Wedding suggestions

rchddap1 · 3 July 2005 at 5:21PM

Hi,

My partner and I are finally starting to seriously think about getting married. We don't want anything too big. The plan at the moment is to restrict it to a select family group of around 8 people with me and OH on top. I'm not really interested in a registry office, but instead I want something a little special. The idea of finding a small church / chapel in scotland or wales has been proposed with a hotel near by. I'm not that bothered about a church, but I want more than a 'splash and dash' at a registry office.

As you can tell my ideas aren't exactly very well thought out at the moment and was hoping that you guys can come up with some suggestions. Please bear in mind that my OH is divorced, but this was because his ex found someone else (to put it one way).

He isn't bothered were we get hitched, so it is really down to me to come up with a nice plan. Something small, romantic and memorable.

Thanks for the help.

margaretclare · 3 July 2005 at 6:48PM

Something small, romantic and memorable? Possibly in Scotland? Well, You couldn't do better than Gretna Green, could you?

https://www.gretnaweddings.com

Good luck!

Aunty Margaret

loobyloo1980 · 3 July 2005 at 7:16PM

I have just got married at our registry office, and it was beautiful. I married there through choice, and the grounds were lovely for photos. We had the full chauffeur driven car, white dress, the works - it certainly wasn't 'a splash and a dash'. We had 17 people including me and hubby, and our kids. We had a lovely reception at a nearby venue, 3 tier cake the works. It was small, but properly done and very romantic and intimate.

we are not religious people so chapel and church seemed a bit hipocritical to us. However, if the registry office had been in its old location I may not have chosen to marry there. Suppose it depends what your reg office is like and what the grounds are like. It wasn't the guildhall in windsor, but it wasn't a stuffy old office either.

jellyhead · 3 July 2005 at 7:53PM

margaretclare wrote:

Something small, romantic and memorable? Possibly in Scotland? Well, You couldn't do better than Gretna Green, could you?

https://www.gretnaweddings.com

Good luck!

Aunty Margaret

my cousin is marrying in gretna next week, it's going to be lovely

i loved my wedding, but our registry office is a gorgeous building and the reception was in a fab pub, around 500 years old with huge windows, lovely yellow stone and a gruesome history of poisonings lol! the registry office was full, around 40 guests and then there were another 40 or so who came to the pub. i had a fantastic day, a friend did the disco, another friend took the photos. my sister got married a couple of years before i did, in the same registry office but hers was just a secret thing with strangers as witnesses, nothing romantic. she regretted it, she wants the whole works next time, dress, church, etc. - she only did the secret registry office low-key thing because it was the only way he'd have married her. my wedding was completely different to hers, just because it's a registry doesn't mean you can't have what you want.

mind you if you only want a small affair my wedding probably wouldn't have appealed to you lol! i think gretna looks fab. a friend of ours got married on the beach in thailand, nobody else there (except his wife of course), he liked that.

Becles · 3 July 2005 at 9:15PM

I've been to Gretna Green and I personally didn't like the Anvil Hall which is the link Aunty Margaret provided. It done out to be like a church or mosque, but I didn't think it had a lot of character.

I picked http://www.gretnagreen.com/ It's the original blacksmiths forge and has a great history. You can get married in the forge itself. It's part of the museum but they rope it off while you have your ceremony. Or they have private rooms - one was tiny and more like a sitting room, the other was larger and had coaches and other exhibits in it. The fee for hire of the forge was £130, and we paid £85 for a minister. You can also book a civil ceremony with a registrar, but I can't remember the fees for that.

There are many hotels in the area for a reception, but my favourite was http://www.gardenhouse.co.uk/ It's a small family run hotel and they will do as much or as little as you want them too. The bedrooms are spacious and decorated well. It was little touches I liked, such as a special high hook in the bridal suite to hang your wedding dress up so it doesn't get creased! The hotel has it's own spa and a lovely swimming pool, as well as a hairdresser and beautician, so you can have some pampering before your big day. The gardens are fabulous and I'm looking forward to having photo's taken there. The manager showed us around and he was a lovely person and keen to make sure everything goes right for us.

Do go up and have a look at Gretna if you can. It's a lovely place to be married in and we found everyone to be very helpful. If you call in at the registry office, they will give you an information pack with lots of wedding contacts in it. We worked our way round the hotels in there before settling on the Garden House.

macchicken · 3 July 2005 at 9:26PM

In scotland you can get married anywhere.
Gardens, parks, shores, forrests.........really you can pick anywhere get the registrar to agree and you are good to go.
historic scotland have loads of cool places avialable.
happy hunting

Counting_Pennies_2 · 3 July 2005 at 9:30PM

Have you tried searching on the chat forums of confetti.co.uk when I got married this site was invaluable, and there may be some people who are booking up for the same type of day.

macchicken · 3 July 2005 at 9:31PM

Oh just a thought..........you can get married at the top of the cairngorm mountains, the railway takes you up there is a venue up there and planty of nice hotels and restaurants in aviemore.
Or you can hire a lodge to stay in and have an intimate family holiday at the same time.

Noozan · 3 July 2005 at 11:00PM

macchicken wrote:

In scotland you can get married anywhere.
Gardens, parks, shores, forrests.........really you can pick anywhere get the registrar to agree and you are good to go.
historic scotland have loads of cool places avialable.
happy hunting

Not strictly true! Sorry, I'm not nit picking but....we wanted to get married in the gardens of a local castle but since the premises did not have a marriage licence, we were told the ceremony had to be performed by a minister and not a registrar. I can't remember how much a one day licence was now - it was either £360 or £560, I forget which. We decided not to have the ceremony at the castle as we feel very strongly about having a non religious ceremony as it would seem a bit hypocritical.

Anyway, we eventually decided on the registars office. We're not having our local one as the room was stuffy and very plain. We're going 20 miles down the road and the room is beautiful. It is tastefully decorated and has a carved wooden staircase leading up to it with big stained glass windows on the landing, there is an antique fireplace in the room and also ornate carved wooden chairs.

Less than 3 weeks to go and I'm so excited! (and nervous :rolleyes: )

rchddap1 · 4 July 2005 at 6:37AM

Like the thought of Gretna and the mountains. the problem with the mountains idea is that my mother can't walk very far. I know its my day, but I want it to be special for everyone.

katglasgow · 4 July 2005 at 9:21AM

There is a lovely boat just on the shore of Loch Lomond at Balolocj (1/2 hour drive from Glasgow) its called Maid of the Loch and they do lovely funtions, a lot cheaper than the nearby posh hotels. The views of the mountaind and loch and amazing, but walking would be mionimal. If I wasnt getting married in a church I would be seriously considering this as a venue!

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