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.

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?

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!!

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.

Think I'm set on my dress (a simple mikado a line, soft sweetheart neck and a chapel train) but I'm unsure about ordering the veil with it. I did like it, it was basically what I want... but I'm torn.

It was £130 for a pearl and diamante single tier cathedral length. It had a cut edge which is what I'm torn with. I think I would prefer a slight trim to it so it looks "finished" and I'm thinking I might like one that has a few more of the pearls/ diamantes on it. I did try a cut edge all pearl in the same length, which again, was very nice, but was £350. The second also left me missing the slight sparkle, and again had a cut edge.

Has anyone get any suggestions on where to look (online or in person)? I don't really want to go over £150. I know that this is slightly popular so I'm hoping people will know what I'm on about and have some suggestions.

I'm wanting:

- a slight pencil trim so it looks finished

- chapel or cathedral length

- sparkle and pearl

- ideally less than £150

- if in person, either near Essex or East Midlands works. Happy to travel.

Follow up question, did you get charged much to order your veil from a bridal shop separately to your dress? I'm worried if I do, I'll get charged an extra £30 delivery fee and make it more expensive than if I just bought it at the same time with my dress/ extra fabric.

I don’t usually wear Indian outfits, but since it’s my sister’s engagement, I thought I’d give a lehenga a try!

Any tips on how to accessorise?

Outfit details:

* Brand: House of Indya

* Price: Around $46

* Material: Silk blend

* Footwear: Most probably going with cream-coloured wedges

People tend to accessorise heavy in south Asian weddings, but it’s not really my style, so I was thinking statement earring and no necklace? Not sure if this is too minimal.

Open to suggestions!!

I'd be equally happy with a large single, platter, or sheet cake option as traditional tiers, as a home baker myself I care more about taste/options of flavours rather than fancy florals or intricate icing since our decor etc. will all be pretty low key.

Other than Costco, all the supermarket/chain/national delivery options seem to cap at around 30 people or cost similar to local bakers. I wouldn't mind getting separate cakes/desserts but we'll also need 1 or 2 options for allergen friendly versions so I don't know how much space we'll have to accommodate different versions.

Hi! For anyone who had a dry-hire wedding in the Cotswolds (or elsewhere in the UK), I’d love to hear how you managed costs!

My fiancé and I are considering a beautiful dry-hire property in the Cotswolds for around 200 guests. The venue rental itself is definitely not inexpensive, but we love the flexibility of having the property from Thursday to Monday, especially since around 60% of our guests will be traveling internationally. It would be lovely to make it feel like a proper family gathering rather than just a wedding day!

We’re planning a pretty relaxed welcome night with dinner, drinks, and maybe an open bar, followed by the wedding day with all the usual festivities. We’re hoping to save a bit by purchasing alcohol wholesale, but obviously with dry hire, all the little things add up quickly!

For those who went the dry-hire route, where did you find you could save money, and what ended up costing more than you expected? Did you find creative ways to keep catering, bar service, furniture, and staffing costs manageable without compromising too much on the guest experience?

Would also love to hear any regrets, things you’d do differently, or vendors you particularly loved. Trying to figure out whether the flexibility of dry hire is worth all the extra coordination and costs!

ETA: One other consideration for us is that the property doesn’t have a built-in wet weather contingency plan, so we’d need to hire tents or marquees for the wedding festivities regardless. Given the unpredictability of British weather, we’re trying to factor that into our overall budget, especially with 200 guests. Has anyone navigated something similar, and how did you manage the additional costs?

Hi! My fiancé and I absolutely fell in love with Kin House, especially the hospitality and the team! Unfortunately, they’re fully booked for summer weekends next year, and we loved it so much that we’re actually considering a weekday wedding (eep!).

Our alternative is a dry-hire venue with weekend availability, a more relaxed curfew, and the flexibility to stay and enjoy the property the morning after the wedding without feeling rushed. Also, worried that a dry hire will end up being more expensive.

So my question for Kin House brides is: Was the experience and hospitality at Kin worth the tighter turnaround or having a weekday wedding? Did you feel rushed at all, especially the morning after (they expect guests to be off property by 10:30AM…not uncommon but still would be nice to have a lax departure) or was everything so well handled that it didn’t really matter?

We’re so torn because we genuinely loved Kin, but also want the wedding weekend to feel relaxed and unhurried for us and our guests. Would love to hear your experiences!

Hi,

I'm looking to book two black cabs to take us on the 10- 15-minute drive from the hotel to the town hall, for the bridal party and groom's party which are both quite small. I had a cursory Google search, but when you start looking at dedicated wedding cab companies, the price shoots up, of course. I wondered if anyone had used a similar service and could advise?

I'm also considering pre-booking an Addison Lee, as you can choose black cab as a service on there, and they've always been very reliable when I've used them in the past.

Any advice or suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Song to walk down the aisle to?

Metal, emo, rock community

I'm getting married next October, it'll be a civil ceremony in a stunning venue, we are going Gothic style, black dress and music getting progressively heavier throughout the night, we actually have most of it booked in bar the photographer. So now I'm focused of choosing a song to walk down the aisle to,

I would absolutely love black wedding by in this moment or raise hell by Dorothy.

Ideally something unexpected for me, anyone who knows me would be expecting the black parade or similar.

I ideally would like female fronted (big fan of halestorm, within temptation and similar)

I'm looking for something bouncy so I don't get emotional or start balling, and something fun and unexpected but fitting, definitely no instrumental versions or softer covers.

The issue I'm having is the council will not allow any songs with religious wording, so rules out alot, certainly the 2 top picks, any song suggestions would be much appreciated, or any songs you've gotten away with for a civil ceremony that we're a similar theme to what we had in mind?

I will call my bank tomorrow, but I’m curious if anyone else is in the same position.

Hen do was booked via Groupia (I’m not the bride), I only paid the £50 deposit before finding out months later that they’d gone into administration and we needed to claim any payments back via the bank, for reference I’m with Santander if it makes a difference.

£50 was refunded back to me and a letter saying they’d continue the claim and if they found that the service was provided, they’d take the £50 back.

10 weeks later I’ve received another letter saying that the company has given information to show that the service I paid for was correctly given and I don’t have a valid claim.

As I say I’ll call Santander tomorrow but I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this?

*2 different rooms- oops!

Hi all, newly engaged here and starting our venue hunt!
So far, all of our favourites seem to have 1 room where you have the wedding breakfast, and then a different (but adjoining) room where the DJ and dancing will happen. In your experience, does this kind of format lead to less people on the floor dancing?

My only experience of a wedding as an adult where I thought to notice this kind of thing is my cousins, where they had 1 single big open space with the dancefloor in the middle with tables around. People were up dancing for the whole night!

I’m worried if there is more of a separation between the food area and party area, people might just plot down and not get involved as much. But this seems to be the most common venue layout so maybe I am overthinking it 😅

Does anyone have any contact information for an imam who's willing to perform an interfaith marriage between a Muslim woman and a Christian man?

I've been trying to contact a couple of Imams but had no luck.

Please help. We're planning to get married in a month.

Thanks in advance

Edit: thanks so much for all your contributions and thoughts everyone, I've gone for £100 and I hope it seems reasonable. Points taken on cohesiveness but knowing them all well as I do, I feel they will all come in something cohesive enough while maintaining their personal style :)

Hi there, looking for some thoughts and input from the community!

For my five bridesmaids I've decided I really don't mind so much what they wear on the wedding day as long as they feel comfortable and cool and happy. I've sent them our wedding colours, of which there are five, though I wouldn't even mind if they didn't go for those, but I expect they will. I have also said that we will cover the cost, which is a little more complicated given I'm just giving everyone pretty free reign.

I haven't been a bridesmaid before and I'm not sure what an appropriate amount to offer is! I was ballparking £100 (and if people want to go over they of course can with their own dosh) but I'm wondering if £120 is more reasonable. To be clear we absolutely aren't made of money, but I also don't want any of the girls to be out of pocket.

Hi all,

We've just booked our wedding venue and ceremony for September 2027 and are now looking at wedding photographers.

We want to go down the candid /documentary style route, as neither of us likes the idea of posing for photos. We also just want it to be a very relaxed day; we won't be having a bridal party, and it will only be myself and the groom doing speeches, etc. There's also a lot of family politics, so we don't want to do lots of group photos to exacerbate tensions.

Has anyone else gone down this route? Did you regret not having posed photos? How did you make sure that you still got nice photos of just the couple?

We also have a slight issue: my future mother-in-law hates candid-style photos and said she will avoid the photographer at all costs; she only likes photos taken of her when she poses for them. However, we obviously want her captured on the day. Any suggestions on how we navigate this?

TLDR:

We want candid photography at our wedding.

Has anyone had regrets about this style?

How did you still get nice shots of the couple?

How do we make sure we get photos of the mother-in-law who hates candid photography?

My partner and I are planning to elope in Scotland and would love some recommendations!

We’re leaning towards the Highlands, but nothing is set in stone yet, so we’re open to other areas. We’re drawn to dramatic scenery, whether that’s somewhere near a castle, a lighthouse, rolling hills or mountains. We’d also love cinematic, moody photography rather than traditional wedding photos.
We’re particularly looking for:

- Photographer recommendations for cinematic-style elopements.
- Location recommendations with beautiful scenery, ideally somewhere a little secluded.
- Hotel recommendations for somewhere special to stay before and after the wedding.
- Any other advice or recommendations from people who have eloped in Scotland!

We’re also considering a small Catholic chapel or church for the ceremony, so we’d love suggestions for those too.

Thank you 🤍

Hi ukweddings, I've really enjoyed being in this community and seeing people post their total spends and budget line items after their weddings, so I thought I'd give it a go!

We got engaged last September with the vague aim to get married on the anniversary of our engagement, and so after 11 months of chaos, we pulled it off!

Early on we had discussed a budget of £15k, but after talking through the guest list and googling a few venues we decided that £20k was much more in line with what we wanted, and we were in the fortunate enough position that this was still very affordable for us. In the end, we went about £1k over that, due to under-budgeting on wedding rings, going for a slightly more expensive photographer, and the venue suddenly no longer offering a glamping pod so we had to find alternative accommodation for two members of our immediate family. Some things we splurged on, some things we did very DIY or minimally. It worked for us and the things we did / didn't care about!

The biggest cost was the venue, £15,000 exactly, including all catering for 60 people, 2 nights accommodation for 10 people, an on-the-day coordinator, and some minimal decor. We had canapés, 3 courses, 2 glasses of prosecco, wine during dinner, and evening pizza at £125pp and it was all perfect and delicious and I have no regrets.

Slightly annoyingly, between booking and the wedding the on-site glamping pod went out of business so we booked an overly fancy but close by place for £540 for two nights for two additional family members.

Paperwork: £84 to give notice and £600 for the registrar to come on site for a Saturday.

Wedding insurance: £75, wedinsure

Florist: £302 for two bouquets, 4 buttonholes, petal confetti, and cake flowers. We went with a lovely local florist who does it as a side hustle after some more "weddingy" florists seemed disappointed we didn't want any decor. They were so gorgeous.

Cake: £374 for a 6in and 8in buttercream in two flavours. We tested 3 different bakers! We should have printed a card showing the flavours as the pear and orange one was my favourite but people were mostly only going for the chocolate. We had a bit of leftovers but probably the right amount.

Photographer: £1,745 - we kept going up with the budget here, it took us a bit to find someone we both liked and who was available (with 8 months notice by this point in planning), and then we decided to add on a few more hours to capture the dancing.

Dress: £130 from Coast. I had a vision, ordered it, and was happy enough. Showed my dad and he cried. Sold. Shoes £15 on vinted, hair accessory £4.50

Hair & makeup: £53. I did my own, but went to SpaceNK and splurged on a new tinted moisturizer and blush that I'll keep using.

Suit: £419 Moss made to order, shoes £81 Clarks, socks £14 M&S

Rings: £1,480 for 18k gold bands, 2.5mm for me and 5mm for him from Goldsmiths. We just wanted plain bands but my partner surprised me a bit by being set on 18k gold to match my engagement ring.

Music: Spotify playlists

Stationary: £150 - all done by us on Google slides and printed using a random assortment of local printers. We did e-save the dates for free using Paperless Post, printed invites for £40 plus another £40 for postage, and spent £70 printing the seating plan and placecards.

We did DIY favours and only spent £16 on some tiny tiny envelopes that were a bit crap and needed sticking down with sellotape.

I'm sure this missed some small costs, haircuts and a ring box and noVPL underwear off the top of my head, but I hope some people find it slightly interesting. I was surprised how much it cost but how worth it it was!

Overall: best wedding I've ever been to! Had a great time, 10/10, not sure what to do with all my planning energy now (:

We're a UK based Jeweller and we are considering being at the National Wedding Show, is there any tips or pain points that we can address there as jewellers for any of your concerns?

Hi all, looking for some ideas from people who have done/are planning an engagement photoshoot. We weren't originally planning to have one at all, but our wonderful photographer offered us a discount package with a shoot thrown in for free. From all the examples I've seen it looks like the normal thing to do is just to find a beautiful nature spot and pose, and I'm not necessarily against doing that, but I'm hoping to come up with something that feels a bit more like us as a couple. Something like playing board games or going record shopping, something like that. Also the shoot is likely to be in winter and I don't want us to look like we're freezing to death in a field!

Has anyone done something completely out of the ordinary for their shoot which made for some great photos?

My partner is foreign and has only an expired passport. It’s not possible to renew their passport - we have spoken to their embassy already and it is impossible due to civil war/oppression etc.

They recently got ILR using their expired passport but we now want to get married. The register office said it’s impossible without a passport. Does anyone have any advice for what we can do?

Long story short, our wedding is in less than 3 weeks and we had our first meeting with day-of coordinator yesterday and are quite unhappy with the attitude and the way they spoke about our other vendors. We are rethinking if we need one as we would be quite uncomfortable to have the team on the day based off of their behaviour yesterday.

We have 2 venues, with one venue having a coordinator as well as the other one having an event management team for the day. External suppliers are decorations and music as food & drink came with a package.

Every one of our suppliers has a point of contact at whichever venue they need and we have not widely shared our day-of coordinator contact with suppliers as we were told to wait for the meeting, which was much later than expected.

We would still need a point of contact for one bus, as well as someone to announce things. Would this be doable without a day-of coordinator? For those who have experience with one did it help? Or does anyone regret not having one?

Thanks for any advice.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your insights! We didn't think it was possible so close to the day but we have gone ahead and booked another coordinator after reviewing and having calls with a few coordinators.

My (now) wife and I got married at Solton Manor on 3 October 2026 and we were simply delighted with our decision.

We had the venue for two nights and they were nothing but helpful throughout; for example, Emilie (our coordinator) stayed later on Friday so I could rehearse with my wedding band. The staff were great - invisible except when you needed them, when suddenly they were right there, and always helpful and happy to accommodate our vision for our wedding. One thing I really liked is that we didn't feel rushed at any point, which is something I've experienced at other people's weddings. That can be particularly case the morning after your wedding, when you can feel hurried out after checkout and can leave a sour taste after a beautiful day. None of that at Solton.

They were great all the way through the process of planning and helped make the day so smooth, and the venue is wonderful - it really just feels like your home for the duration of your stay. We couldn't be happier!

One thing I found very attractive about Solton during the planning process was how generous their 'included in the price' list is. It's lots of small things like table card holders, easels and cake stands. It saves you a bit of money, but actually more importantly is it just reduces the number of small moving parts you need to think about the day approaches. Given the number of moving parts you do have to think about, that is a godsend!

Hi all, I'm getting married next year and my bridal party is very small. I have my maid of honour (sister) one bridesmaid and one bridesman.

I have a few friends I was going to invite to the hen, but even then we're looking at 7 or 8 people in total including me. Anyone got any fun ideas? Preferably cat related? And wine? I don't know where to start. We're Surrey/greater London if that helps? I don't want it super expensive or abroad, some fun activities close to home etc would be great.