Hi all, we're looking to find a wedding venue that accommodates 200-300 people near London (pan-London/berkshire/surrey/essex area) - searching on google is overwhelming despite us being pretty clear on requirements and budget. Are there any websites/tools that are recommended that offer a fairly comprehensive list of venues available (with a filter tool if possible)? Thanks

Me and my partner will be getting married next April, by which time our son will be 20 months old.

Any suggestions for how to manage the day and in particular the evening?

During the day he can have a designated carer (probably mum/MIL) and will hopefully nap on people/ in pushchair?!

However he usually goes to sleep about 7. Thankfully the venue for the wedding/ reception has accomodation. I'm wondering if he can be put to bed upstairs in a cot and watched with a baby monitor by a designated person?

As he's an only child it's normally pretty quiet at home when he sleeps so not sure how he's cope with loads of noise (though does nap on pushchair when out, so ...)

Anyone else have similar experiences/ ideas?

Does this sound sound like a good schedule for our wedding? We are trying to save money on food by not have canapes, we will advise people to eat lunch beforehand so they're not starving. It will all be in one location, I am mainly worried about people standing around waiting and getting bored... I'm guessing you usually don't get access to the bar until the evening/disco begins? I have only been to 1 wedding as a kid. Thank you ☺️

2:00 ceremony starts

2:45 confetti shots, couple leave for photos

3:00 reception drinks served

3:30 photos with guests

5:00 dinner (bbq/buffet), with wine on tables

6:00 speeches

7:00 cake cutting / then serve cake for dessert (Go off for sunset photos if we're feeling it)

7:45 evening begins - first dance

9:30 Late night nibbles (charcuterie table)

11:45 depart with sparklers

My wedding will take place in Islington, North London in February 2025 and was wondering if anyone had a good recommendation for bakery shop that do wedding cake. If that can help, we are having about 35-40 people including myself and my fiancé.

I'm really struggling to figure out what I want from my wedding - or at least what options there are for the limited thoughts I do have! It's something I have constantly put off planning as the thought stresses me out, however I'm now at the point where I want to progress with other aspects of life and therefore NOT having wedding plans is making me anxious. There is a lot of "I" in this as my partner is thankfully very flexible  - rest assured his views are still a key part of this!

Would really appreciate advice or people's own experiences as I'm struggling with getting inspiration from random googling…

I know I don't want a very classic formal wedding - I don't think it would be very me. I also don't think we want a micro wedding/or a family only wedding ceremony followed by a party. Would expect that there are almost 100 people total. A big thing for me is disliking being the centre of attention so I'd love to make it more casual in any ways possible!

Venue is the biggest challenge, I think things might fall into place better once I figure this out.

• Traditional barns are beautiful but I think I find them a bit intimidating. I have seen some more modern style barns with big windows which seemed less daunting. Unfortunately the ones we saw were quite expensive and whilst we are probably in a lucky position to be able to afford them I don't really want to spend a lot.
• We love nature, however I am not a big fan of marquees.
• We've looked at a few "nice house" options, but not found any we love. Ideally, we would have limited rooms because I'd like to encourage everyone to dance - I really don’t want the room to feel empty at any point.
• Considered looking at getting married in a National Trust type place and venue after that, but couldn’t quite figure it out.
• I previously always wanted to get married outside of London so that everyone would ideally stay the night, and it feels "different". I do however recently like the registry type photos I see from London weddings, but question if we could have more than family and closest friends at that?

In terms of food, we contemplated evening buffet only, but we do quite like the chattiness of a sit down meal. I'd like to make that more casual however by not doing traditional courses and maybe doing sharing platters instead. Or maybe food trucks where people bring it back to their seat. We definitely want to avoid a head table and wonder if even long tables may again make it more casual.

I also have real mixed feelings about walking down the aisle. Part of me absolutely does not want to, does not want all eyes on me etc. The other part of me wants to look and feel beautiful, wants to see my partner's first look at me and also kind of wants everyone else to see that moment! I feel again like a less traditional setting might help there?  This is a bit of a brain dump but would love any perspective on how to find some kind of middle balance and more informal feeling venues. If at all possible, we'd actually like to try and get married in around 6 months time..

Hi everybody! I got engaged this year (exciting!!) and I've been trying to plan for a late 2026 wedding. Ive spent so long looking at venues and just not really liking anything until I saw this one and fell in love... Sadly it's closed now, so I'm on the hunt for anything that's sort of similar - does anybody know anything? Anywhere in the UK!

Thank you!!

Hi all, we're looking to organise our wedding in 2026 (either spring or autumn probably) and are looking to settle on areas/regions for our venue. We live in London and have a lot of family that will be flying into London Heathrow so want to find somewhere that's pretty easily accessible from here. Ideally it would be a fairly large venue that can accommodate 150-200 people, but with the areas around London being so expansive we were looking for region suggestions to start narrowing down our search!

Has anyone used With Joy for their wedding gifts - specifically money donations? I can see that it's a US website, but is there any way of changing the info from USD to GBP? And does it even matter? *Shrug*

Hi, So I heard Stacees are a scam site? Anyway I found my bridesmaid dresses there and I am desperate to try and find somewhere I can get them that won’t scam me out of money. Does anyone know how to find the original dress? Thanks

Wedding Weekend Overview: June, Boutique Hotel with 18 Rooms

Guests: 52 guests staying Friday–Sunday (covering their own rooms) mainly Grooms family as they are travelling.

Total Day Guests: 100

Friday: No planned activities for guests. (The bridal party will be handling church rehearsal and decorations.)

Wedding Day Schedule

11:15 am – Bus transports hotel guests to the ceremony (Pub adjacent to the church)

12:00 pm – Ceremony (approx. 30-45 minutes)

12:45 pm – Bridal Party Photos

1:15 pm – Bus transports guests to the venue

1:30 pm – Welcome Drinks & Canapés (featuring a brass band at the entrance and possibly lawn games)

2:30 pm – Reception Area Opens

2:45 pm – Speeches

3:00 pm – Dinner Service (Single shared menu with vegan/vegetarian options and accommodations for dietary needs)

5:30 pm – Groom’s Game Introduction (Guests can try a key to unlock a bottle of champagne prize)

6:00 pm – Poolside Cocktails & Cake Cutting

7:00 pm – Evening Guests Arrive

7:30 pm – First Dance

8:00 pm – Evening Food: Pizza, Pasta & Desserts

8:00 pm onwards – DJ-led Party

Extras & Entertainment: Photo Booth Card Games and Possible Lawn Games Pool table

Drinks: Each guest will receive four alcoholic beverages, along with unlimited tea and coffee.

Due to budget constraints, an open bar and multiple menu options aren’t possible, but we’re fully accommodating for vegan/vegetarian and special dietary needs.

We are being critiqued by Grooms parents to provide an open bar, They have offered us £2K wedding contribution and they want to put it on a bar tab. Tho we really need that contribution to go toward venue costing as we originally only wanted 80 guests and parents wanted us to up to 100.

Hi everyone, getting married soon (🥳🥳🥳) and had a question about traditional wedding photography here. In Canada it’s become very common to take what I’m calling “accessory shots” with the jewellery, shoes, maybe some of the veil, maybe some cologne and a watch along with the wedding rings for the man, etc. Are these photos a thing here? Basically trying to gauge if this is another thing I need to prepare for. Thank you!

I got married last month, and the day after realised that the registrar- not the person who actually married us, the second person who assisted and checked that we’d said all the correct and legal phrasing- had added me as a friend on Facebook. Am I right in thinking this strange or is this totally normal? It feels a bit weird to learn my name through legal proceedings and use it to add me on social media later. I don’t have a very common surname, so she would have had to remember it. Has this happened to anyone else?

Background:

I'm marrying my gf (same sex marriage) in December.

We aren't having bridesmaids or best men/women etc.

Both my parents have passed away.

Her parents are socially awkward to the point of rudeness. They have both said they are dreading the day and I know they're going to struggle with all the hoopla.

I am going to give a speech (the only speech of the day) and I'm stuck on how/if I thank her parents. They've not contributed financially to the wedding and I fear they will both burst into flames if I draw any attention to them.

Am I better off just not acknowledging them in the speech at all (feels brutal) or just give them a small thanks and hope they don't lose their minds?

Any thoughts?

Hi!

My fiancé and I are securing a date soon and would love any (not too crazy) priced recommendations for a day of coordinator in London. Would need assistance with a ceremony as well as reception!

Did anyone get married in a catholic church here? I hear they are strict about music. So the church where we will be has an organ and to be honest am not sure I like how it sounds but then I again maybe I am ignorant. Wanted to ask what songs did you have for the Catholic ceremony?

It’s really delicate so think I need delicate shoes, don’t know where to start. Any recommendations gratefully recieved 😊

My venue hasn't done a contract because it's classed as a private event not a wedding.

We've booked a hotel that is licenced for ceremonies (but having a celebrant so irrelevant) but because we're having a smaller event not booking out the whole place and all the rooms, they've said they don't use a contract. We are having the ceremony and then dinner for 30 in their private rooms. Should I be concerned?

Their communication is quite poor, I still have no idea what the final bill is going to be despite asking, or what happens if I do need to cancel. It's in June 2025 and we booked it in July 24

It's the perfect venue otherwise!

What tasks are people having their mother in law do? Mine is complaining that she’s not being involved enough in the wedding… I didn’t really want her seeing my dress as I didn’t want everyone to know details of it, or risk her showing people photos (she had already looked on the website trying to figure out which dress I got by this point), and she’s cornered my FH about the top table and is trying to dictate that. She’s now making issues about the guest list..

I’m thinking on giving her like a bathroom box to focus on, and maybe like a blanket box for if people want to go outside as we’re a november wedding - what else are people doing? Also thinking of having a separate mini hen do for family as I just want my friends there, so possibly get her to organise an afternoon tea?

The issue is most of the stuff is done now - my FH has to get a suit, but we’re worried she’s gonna say she hates what he likes (she’s done that with a suit for another family wedding)

I’ve told him we need to ask her how involved she wants to be and with what, cause our idea of her being involved might be very different from hers. But we did try to involve her from the start and she was the first to see the venue and find out the date and tbh, she shat all over it and said she didn’t like the venue and we shouldn’t get married on a Thursday, so I think sub consciously, we might have been a bit more guarded with things…

It’s really starting to get to me now, I don’t want to have to compromise on what I want and my happiness when I’m spending thousands on a wedding. She’s now only talking to my FH about the wedding as she doesn’t want to bring up anything to me cause she thinks I’ll say no, and is asking him if he’s happy with decisions that have been made and saying I’ve changed since we found the venue.

I really don’t want to give in and let her start calling the shots cause it will never stop, but I also just need her off my back

Does anyone have recommendations for any great and reasonable potential wedding venues in Yorkshire area, for about 100 people? We'd love somewhere with some countryside. We’ve been looking at places like Whitley Hall, Woodman Inn, and the Coniston Hotel - we are open to other ideas!

For background my partner is from the Sheffield area and I’m an American. We live abroad and already had a small civil ceremony at the embassy, but now want to celebrate with another ceremony and reception in England with family and friends who couldn’t make it. Appreciate any recommendations. Thank you!

We are looking at booking our wedding for April 2025 and are just looking at insurance options.

Thankfully ours is a small wedding/ reception held at an inn, so should be simple.

Reviews on all seem....mixed, but I suppose that's standard for insurance companies!

It seems like Wedcover or Emerald Life are the best of the crop.

Wedcover seems higher rated but has no rearrangements cover.

Any thoughts/ advice please? Many thanks!

We are looking to get married on a May bank holiday Monday but someone mentioned that vendors such as florists and hairdressers might be shut on these days? I’d imagine that if they do wedding flowers/hair they’d expect to open on a bank holiday for a wedding but not sure. Anyone had any experience with this, and do they charge any extra?

Hey girls ✨

My wedding is in two weeks and I still haven’t figured out how I’m walking down the aisle.

Of all the many, many wedding traditions rooted in patriarchy, the father walking the bride down the aisle and ‘giving her away’ is just not one I can get behind. I really don’t like the idea of it.

My instinct is to walk down the aisle by myself, but I’m afraid it will look and feel awkward, any some family members might take it to be a shun at my dad (who I don’t actually think would have a problem with it). I suppose I could do it with both parents, but I don’t really like that either! Seems like overkill

Has anyone walked themselves down the aisle? How did it go? Would you recommend it ?

Merci 🩷

Hey,

We’re looking to get married within the next couple years. We realized we need to give notice to the registrar and we were planning on trying to get done early enough so we have a years leeway. The sticking point is that we live outside of the UK and have no address there outside of friends and family. I read in the documentation that you need to have lived in the district for at least 7 days before giving notice.

How do you prove this when you don’t actually live there? The documentation said that if you don’t have a permanent address use a friends or family members. Do they just take you on your word that you’ve been there 7 days or are they looking for more concrete proof?

Thanks for any help!

Wedding is two weeks away - vendors are paid, place cards are printed, dress is ready and waiting - what else?

Anything last minute you can think of I might’ve forgotten? 😰

All suppliers for our wedding have asked us to enter into a contract, minus our makeup artist. I am now booking a hair stylist and the person I’m speaking to says they don’t use a contract either, and that paying a £50 deposit secures the date.

To me, this puts us both at risk? My wedding is in peak summer and either of us could cancel without notice. Her Instagram/website looks professional and she has done a lot of weddings.

I just feel quite unnerved without a contract - am I overreacting or is this normal?

UPDATE: despite confusing guidance the registrar was fine with an online statement from Revolut and seemingly couldn’t care less, phew

Hiya, giving notice tomorrow, on Richmond council website I just read this line in “supporting documents” for proof of address - statements printed from an online provider must be verified by the service provider. Whereas on gov.uk they don’t mention any of this bs. Good luck getting anything verified from Monzo, Revolut or any other online only banks? Our utility bills are for joint names, so my bank statement would be the safest bet (diving license has the old address yay)

So did anyone recently give notice at Richmond with “unverified” bank statements? Thank you

Hi all,

We will be travelling from AU to have a symbolic ceremony in the UK with our UK based family (we will do legal bit in our country)next year August. This will be a very intimate wedding with 10-15 people max. I am struggling to find a suitable venue that caters to this size. I’m finding it even harder with not being familiar with the Uk. Desperately seeking in any locations or venues. If anyone knows of Airbnb that would cater that would be a bonus. many thanks!!

Apologies if this isn’t the right sub! Please feel free to delete or redirect.

So much of this may sounds quite alien and frankly borderline silly, but here goes!

I’m quite a private person, and was a little apprehensive posting our engagement on socials, but eventually did because my fiancé thought it would look weird if he posted it and I didn’t do anything. I don’t post very much and if I do it’s normally quite rare, and on Instagram.

Now I’m starting to get worried about the wedding. I’m really not looking forward to the whole social media deal. The compromise I’m thinking was posting a “non-descript” picture (no full-body/faces, etc.) from the day with the status update, so I don’t look bad for not posting anything. I think I’m coming round to being okay with it.

However, biggest my worry is other people. There’s obviously nothing you can do to stop people from taking pictures and posting them anyway, because that would be unrealistic and I have no right to control what people put on their pages! It just makes me anxious, because I keep wishing it could be kept private so we can show people pictures in person from our album, that feels more personal and touching to me (this genuinely isn’t me trying to slam social media, I’m happy for other brides to splash their pics if that’s how they want to share it!).

I think a bit crux of this is that I have also disowned a family member who I want to shield my life from after they’ve abused me and my parents. I’m scared of others potentially being a leak or not private enough and them getting a hold of my life.

What can I do to reconcile myself knowing my photos will get out there anyway, and essentially “get over” this anxiety? I know it’s an odd situation but I just need advice or even my thoughts picked apart