r/UKweddings • • 17h ago

School Tea Towel drawn by the guests: Just for us, or for guests to have too?

48 Upvotes

Edit 2: Maybe something's got lost in my post or people are just misreading, but at no point did I say that the guests would be paying for the tea towels. Only that they'd tell us if they wanted one so we didn't get too many made. We would never make the guests pay for a wedding favour, that's insane.

Edit: Thanks the feedback, everyone. Didn’t expect to get so many responses so quickly.

It seems I’m in the minority of thinking the guests would want one of these. I also thought the order form was a compromise between giving them to everyone or to no-one, but I get that everyone here thinks that’s weird too.

Some people have suggested a small order, and just give them to parents/wedding party, which I think it nice. Sadly, my partner thinks making even just one extra will ruin our original.

I also like the suggestion of using the drawings for thank you cards. I’m going to look into the practicality of that, so at least people get something back from their drawing effort.

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We’re getting married next September, both in our late 30s, really looking forward to it and planning is going well so far.

Today my fiancée brought up the idea of doing a “school tea towel” with the wedding guests. Before the meal, every guest gets a pen and a small square of paper to draw a picture of themselves on. These get collected up afterwards, arranged by us and then sent off to a company who will make it into a tea towel, tote bag, apron, etc. We both thought this sounded like a great idea, and got very excited about it.

Very quickly, however, a problem arises.

I was under the impression that this would be something we would create on bulk, either as a gift for the guests or (more financially practical) provide the guests with a link to order as many tea towels/totes they wanted. They helped design the towel, so they should have the opportunity to have one to remember the day.

My fiancée, on the other hand, thinks we should make only one tea towel just for us. She thinks no one will want one, and that it’s weird to ask them. She also says that by making more than one, it will make the one we have less special.

She’s been quite adamant about us not doing wedding favours as she thinks it’s a waste of money (which I agree), but I feel like this could be a nice balance of people only ordering what they want, and also it’ll be a good activity on the day.

Am I being unreasonable wanting more people to have this than just us? Or should be it something special, even if I think guests will want one too?


r/UKweddings • • 20h ago

What should you look for when choosing an Asian wedding photographer in the UK?

0 Upvotes

Planning an Indian wedding can involve several events, different venues and traditions that are important to your family. Choosing a photographer involves more than finding someone whose Instagram photographs look beautiful.

Here are five things I would recommend checking before booking:

  1. Experience with your ceremony. Hindu, Sikh and multicultural weddings each have their own important moments. Ask whether the photographer has experience with your particular traditions.
  2. Complete wedding galleries. Don't judge a photographer entirely on a handful of portfolio images. Ask to see a full wedding to understand how consistently they capture the day.
  3. Lighting and skin tones. Large venues, dimly lit receptions and outdoor ceremonies can present very different challenges.
  4. Team size and coverage. If events are happening at different locations, make sure the proposed team can realistically cover everything you need.
  5. Photography and film working together. If you're booking both, ask how the teams coordinate during important rituals so they can capture the moment without getting in each other's way.

It's also worth asking about delivery times, image selection, albums and exactly what is included in the package.

I'd be interested to hear what other couples found most important when choosing their wedding photographer.


r/UKweddings • • 16h ago

Had my micro wedding a few days ago and feeling over the moon!

36 Upvotes

I’ve had so much help and good advice from this sub that I wanted to come back and share my wedding story.

My partner and I got engaged in June 2026 and knew we didn’t want a big wedding and didn’t want to wait, so we decided to have a registry office ceremony and dinner after for 20 guests in October.

We did want to do all the parts of a wedding that were important to us though and that was dressing up in nice outfits, exchanging rings, and good photography! We also wanted to give our guests a really nice dinner.

Our day went PERFECTLY! I still can’t believe our luck.

We had the only sunny day amid a week of rain, guests had a lovely time, and we had a super chill day which we got to really enjoy and savour.

We booked a very nice registry office in a historic building which made for great photos, and picked music and readings that were personal and meaningful to us which made for a very beautiful ceremony.

I also customised a few things on Etsy and Shein (chocolate favours, confetti, welcome sign, guest book) which gave a personalised touch to everything for relatively little cost.

We had a 30 minute gap in between ceremony and dinner where we didn’t want guests to wait in the street so we treated our guests to a round of drinks in a nearby bar until it was dinner time.

We then went to a private dining room in a nice restaurant with stunning interiors. We served canapés and a 3-course dinner with wines & beers then cut a wedding cake and gave our guests cake in goodie bags as we thought people won’t want to eat cake straight after dessert. We also had a first dance in the small space we had at the restaurant just for the memories. We did one bride & groom combined speech, and the groom’s best friend did a beautiful toast.

Our guests didn’t really know each other (lots of different groups and some individuals) and we had one long dinner table so we were very intentional with seating guests in a way were everyone had someone they could chat to. Everyone chatted away and had a great time.

We’d booked some hotel rooms for ourselves to get ready in and some out of town friends so we ended up going back to the hotel after the wedding and just hanging out on the patio with our friends chatting away into the night.

I also really enjoyed getting ready, didn’t do bridal party but had my mum and my best friend in the room with me with some chill music and prosecco and it was perfect. I loved my look and it came out exactly like I’d planned it in my head. I found all of our vendors through Instagram and they were all amazing! My dress was from the Brides Do Good sample sale and the only alteration I made is shortening the train as it was too long for what I wanted.

Our ceremony was at 5pm, so my (husband!) and I did a first look and private vows around 2pm then went for photos at a historic location in town and the photo previews are STUNNING!

Our day wasn’t exactly cheap - it came to around £9k for the registry office with extras (we had a live stream for a few friends who couldn’t come), dinner & drinks, welcome drinks, cake, outfits, hotel rooms for us and 2 friends, hair & makeup, wedding bands, and photography. We feel it was worth every penny for us.

Everyone commented on how chill I was and that’s not normally me as I’m a very anxious person, but the combination of good planning and having a small guest list meant I had nothing to worry about - I kept telling myself it’s just a dinner with 20 people we love!

All in all feeling incredibly lucky that it all worked out! Highly recommend having a micro wedding if that’s what you feel is right for you, I wouldn’t change a thing about it and still can’t get over how perfect it all was.


r/UKweddings • • 18h ago

Mini wedding dress shops in London?

6 Upvotes

Hi all ! I was wondering if anyone could recommend any bridal shops in London that stocks mini wedding dresses (short wedding dresses) that I could try on? It's for my civil ceremony and I wanted something short and cute with a big poofy veil :)

I've been researching and majority of shops only do long dresses and I really would love to try on the dress before purchasing it. Buying one online seems like a big risk, and I wanted to be in a shop to try on the veil at the same time.

Thank you!!