Yep, another wedding post, I'm sorry! I will shut up about it one day. When I first posted about George and I getting married I mentioned that as it was a small wedding, if anyone would like a post all about how we went about it, the booking process, costs involved etc, then I was more than happy to do that and a few people said it was something they would love to read. When it came to researching for a small wedding and the things we needed to do and pay for, it actually wasn't that easy to find some proper information and a post like this would have been so useful at the time. Obviously I don't know everything but if you are engaged or planning a wedding, and just want a few tips then hopefully I can help in some way.
1. Think About Exactly What You Want
We both knew for a long time that we didn't want a fuss. No big church wedding with lots of people there, that just isn't us. For us the only options were either going abroad and getting married and having the honeymoon at the same time or just go for a registry office wedding. Obviously when I was working the first option seemed like the best one because we had the money to think about going somewhere really nice for it, but once I left my job that became a bit more difficult. It can be done but when you add everything up it doesn't work out the cheapest so for us a registry office wedding was the only option and really it worked out for the better. With a registry office wedding you have the option to just get married with 2 witnesses there which is what we did or you can book rooms out with more guests if you wish. There's no pressure to invite the whole family and all your friends, it really can be a straightforward thing if you want it to be and there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing it that way. Whatever you choose, just make sure it's exactly what you want because it's YOUR day.2. Get In Touch With The Venue & Think About Wedding Rings
If you decide on a registry office wedding, it's a good idea to pop them an email or give them a ring so you can be clear on all the details and what exactly you need to do. As I said I struggled to find out much information online so I sent an email to my local registry office explaining what we wanted, asked for the prices and also the dates available that year. This was when we were told they only do weddings on the third wednesday of each month so that's something to consider when planning a registry office wedding. I'm not sure if this is the same in every single one, it all depends on your location but I imagine they stick to some sort of schedule like that. They get booked up fast so you might need to book a good while in advance. We booked in June 2017 and the only dates available left were one morning in November or 3 times available on the 20th December which is the one we went for, at 3.30pm. We were also told at the time that if we didn't want either of those, they were booked up pretty much from February for a few months because of Valentines so that's something else to think about. Once we booked the wedding, we started to look at wedding rings as we knew it was likely they would have to be ordered in. Within a week of George picking and trying one on, it arrived in store but mine ended up taking about 6 weeks. Obviously the sooner you can get these the better just in case they do need to be ordered in or be resized.3. Deposits and Costs
Though a wedding is always going to cost money, it can be done on the cheaper side and a registry office wedding like ours really doesn't have to cost much. I think in the end it cost £25 to secure the room, £50 for the ceremony which includes £4 for the certificate and then £35 each for notice of marriage. Obviously if you want a bigger room with more guests then the prices go up. If we had gone for that option we would have been looking anywhere between £100 and £180 for the room and then the things I mentioned above, on top of that. As we just wanted it to be us, in the end the actual ceremony came to roughly £150.4. Notice Of Marriage
Before your wedding day, you and your partner will have to go and give notice of your marriage. This can be done up to a year before your wedding day and really doesn't take much time at all. I was definitely a little nervous beforehand because I had no idea what to expect but it was all quite simple. A registrar will talk to you and your partner individually first, checking your ID, asking you each basic questions about one another, so their birthday, occupation etc, and then they'll talk to you both and that's just to go over the details of the day and this is when they'll ask you what sorts of vows you want reading. It really is quite straightforward and nothing to worry about, and after that we were just on a bit of a high because it all finally felt real.5. Outfits, Cake, Family Etc
I wasn't sure how to round up this post but I felt like everything else could sort of go into one point. So if you're going down the same route as us, you're probably not going to be inviting everyone you know. If that's the case it's totally up to you when you tell everyone. If you feel comfortable tell them beforehand and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to celebrate with you afterwards. At the end of the day it's about you and your partner, nobody else, don't fall into the pressure of doing what everyone else wants you to do, if you want to go off and get married, telling people afterwards, go for it. As we really wanted it to be a very fuss free wedding, we both had quite casual outfits, no suits and dresses here! but again it's completely up to you. In the end George went for smart black jeans, smart boots and a white shirt, and I went for black skinny jeans, a lacy long sleeved top and some sparkly flats. It probably wasn't a very conventional wedding outfit but the most important thing was that we felt comfortable. When I think back now I can be happy with what I wore because I felt good! As I said in my wedding blog post we didn't get a cake made or anything fancy, we walked over to Patisserie Valerie afterwards and got the 4 cakes for £10 deal. Their cakes are beautiful so this still felt really special and now every anniversary we can go back and have more! If you want to go all out with a cake, then go for it, just because the actual ceremony is small doesn't mean anything else needs to be, if you want to celebrate afterwards then that's completely your choice, everyone is different!
I'm not sure just how helpful this post will be, I do feel I've rambled quite a bit but I just wanted to explain the process for us and how we went about it. In the end if you just want to be married, then a simple registry office is perfect and is just as special as any other wedding. It's all about what you and your partner want and feel comfortable with, and for us this was the perfect option!
If you have any questions or need any more information, feel free to get in touch, I might not be the most help but I can try.
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