FH and I are very low key people who absolutely do not like asking for anything from anybody, even at Christmas. I’ve always been uncomfortable the idea of a registry and I’d never ask for money, however a few people have suggested a registry because it would help them know what to get us.

I started using an app and have found it helpful for keeping a note of things we need for our new build we’ve just bought. I suggested to FH that we might want to consider putting it on the invite as it would prevent people wasting their money on things we won’t use (wine/champagne glasses if my first wedding is anything to go by) and it would really help us in the house. He’s dead against it, and I get why (he’s feels like it’s begging).

Is there any other way of using a registry without putting it on the invite? We don’t have a website or anything.

My fiancé and I have booked a strong quartet for part of our wedding, which will include the ceremony. My partner loves string music, as do I, but I’m struggling to pick a good processional song.

Ideally I would like something emotional and touching, possibly from a movie, but a lot of my favourite pieces are too “sad” for a wedding (think To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra, Comptine D' un Autre Ete by Yann Tiersen). The quartet we have booked will arrange any piece of music for us so I pretty much have free pick - but I’m coming up empty at the moment!

Any suggestions for moving, beautiful songs on strings?

Hi everyone,

In my head I know this isn't a big deal, but I can't stop stressing about it. My partner and I are getting married in a year and a half and we've sent our save the dates out to my family as they're all international. Due to our budget/the venue we chose, both my partner and I only can have 35people each at the ceremony - our evening venue could sit more for the meal but weddings are expensive.

With that, and the fact that we don't realistically have a lot of people we can invite, a lot of my family aren't going to be invited; my mom's cousins who are all like my aunts/uncles aren't, but their kids are as we all grew up together. There are 10 cousins and only 2 of them are married. We've decided that no one gets a +1 minus the two married ones as we've a) met them, and b) been invited to their weddings, even though we couldn't afford to fly home.

My other cousins are now messaging me asking to bring their SO's because they want to make a big trip out of it. I've stuck to my guns and said no to the ceremony/meal, but they could join for the evening reception. It doesn't feel right that they would get a spot of an actual friend for the ceremony when all their SO's have never met my fiancee and most haven't met me before/more than once. Also, I don't want to pay for more meals for people I don't know.

I know people might not be happy, but is our decision normal/understandable?

We're a husband and wife duo who have built Notts Happening into Nottingham's biggest online community with 81,000 followers and 44,000,000 views. We know how to create engaging social content.

My wife is a wedding photographer who was previously a photographer and image retoucher at Sunspel and Jones Bootmaker. I also worked in the Asda social media team.

Back in the day, you had a photographer and videographer for your wedding, but:
- They often take forever to send you your images and videos
- They're awkward shapes and sizes like 16x9 (wrong aspect ratio for social)
- They're glossy, overproduced and not engaging

We know that things are different nowadays. You want gorgeous video, which is social first, delivered to you NEXT DAY so you can post.

We're offering couples, social first content captured at your wedding day for £200.

We come for a full day, capture video and imagery of your big day and deliver 8x videos for when you wake up next day as husband and wife!

Midlands and North preferred but happy to travel to London and further south if the job is right!

Send us a DM if you're interested in a chat.

We’ve been looking around at DJs for our wedding and did find one we liked. He’s asking for a 50% deposit which is quite a bit more than a couple of the others we’ve seen. Is this a lot for deposit or pretty much average? We’re just thinking if anything falls through it’s a fair amount of money to lose - but maybe it’s not that unusual to ask for half.

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering what people think. I have necklace with my angel babies name on that I wear everyday. Is it ok to wear it for the wedding? I’m not wearing any necklaces and the rest of my jewellery is silver by my necklace is gold.

Would it be ok to wear it as it’s obviously a very important bit of jewellery for me?

Does anyone have any caterer recommendations for a hot buffet in the Peak District / Sheffield / Manchester area? We are having around 80 guests, a mix of meat eaters and vegetarians and a few allergies. On a budget - max £2k. We would be very happy with something simple, it just needs to taste good! It’s for the main meal.

This is a long-shot request, but my partner (not from the UK) and I are having a wee wedding in Scotland in February.

However, he’s never seen a British (Scottish) wedding before, and wants to know what actually happens so we can plan stuff.

Weddings in his country are 30 minutes long, tops - literally just a ceremony before everyone shuffles to a buffet hall. We watched loads of them to plan ours.

We’re finding it a bit harder with the UK one given the length of them, and all the videos on YouTube from videographers are just highlights that don’t give much away!

Does anyone have a longer documentary-style videos that has some getting ready bits, full ceremony, entrances, speeches, cake cutting, and first dance and reception/party?

A while ago, I booked a bunch of wedding dress appointments in central London for this Wednesday 4th December. They were around £50 each! I have actually found my dress in a small local boutique so I no longer need to go. Does anyone want these? For free of course, I’ll be losing the money anyway and want to offer them out! I’m sure we can change the name.

Hello, I'm currently putting a blog together for brides-to-be who want to DIY their own wedding, and I'd love to feature some real-life wedding stories from any of you who have been there and done it.

Thanks in advance!

Hello all! I am Catholic and my partner is from the COE (Church of England) or Protestant. He is not a practicing one however he agreed that we can have a Catholic Mass. Can you give me hymn suggestions for the Mass that both Catholics and Protestants know? Also what are bridal procession hymns allowed by the Church please? And how long does the mass last? Thank you

Hello all,

I hope you're doing well.

I fell in love with a cost dress that's been out of stock for some time now... it's

Coast

Sequin Draped Bardot Long Sleeve Bridal Maxi Dress

I don't think I will be able to get this by March 2025 which is my wedding so I was hoping people can recommend me websites/dresses that are similar to this...

My budget is £250, I would prefer it to be ivory, fitted and with a train.

I hope someone can help me as I feel crazy checking the coast website everyday...

FYI I live in the UK and am a size 8/10

Thanks for reading,

A very stressed bride to be.

Hi all! Quick question...

So we will have about 65 people at our wedding.

Currently trying to agree the bridal party so i can start sorting suits.

My wife to be will have 3 x bridesmaids (1 sister and 2 x best friends).

I will have 2 x best men.

I'm now thinking about if i have ushers or not. My close friend circle is essentially 8 of us (including me and the 2 best men).

I was thinking of 2 of my other friends to be ushers, but that would then mean 5 of us in the bridal party / in the same suits, with 3 of the 8 left out.

Not sure if i am overthinking this, and i know its my wedding so my choice etc. - but in your views, would this be slightly harsh?

I can't really have all 7 of them in the bridal party as it'd then be getting to the stage where such a large % of my side of the wedding would be in it (along with both dads etc.), and not sure if that would be odd!

Im therefore just tempted to leave it to the 2 best men... but am torn that pictures with 8 of us in the same getup would be quite nice...

Any thoughts appreciated!

I realise my opinion is completely different from the mainstream. Most of these opinions come from wedding photographers themselves, who try to convince potential clients that they need to hire them. They talk about 'telling stories' or 'experience', but the truth is that anyone can take a picture. In fact, you can take a picture without even using a camera, like with a soda can. I'm not joking.

Do I Need a Photographer? - You Ask Yourself a Question

You don’t need.

Why? Today's smartphones are so good, equipped with multiple lenses and powerful sensors. I've tried to count all the pixels in my cameras, and there's no way to fit as many into a sensor as some smartphones have. And as we all know, more pixels and a larger sensor mean better photos.

Everyone has a smartphone these days. So, you can ask your guests to take pictures of everything and then share them with you. That way, you'll have a huge collection of wedding photos. No photographer could ever provide you with that many photos, and after all, quantity matters, just like 200 megapixels in a phone.

The photos tell the truth

I've been to many weddings where the bride and groom decided to hire a professional photographer. If they had read this article beforehand and followed my advice, they probably wouldn't have.

As a photographer with many years of experience, I’ll show you what happens when you hire one. I have irrefutable evidence! And as they say, pictures don’t lie. Look at these photos and see what you could have spent the money on instead of wasting it on a photographer.

Just one bouquet. The groom had only one flower in his boutonnière instead of a full bouquet! They could have bought two bouquets and many more by forgoing the photographer.

This is a wedding cake. There wasn’t enough money for a shirt for the groom. By skipping the photographer's services, the groom might have been able to afford even a suit.

Tiny pieces of confetti. Of course, the larger they are, the more expensive they become.

The bride had to drive the car herself, and it was just a Volkswagen. The money saved was enough for a Rolls-Royce with a chauffeur.

This dog was sad. He was sad because he was hungry. Why? Because the photographer took all the money, leaving nothing for the dog’s food.

In the photo, you can see that there weren’t enough chairs for all the guests, so cheaper alternatives had to be used. I won’t even mention the lack of a roof to protect from the rain.

Save Money - Hire Your Pet as the Photographer!

Why hire a human photographer when your loyal furry friend can step in? Simply attach a GoPro to your dog’s collar, and voila! You’ve got a mobile, four-legged photographer who’ll capture unique angles — like people's shoes, half-eaten hors d'oeuvres, and endless shots of the floor. Bonus: your dog won't complain about long hours or miss the most important moments, like your bouquet toss... right into its mouth.

For an artistic twist, try your cat! Expect elegant, moody shots from beneath chairs and possibly inside gift boxes. It’s purrfectly budget-friendly!

For those couples with a bird? The sky’s the limit — literally. Your feathered friend can fly around snapping aerial views, giving drone photographers a run for their money. Plus, pets work for kibble, which makes them the most cost-effective 'photographers' out there.

Sure, some moments may be out of focus, but hey — who needs perfect memories when your dog’s personality shines through every frame?

You don’t need a wedding photographer

Remember, a wedding photographer is human too. They have a family, they want to go on vacation, or just relax. They'll be so grateful if you don't book them and instead entrust this important task to your guests. They'll love the extra responsibility!

Imagine if the money you save by not hiring a photographer could be used to, for example, buy additional smartphones for your guests to take even more photos.

***

Frankly, I enjoyed the process of writing this piece. While I didn't intend to share it on my website, I thought I'd post it here, 'somewhat anonymously'. Of course, if you're looking for more serious advice and aren't keen on having your dog as a photographer, here are some practical recommendations for finding a wedding photographer.

Hi, I’m looking for London (or even outside of London) wedding dress shops that cater for size 14. My budget is £3000 and under. And I do want it to be extra and sultry (like photo attached). But all the shops I have looked at for London are more understated/clean or don’t really cater for size 14. Thank in advance x

Hello 👋 I'm a non British woman on fiancée visa planning to get civil married to my British fiancé in few months . I already checked the required documents but I'm confused about if I need a marital status to prove that I'm not married from my original country (Lebanon) . I'm trying to get all the documents before I travel . Thx for any help 🙏

My Fiancée and I are Americans getting married in Northumberland in June. We have been looking for sola wood or similar flowers for the ceremony and reception, but that specific company does not ship to the UK. Does anyone know of any sellers in the UK? We've found an Etsy seller, but they do single pieces, not a wedding set. Any advice would be extremely helpful!

We've booked our wedding for May 2026, so I've still got plenty of time to sort things out and we're still early on in a lot of our planning.

I worked for a while in Essex and I really love the dresses that Lucy Can't Dance do (white dresses with a dip dyed or ombre colour at the bottom I've linked here! ) or white dresses with brightly coloured embroidery.

However I now live in the South West and driving to Chelmsford for trying on dresses and fittings multiple times would be a real pain in the backside. Unfortunately all the stockists they lost are even further from me than Chelmsford.

Does anyone know of any where in the South West, South Wales or the Midlands that stocks anything even vaguely similar? Or anywhere that does good "alternative" dresses, not just white ones!

Hi all

We have quite a specific situation and I wondered if anyone here has dealt with similar.

We are planning a wedding at my parents' house in rural Scotland - nearest town 25 mins away and very limited taxi offerings in the area. There is also very limited parking at the house itself due to its situation.

On that basis, we're asking everyone to stay in the town and then organising coaches from the town to the church (approx 10 mins), and on from there to the house (approx 15 mins). We will then need to organise shuttles on the way back, probably every hour from 11 to 1am when the wedding ends (approx 25 mins). The wedding is quite large - about 180 guests but hopefully fewer once we actually start getting RSVPs.

We've struggled to find coach companies who can support this in the area but have found one coming from about 90 mins away. They are being very helpful but have quoted us £3,400 for the above, which is a lot more than we had budgeted for. Has anyone else arranged similar to this and if so, how much did you pay? It would be great to have something to benchmark against. Or do people have other ideas for how we could solve the issue?

Thanks!

OMG I had to just come to Reddit to scream about how flipping excited I am about getting married 2 weeks tomorrow!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Hello! My fiancé and I get married next summer and our respective parents would like to do speeches. However, my partner is Italian, speaks perfect English but his family speak little to no English. My mum speaks Italian fairly well but not fluently and my dad cannot speak Italian at all. Assuming the majority of guests can make it on the day, it will be a more or less 50/50 split between English and Italian speakers.

We are trying to come up with the best way of making the speeches understood by everyone. My partner has offered to translate but this would have to be in real time otherwise he would need to know what will be said prior to the day. I think this would be a shame.

Can anyone suggest a fun way of solving this? Maybe you’ve attended a wedding that managed a language divide well? Any ideas appreciated!

Hey - I hope your wedding planning is going well!

I’m a photographer and my partner is a videographer – we’re based in Worcester and Dorset. We are building our wedding portfolio and have already shot one wedding in Dorset with great results.

If you’re getting married between now and next summer (2025), we’re offering completely free photography and videography in our local area (Worcestershire, Cheltenham or East Dorset) or basic expenses for weddings further afield. Please let me know if you would be interested or want to find out more.

Hi all!

So, we were planning a big wedding but throughout the planning we realised that a big party wasn’t for us, so we booked a registry office in London and will only have witnesses with us.

We were thinking in having a post registry office drinks with a few friends. Literally booking a big table/room in a nice pub for around 20 people.

My question now is: if you were invited to this type of setting, what would you expect?

I was thinking putting some money behind the bar and I know they can offer canapés if we book a room. My mum is adamant she will organise a cake for us.

Would that be reasonable? I genuinely don’t want a fuss, just want a few drinks with friends but want to ensure it is a pleasant evening for everyone.

We (late 20s M&F) have been together for over a decade and just want to have a hassle-free wedding. We are both only children and while I may have friends to invite, my partner doesn’t as he’s in a line of work where people move away quickly/don’t stay in one place too long so hasn’t got that many friends. And as a result, his good friend has moved across the world and would not be able to return for the wedding.

We were thinking of just doing it with us and our parents, and maybe in a few years, having a proper wedding/renewal of vows. My only ask is a church wedding now and for it to be somewhere picturesque.

I don’t know if this is a bit sad just having our parents? :( It’s kinda like an elopement but with parents!!

I would also welcome ideas on churches that will allow us to get married in without having to attend regularly, any location ideas (happy to travel), and basically how to go about this whole intimate wedding thing if anyone has done this before. Thanks in advance!

ETA: we are open to Scotland, Wales etc, and don’t have a budget in mind at the moment as want to keep options open.

All me and my fiancé want is to get married.

We were meant to elope at the start of this year, but I had surgery about a month before we were due to get married so we had to postpone for that reason, which is understandable.

My fiancé said he liked the idea of a traditional wedding and really wanted us to have the 'first dance' and worried that us eloping meant we couldn't have that (bless him), so we planned our wedding which is next April.

Without going into a tale of woe, my immediate family just don't seem bothered about my wedding. I don't really get asked about it when I visit,, I've had no help planning, my mother hasn't come to any wedding fayres and I basically had to beg her to come dress shopping. Me and my mother had a falling out last week and she quickly snapped about not coming to the wedding. I just felt it was the last straw, I now want to revert to our original plans and elope.

My fiancé absolutely supports this and is 100% on board, he is just wonderful.

I just feel overwhelming guilt for cancelling our traditional wedding, disappointing family and friends (even though mine aren't bothered anyway). Has anyone ever done this before? If so, how do you go about it?

We have several people with various food issues coming to our wedding - Chrohns, IBS, allergies to nuts, gluten and/or chocolate. We want them to feel equally valued as guests by making sure they have some lovely cake. All the wedding cake makers we've spoken to can't safely produce a cake like this as they have nuts in their kitchens and they've all advised us to get cupcakes made by a specialist baker, but don't give recommendations.

Does anybody have any recommendations for such specialist bakers in the South West London area please?

Also, any suggestions, do's and don'ts for keeping this safe for our guests with allergies? I spoke to our venue and they said not to worry, they have a lot of experience of looking after guests with allergies, and I'msure they do, but is there anything specific I should be asking them to do or not do?

Does anyone have any recommendations for London-based marquee hire companies? I am hoping that we might be able to use a private garden square in London for the wedding meal (after a ceremony in a church nearby) and then go inside a nearby indoor venue for drinks / dancing. The issue is that we have lots of family and hence quite a large group (about 140) which would be too big to fit them all indoors for a seated meal. My idea would be to have us all do the sit-down bit outside and go inside later, but have no idea of what weatherproofing with a marquee is likely to cost or what would be involved in hiring it. Any experience very gratefully received!

It's a snapshot of my favourite wedding ever.

Curious to see more and find out what happened next? Check out my website: Wedding at Glansevin Mansion, Llangadog

Morning all!

We've set up an online honeymoon fund for anyone who wanted to give us gifts and we've already had a few people donate. Our wedding isn't until December 14th but should we send a thank you note to the guests who've donated now, or wait until after the wedding?