, and made bunting. It was very simple and quite old fashioned but I loved it.

I know of a few other quick weddings.

one did the wedding in the church and then champagne and wedding cake afterwards (like you might serve coffee after a service, just in the same room as the wedding) That wedding was amazing, she borrowed a dress, a friend made the cake, the church was their church and gave the venue etc for free,the whole wedding cost £100 pounds of which £75 was the official fee which they had to pay!

another one had tea and wedding cake at the church after the service, and a couple of toasts and speeches. Then just 20 people went to a restaurant afterwards for the wedding breakfast. They both came from big churches so wanted all their friends to be able to see them get married, but just did the meal for close family etc. I thought it was a nice way roudn to do it.

Engaged May, married in October... almost thirty years ago.

We had a 4 month engagement. We had a pretty traditional wedding - 80 guests, country house hotel, sit down meal, live band.

It really didn't take long to organise - within a week we had booked a venue, photographer, florist, band, picked some readings etc.

I went to a wedding dress shop and said I was getting married in 12 weeks, what could I have - there was loads of choice although I did have to pay an extra charge for a rush order.

We used a lot of suppliers that the venue recommended, which made it very stress free as they knew the layout etc of the place.

The hardest bit was choosing our honeymoon!

Proposal in July, married in October.
Didn’t tell anyone until the week before.
zero frills.
Registry office booked, hired a dress, he wore his interview suit.
Got a small bunch of flowers from florist round the corner, cousin made me a big chocolate cake then we met friends in the local pub for a drink & slice of cake.

perfect, simple, great day.
(we were skint, just bought our doer upper house)

8 weeks, booked registry, booked restaurant we had our first date in (exclusive uses. till 7pm), golf club reception.
Wedding dress shopping was an arse because of the you should have etc but I got the dress I wanted.
Sent beautiful invitations plus emails and got the job done 😂

We planned in about 6m, because we took the first date our church was free. We didn’t need the whole 6m. We just used ‘are you free on x date’ as a key criterion for booking photographer and band, and didn’t sweat things too much! I got a lovely dress on eBay.