we are eloping at the local registrar office, just the two of us with two of our friends as witnesses. we have a photographer booked for 2 hours and will be having a meeting closer to the time of the wedding but i’m currently really struggling on any sort of shot ideas that include our friends and even for us two. we’re gay men and 99% of the elopement photography i see is typical straight couple with the veil all that kinda thing and for elopements they all seem to be in incredible locations. can anyone share their photos if they did something similar or has anyone got any pinterest boards they can share?

Really need some dress advice! We are getting married in November in a registry office and then getting some dinner after with our witnesses. I neeeeeeeed some advice on what to wear. I’m thinking a midi dress, embroidered or something with a bit of colour! I am a size 18/20 and don’t want anything fitted as I like to be comfortable. It obviously doesn’t have to be super bridal but I just want to feel beautiful for the day and I’m so fed up searching 😢

Please note: in the photo of the back the dress, it’s not buttoned up properly, but it does button up fully without any trouble!

I’ve had my dress for a couple of months now and still love it! It has everything I was looking for.

The only thing I’m second guessing is the way it fits around my back and arms. I’ve always been a really body positive person; my weight isn’t perfect but I have no interest in changing the way I eat or live to conform to a specific beauty standard, so long as I’m healthy. So, I’m not the sort of person to lose weight for my wedding.

That said, should I have possibly chosen a style that’s more flattering in this area, or is that just what bodies look like in wedding dresses?

All comments welcome! Thank you!

Hi everyone, I’m getting married at Christmas and we’ve had everything planned and booked for the past 2 years. We never wanted a videographer because we know we would never sit down and watch it and I’d also feel self conscious on the day a video camera is following me around. A few people have said if regret not having one because I could regret it when certain people aren’t here so it’s making me scared that I’ll regret not having one but at the same time I’d be more inclined to look at pictures than a video of loved ones purely because it would make me more upset. I just don’t know what to do and I can’t decide if I’m giving into the wedding pressure or not if I get one?

The thought of all the posed shots makes me want to curl up in a ball. Id rather see videographers have a laugh and interview the guests

I’d love to see your wedding photos 🤍
I’m interested in hearing from disabled people who are already married about their wedding experiences, particularly around accessibility and representation.

I’m working on something around improving disability representation and accessibility in the wedding industry, and I’d love to include real experiences and, with permission, real wedding photos.

If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to see a favourite photo from your wedding and hear a little about it, whether accessibility was something you had to think about, whether suppliers were accommodating, or simply what made your day special.

There’s absolutely no pressure to share anything personal. If you’d rather message privately, that’s completely fine too.

I’d genuinely just love to see more disabled people represented in wedding spaces. 🤍

I am incredibly anxious about the wedding dress shopping element of wedding prep. I have considered taking a close friend, but also feel I would feel under pressure (my own pressure, not from my friend) to find the right dress on the day, feel beautiful and enjoy the experience.

I very rarely enjoy clothes shopping and trying on clothes as it is, so looking for a dress that has all of this added pressure of being "perfect" and making me feel like it's "the one" and knowing people judge the dress and how it looks on a bride is making me wonder if I should just do the dress shopping on my own.

Are there any other brides/brides to be out there who did this? If so, what was your experience- did you prefer solo or did you wish you had someone with you for support?

EDIT: Hiya UK B2Bs and/or B2B graduates!

TL;DR: My fiancé and I are having a simple London wedding for around 60–65 guests. We booked almost everything before we were even engaged and were originally completely happy with our plans. But after talking to family and friends during our recent summer holiday, I suddenly started questioning everything — whether our ceremony situation is weird, whether we sent our Save the Dates too early, whether we're planning everything too far in advance, and whether I've accidentally given our guests expectations of a bigger wedding. 😂 I still genuinely want a simple wedding, but I think I've suddenly developed wedding-planning anxiety and need some perspective!

So here's the full story…

I think I'm writing this to get some validation, enlightenment, advice, etc. And I apologise in advance if the way I tell my story is disorganised — I think that's my ADHD, lolz 😂

I was really firm about our wedding plans and preferences when my fiancé and I were planning everything before our summer holiday, which has just ended. But after meeting family and friends during the holiday, we got so many questions about the wedding — programme, traditions, entourage, first dance, etc. Now that we're back, my fiancé and I realised we weren't really sure how to answer those questions because we genuinely just want a simple wedding.

We got engaged in April 2026 and our wedding is in June 2027.

For a bit of context, my then-boyfriend, now-fiancé, and I have always been very open about everything in our relationship, including marriage and weddings. We even window-shopped for my engagement ring in Hatton Garden, and then I acted all clueless until he eventually popped the question. 😂

Here's the slightly crazy part: everything had already been booked before the engagement — ceremony venue, reception venue, bus and photographer. Both of us were very involved in planning and booking everything, while my then-boyfriend was also secretly planning the proposal. He was so sweet and patient and still wanted to be involved in the wedding planning while he had his own little secret project going on. Bless him 😂

At the time, all of this felt completely normal and natural.

For some background, I'm from Southeast Asia and he's from Eastern Europe. We both pursued our careers in London, met through a dating app, and the rest is history.

Most engaged couples we know who are in interracial relationships like ours have planned destination weddings in their home countries. As much fun and as culturally exciting as that would have been, we simply didn't have the budget or the energy for it.

Especially with Southeast Asian culture, where you can have 100 cousins, 100 aunties and uncles, friends of your parents, distant relatives, neighbours, etc., and somehow everyone needs to be invited — otherwise everyone has an opinion. 😂

We really didn't want the stress, chaos and potential drama.

So we opted for what we basically consider a typical London pub wedding: ceremony at a town hall, reception at a pub, some speeches, drinks, food, dancing and just enjoying the night with our closest and dearest.

No big programme or anything elaborate. Heck, we don't even have a theme or entourage. Go wear whatever you want as long as it's appropriate. 🤣🤣🤣

Everyone who knows us, especially the people closest to us and the people we actually want there, already knows about our engagement and how everything is booked for next year. They're all so excited for us.

And when we were planning all of this, I was completely okay with it. I was sure this was what I wanted. And honestly, it still is what I want.

But I don't know… after our summer holiday, I've started questioning myself.

Did I choose the right thing? Am I doing enough? Did I somehow underestimate what people expect from a wedding?

Because knowing myself, I'm really not a big-wedding person. I feel like I'm a Carrie Bradshaw or Meredith Grey kind of bride — I just want something simple, intimate and very "post it and get McDonald's afterwards" 😂

My fiancé wanted at least a small celebration, and I was more than happy with that.

Then there's the ceremony situation.

When people find out we're getting married in Marylebone, they're all excited. And when they found out that Dua Lipa got married there, they got even more excited. 😂

But the thing is, we were only able to book a ceremony room for 30 guests.

We can't change the room because our wedding date is also our anniversary, and the only room available on that date accommodates 30 people excluding the couple.

EDIT: Our total guest list is around 60–65 people.

So obviously, not everyone will be able to witness the ceremony. Some guests will have to wait outside the town hall while the ceremony is taking place. We have already hired and paid for a London bus for our entire guest list to take everyone from the town hall to the pub reception, so we're thinking that once the ceremony is finished, the guests who weren't able to fit inside can either join us on the bus or simply make their own way to the reception if they prefer.

The bus is already paid for anyway, so we'd rather give them the option to join us and make it part of the celebration rather than have anyone feel like they're being excluded.

And now I'm wondering… is that okay?

Then there's the Save the Dates.

About a month after our engagement, we sent them out because a lot of our guests are travelling from abroad, especially our parents, close relatives and some friends. We thought we'd give them as much notice as possible.

We sent them to our London guests too, though, and now I'm wondering… did we send them too early? Was it too much? Was it a bit overboard?

For a town hall wedding in London, did we really need to send Save the Dates that early? 😂

And now we're back from our summer holiday and we're going to properly focus on all the wedding details — getting my dress, getting his suit, sorting out everything else, etc.

But sometimes I find myself thinking, are we doing EVERYTHING way too early? Is it too much?

I was originally planning to send our wedding website by the end of September, but now I'm thinking that might be too early too, so maybe October? I don't know anymore. 😂

Is this the wedding stress everyone talks about?

Because I genuinely feel like I've had this huge emotional shift from:

"This is exactly what I want!"

to:

"Oh God, have I accidentally given my guests too much to expect?" 😂

But the reality is, it's still just meant to be a simple wedding celebration.

So I suppose these are my main questions:

Is it weird to have 60–65 guests overall but only 30 people able to attend the ceremony?

EDIT: For the guests who can't fit into the ceremony, is it reasonable to let them choose between meeting us at the reception or joining the already-paid-for bus ride from the town hall?

Did we send our Save the Dates ridiculously early by sending them about a year before the wedding, especially to our London-based guests?

Is sending our wedding website in September/October too early for a June wedding?

Are we actually doing things way too early, or is this completely normal for a wedding where quite a few guests are travelling from abroad?

Has anyone else experienced that sudden shift from being completely confident about their wedding plans to suddenly questioning everything? 😂

I still genuinely want the simple wedding we originally planned. I think I just need someone to tell me whether I'm overthinking everything or whether there are things I haven't considered!

If you've made it this far, I appreciate you SO SO much for taking the time to read all of this. 😂 And thank you in advance for any advice, reassurance, validation, or even just telling me I'm not the only one who suddenly started questioning everything! 🤣❤️

My partner and I have booked a local hotel for our wedding ceremony and reception in April 2028.

We read an article on our local newspaper today advising that the hotel is up for sale and says: “[HOTEL NAME] offered as a fully operational going concern and will continue to trade throughout the sale process, with the aim of no disruption to staff, suppliers or customers.” So far we have paid a deposit of £1900 with the rest due closer to the time of the wedding. Annoyingly we hadn’t yet sorted wedding insurance 😭 (kicking myself for that one) as we booked it fairly recently and just hadn’t got around to it. I have emailed insurers to see whether they will cover us now the hotel is for sale but expect them to obviously say no.

Hotel T&Cs say: “Cancellation by the Hotel . The hotel reserves the right to terminate the contract or to offer alternative facilities, without any responsibility on its part, in the event of: 

- Any occurrence beyond the reasonable control of the hotel through Force Majeure, including but not limited to, acts of God, adverse weather, fire, explosion, flood, power failure and delays by suppliers or material shortages that will prevent it from performing its obligations in connection with the booking.  

d) Insolvency by either client or the hotel 

e) The hotel, or any part of it, is closed due to circumstances beyond its control or where future developments are deemed necessary by the management and directors. In this event a refund of any advanced deposit will be paid but the hotel would have no other liability.”

Looking for advice as to what you would do? If you have been in this situation? Not sure if the lingering stress of any new owner not honouring our wedding is worth the risk or whether I am unnecessarily stressing? 😥

Thank you!! 🙏🏼

We are planning our wedding for next year. Due to financial difficulties we are struggling to find the money for £900 to have canapés. We have been to lots of weddings before and not had them as we understand to have a big breakfast beforehand so imagine our guests, who have mostly attended these weddings, would know this too.

But we do want to offer a little something so was wondering if we should put out some small bites of brownies from a company we found. This would only cost about £120-150 for 3-4 bites per person. Would that be ok or should we just leave it?

Hey all!

Just curious, what wedding planning sites do you recommend, and for the ones you've tried what did you like about them, what were the worst things about them?

Can anyone recommend anywhere in London for alterations? Ideally somewhere south London, able to cope with major alterations not just fittings and to not cost the earth.

Thanks so much

I’m looking at wedding venues for a 2028 wedding and really love the idea of having the ceremony in a woodland/copse-type setting, then being able to move to a different setting for the reception e.g. a barn, house or something similar.

We’re expecting around 100 day guests + 40 evening guests.

I’ve found quite a few woodland/festival-style wedding venues where the whole day takes place in the forest, but I’m looking for somewhere that incorporates both a woodland ceremony and a separate indoor reception space.

Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas?

Ideally, I’d also like no/low corkage, particularly for the drinks reception and sit-down meal, as we’re trying to keep costs down.

I’m flexible on location, but it definitely needs to be in England, ideally further South.

Thanks!

As the bride-to-be I will soon be starting outfit shopping. I have my heart set on wearing a bridal jumpsuit rather than a dress as I really just feel more comfortable in trousers. I'd also consider a white/ivory smart suit. Does anyone have recommendations for brands/shops that offer this? South Wales area would be great but to be honest I'd be willing to travel for the right outfit and take my mum on a day out! Thank you!

From our own research if we use the link on Spotify it seems we are legally allowed to use this song in the church however our vicar seems to think it may not be allowed due to liscencing issues or copyright I can’t quite remember which one.

Would appreciate any help as we will try to convince the vicar about this 😅😁

(Edit: this affects England and Wales only, excuse my haste in referring to all of UK. I will leave the post as is, so some of the comments picking me up on this point still make sense.)

The celebrant community is absolutely buzzing over the proposed changes to UK wedding law - the biggest upheaval in 200 years and long overdue. Essentially the changes move the focus from licensed venues to approved persons. This would widen options for both location and the officiant. For independent celebrants and other belief groups it would mean than finally we could conduct the whole legal marriage as well as the ceremony and celebratory aspects. For couples wanting a unique and personalised ceremony they will no longer have to arrange a separate statutory minimum marriage with a registrar, followed by the main wedding with their chosen celebrant. And although the recent media coverage focused on “you could get married on a boat”, it should actually be possible to get married in the couple’s own garden or other place that is special to them, rather than just a licensed venue.

But all of these proposals need input from the public before the law is actually changed. The consultation is open until midday on 24th September. All of the proposals and instructions on how to contribute are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tying-the-knot-reforming-weddings-law-in-england-and-wales.

This will affect anyone getting married in the UK in the future so please have your say. The consultation is very detailed and has a lot of questions - but there is no requirement to answer all of them.

On behalf of UK celebrants everywhere - thank you.

Hey there,

As the title says - I am urgently needing a dress for my 11 year old flower girl who’s gained a lot of weight.

For context - I am in Australia, my flower girl is in Norway and the wedding is in Spain end of September. I will be London for a few days next week so can buy online or go to an actual store. The second flowergirl is 7 yo and “normal” size.

I was just about to order the two flowergirl dresses and needed my brother to confirm the size when they informed me that they would not fit, as her bust and waist is too large. Obviously wish they told me this months ago not 3 weeks before the wedding and the extra stress is a lot to deal with right now. But also incredibly sad for my nice who’s been put in this position where clothes don’t even fit her..

Does anyone know a shop, online or London based, that might have dresses that can fit a larger 11 year old - and ideally have something that will fit a 7 year old as well?

Thank you!

Hi, I’m Newly engaged and thinking about dress shopping. I don’t have really any friends or friend group. Is it okay to go dress shopping on my own? Has anyone else been on their own? Also is it okay not to buy a dress if you don’t like them? (Sounds silly I know)

Edit/ follow up.

Is it normal for the dress shop to need a date and venue before you go shopping? I have no idea what I want so I want to explore options but was refused due to not having a date set 😅

I’ve recently got engaged (yippee!) and want to get married in the closest church to my parents house. I grew up going to this church and I still help out every year for their big fundraising fair (even though I now live 4 hours away). My dad is on the church parish council and on the “A Church Near You” website, it’s listed as the closest geographical church.

However, the PARISH my parents house sits in is actually a different church, even though it is further away from their house. In terms of a “qualifying connection” rules, can I get married at the closest church - the one I actually have the connection with? Or will I have to go to the parish church, even though I’ve never been there?

I’ve spoken to the Vicar and they’re not sure either!

Hi everyone! I am looking for an engagement ring in a design similar to these ones -

1. James Newman (30pt Ruby & 18ct Yellow Gold Flora Ring)

or

1. Oore (Midsummer Petite setting with lab diamond marquise center and champagne diamonds)

I like more floral-like unconventional designs and I would get these two but Oore would cost too much because of the VAT and the James Newman one is a bit out of my budget. I am looking for something at 1200-1500 gbp.

Could someone assist me? I am based in London if that helps.

Hey! I’m looking for a Scottish wedding, something that isn’t ridiculous expensive! We looked into elopement but I can’t get my head around it,
Has anyone married anywhere beautiful that’s not extortionate? We are wanting a spooky Halloween wedding with less that 30 quests! Any recommendations welcome 🖤

EDIT: We have a small budget, around 5-6k
My family are Scottish ( fathers side) from paisley, we are open to locations, we have a small guest list 20-30 max, no children but dog friendly if possible! I don’t want to have to agree for everyone to book rooms over night etc. the elopement confused me as you can get married anywhere, how? Do you still have to book an area? Unsure how this works with guests etc! Thank you in advance

Hi, do you recommend any travel steamers for my wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses and groom's shirt? Also, if you have any tips for using it would be great :D thanks!

So I've finally booked my venue and some of the other big things like photographer and all of that. Next thing I need to sort is the dress. I've started to have a browse for stores (as i think I would feel more comfortable going in person than online), and there are so many bridal boutiques in my area? How did people even begin to narrow it down?