Wanting a low key wedding

kegg_2

we had a low key wedding by going aboard and getting married in Kenya.
None of the family went but as this was back in the days when getting married abroad was unusual the whole hotel turned out to watch so not quite as low key as we planned:rotfl:
Still we had a lovely day with none of the hassle with family telling us how we should have our day

savingmummy

If you want a non church wedding your first step is to maybe visit your local registry office.
Then find a venue near by maybe a pub hall or a restaurant depending on what you want in redards to a reception.
Find what you want to wear, if you want a cake, maybe get a friend/relative to drive you, take photos or video depending on if you want this of course.
You can still have a `low key` wedding with the usual wedding bits but keep it to a minimum iykwim!
You can also have all what people spend k`s on but cheaper x

Rach39

We live in N I and have a son (age 7 at the time) but my parents live in Wales and my dad (handily enough) is a retired minister! We literally flew over on the Wednesday with MIL and my dad married us on the Thursday morning at a lovely wee chapel near them then we all went back to their house and had a bbq in their garden! Just us, inlaws and dh's sister and family who flew over as a surprise and had booked into b&b down the road. We had the most brilliant day, also ds was best man and entirely unknown to us prepared a lovely speech with help of his nana which had me in tears! Cost next to nothing, although my sister booked us a limo to and from the church as a wedding pressie which was great! like you, we just wanted to be married and saw our wedding as a means to an end rather than a big occasion! No photographer but everyone got an extra set of prints for me and I have more wedding photos than I know what to do with! Hope you get it all organised and have the day YOU want to have as that's the most important thing! x

GracieP

keepingitquiet wrote: »

When I google weddings all I get is fancy venues that I'm just not after!
Its not so much the money, I just want a quiet do but I'm struggling!
Perhaps I need to think outside the box as it were?

Contact your local council and ask for their list of licensed venues. Once you have that you can find out which ones do just ceremonies and which are suitable for the whole day. Often restaurants/cafes have licenses for weddings. Or perhaps your local park is registered and you could have the meal in a nearby venue.

We did that and found that the castle/museum in or nearest park was a licensed venue and we got married there, took photos in the park and had a party in our house afterward. I would never have had a clue that you could get married there if i hadn't checked with the council.

JBD

Was going to suggest you have the actual wedding in church/registry office then have your reception at home [or in relatives home].You can make it as lowkey and as informal as you like, and save a fortune at the same time.

daska

And remember, you don't have to do it locally, book it enough ahead and you can combine it with a weekend away - though I'm not sure I'd recommend Cardiff when it's Wales v. Scotland (the travelodge was 'heaving') LOL

margaretclare

We nearly did this because it was what DH wanted. I wanted a little bit more, but when I phoned our minister at church asking about 'a quiet wedding' she said 'You can be as quiet as a little mouse, my dear!'

Basically it would have involved registering our intention to marry at the registrar's, and then we could have just had our wedding ceremony in church with 5 of us present - us, the minister and 2 friends from church as witnesses.

In the event, we did have a fairly quiet wedding, only not just as quiet as all that!

No need for any reception, I've heard of people just having a drink in a pub and that was it. We had a meal for 18 of us in a local pub followed by a 3-day honeymoon in the Cotswolds.

chou-chou

First thing I would suggest is getting a list of all the venues licensed to perform wedding ceremonies in your area. Your local council website should have this somewhere - you'll be surprised at some of the places you can do it! Bear in mind if you do want to get married outside of a registry office it will cost a little bit more as the registrar will have to travel plus you've got the cost of the venue as well.

Don't rule out going somewhere else in the country. Some registry offices are lovely. I know that Bristol and Carmarthen RO's are both really pretty.

Also, time of year is important - some venues will be much cheaper in Jan/Feb and you do get a lot of lovely crisp clear days at that time of year. And if you do go for an 'out of season' date then don't be afraid to negotiate!

*Louise*

Which area are you in?

I wanted a small wedding, we went to Gretna, found a beautiful place which caters for weddings. There was a small chapel which could only hold 40 people - so that was our excuse to limit numbers

It was all very resonably priced, perfect setting and the wedding meal was beautiful.

You could always star by checking out your local registry office and ask for leaflets/brochures about local venues.

Ps - persevere with the weddings and anniversaries board, it's just a little quiet on there atm

carlsberggal

When we got married last year we gad it in a small hotel that did the registry wedding. Invited only mums and dads, sisters, brothers and our kids. They watched the service had a couple of drinks with us and then beggared off! Absolutely fab, so laid back, everyone enjoyed it and didn't cost the earth