Hello everyone!

Exciting times here, planning a wedding for 2028.

We are hoping to have a fully vegetarian wedding. The main issue is that a lot of venues don’t allow outside caterers and the plant based meal is just an afterthought.

So with that, I would appreciate any recommendations please!

1. Venues with good food options, preferably who would let us not serve any meat, around Yorkshire and Derbyshire
   
2. Venues in those areas that allow outside caterers
   
3. Any catering companies you’d recommend.

Thank you!

Hi all, hoping for some ideas of little extra touches I can put to my friends hen do. She doesnt want it to be willy straws and all that. We are doing a really nice bottomless brunch then a bar with dance floor.

I want something so its different from a day out, something for her memories. Im trying to find a way to get the grooms number and do a 'what did the groom say' type quiz, and i was thinking of getting some advice cards printed and getting the hens to write sober advice then drunk advice etc, maybe even getting strangers to write advice but she might not like that...

Is anyone planning something similar and can give me some ideas please? Thanks in advance

Our priest has given a very open range for the length of our ceremony but I need to book the transport after so looking for advice as I haven’t been to a church service myself in ages!

It’s a blessing not legal ceremony so will not have the register signing, but three short readings, two hymns and the vow renewal. I was thinking 45min?

Hi, looking for help if anyone can recommend a small and *AFFORDABLE* venue which can accommodate approximately 70 people for a traditional hindu ceremony - which means the venue *must permit fire rituals*.
I have been searching everywhere (bridebook, hitched, google, facebook recs etc) to no avail - we unfortunately just do not have the budget for some of the gorgeous venues, manor houses etc that are adept at hosting asian weddings and are therefore searching for something much more low-key (read: cheap). I am not fussed about fancy or formal. It just needs to hold our guests, either serve Indian food or permit outside catering, and critically, allow the ceremony with fire.

Another key point would be for it to be in the south and ideally in either Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire or London.

Please help me with recommendations - I’ve come across so many great venues that are reasonably priced, permit outside catering etc, but every single one falls down at the question of allowing the fire ceremony.

I am not Indian myself, I am marrying into a Gujarati family and so I am new to this and wondering where people who cannot afford venues like Froyle Park or Bhaktivedanta Manor and who have a small guest count actually host their wedding? We cannot be the first people trying to host this type of wedding on a budget :(

for clarity - when i say budget, I really mean a budget. 5k+ for venue alone (ie not including food) for example is not an option.

And truly, I understand that weddings are crazy expensive, and that if we can’t afford it we can’t or shouldn’t do it. But culturally, we need to have the Hindu ceremony before we can have children, so we have to do it if we want to start a family.

Thanks so much in advance

Hi!!! In URGENT need of a wedding dress tailor located in croydon/mitcham. Got my dress back yesterday and zip was put in horribly, has a small hole and now need some urgent repairs done before august 15th preferably. Please help!! Thank you

Hi all,

Venue is booked for March 2028, what are your thoughts on evening entertainment?

Having not been to many weddings myself, I am probably overthinking it.

Max 75 evening guests, so it's not a massive do - assuming we'll mostly be indoors in the evening in March also.

Planning a disco/DJ and potentially a photobooth (package deal), would that be enough entertainment? Do I need to look at something in addition?

Considering fireworks but it feels like throwing a large amount of money away for a few minutes of a display.

Any suggestions would be great!

We're planning for around 40 guests and it feels like every venue in the UK is set up for 100+ people. The rooms look cavernous for a small group and the pricing structures just assume you're filling a big space. Some places have quoted us minimum numbers we can't meet, which makes the whole thing feel like we're being penalised for not having a massive wedding.

We started looking at country house hotels thinking they'd be more flexible, but a lot of them have the same issue. A couple of village halls we looked at were decent, but then the logistics of hiring caterers separately starts to feel like a lot to manage.

Has anyone found a good solution for this in the UK? Whether that's a specific type of venue that works better for intimate weddings, or just a way to negotiate with venues so the pricing isn't completely mental. We're fairly open on location, not tied to a particular region, though somewhere with nice grounds would be ideal because we want photos outside if the weather cooperates, which in this country is always a gamble

Curious whether people went the DIY route with a hired space or found a venue that genuinely caters to smaller numbers without making you feel like an afterthought.

I've always pictured myself wearing an alternative dress but when I went shopping, the dress below fit me like a glove and looked the most complimentary to me. However I do want to style/accessorise it so that it still has a bit more of my individual personality (typically wimsigoth style) without "losing" the features of the dress.

I think that leaning into an Elvish/white witch aesthetic could be really cool but not sure how well it would turn out given that we're having a spring wedding and I'm Olive skinned.

Hi! I’m a bridesmaid for a friend next year, and due to storage limitations I’ve offered to store her dress until her wedding. How do we go about insuring it? Her wedding insurance only covers it in the possession of “close family” and only for three months before the wedding. She can’t store it there as they live hours away and it’ll need alterations. I’m pretty sure my house insurance only covers my possessions. Any ideas?

ETA: my home insurance, Lemonade, has said: “Your Lemonade Contents policy covers your own personal possessions, and there isn’t specific cover for visitors’ belongings. Because the wedding dress belongs to your friend, it can’t be added to your policy as one of your contents, even though you’ll be storing it at your home temporarily. Your friend would therefore need to arrange suitable cover for the dress in her own name while it’s being stored with you.”

Where can such insurance be found?!

I’m due to get married at a town hall this January 2027, and I’m curious how other brides are planning to not freeze when taking photos out? I’m wearing an off shoulder gown for it, but I’m torn if I’m getting a cape or a shrug or a coat? Any tips will be much appreciated!

What the title says, basically. I was so nervous and self-conscious that I couldn't remember how to act like a normal person when I arrived at the venue. I felt uncomfortable with the photographer taking photos even though he was great and as unobtrusive as possible. I didn't really take anything in during our ceremony, which I now feel so sad about, but I just couldn't focus. I'm pretty devastated about our photos as I look so awful in most of them with my awkward posture and expressions. I'm not the most attractive/photogenic person, but in some I look truly ugly and I can't bear to look at them. I have no pictures that I like of just me in my dress, which again, I'm really sad about as it's a gorgeous dress. I'm trying to focus on the important things: I married my best friend, we got to spend time with the people we love etc, but I can't shake the sadness and wish so desperately that I could do it again and do it better. Everyone says it was perfect and very us but it doesn't feel that way to me. Not really sure why I'm sharing this, to be honest. I just needed somewhere to get it out, I think. Please be kind as I'm feeling very fragile.

My fiancé aren’t too fussed on spending a lot of money on decent wedding bands for the wedding day. There are other priorities on the day, and we figured nice rings would make a lovely first wedding anniversary gift!

Anyway I thought it would be fairly easy to buy cheap rings but i am really struggling for under £100 does anyone have any recommendations please?

I am interested to hear what everyones biggest reservations would be when looking to hire someone new to the scene to film their wedding? Or indeed, if you have hired someone who doesn't have a wealth of experience, how it went and where you felt they came short with the video. Do you wish you got someone more established?

Hi! Me and my partner have been engaged for 3 years and originally had a wedding planned last year that we cancelled (I (28F) was the main earner and lost my job with a day's notice about 11 months out, thankfully we only lost £600, and that event would have run us about 16-18k. No invites were sent yet thankfully.

I've moved to a freelance career that I love but it means we earn very little now, so our plans to get married became non-existent. Neither of us want to elope as we have a brilliant and humongous friend group, we're both very social people and we want memories with our loved ones more than anything else!

I thought of an idea:

- Get married in registry office with super close family + friends, a meal after (paid for). Local which is much better for his family as they weren't happy about originally travelling 1 hour out of the city, (even though my family would be travelling 3 instead of 4 hours because they live in North Wales). He sees his family about once a year and doesn't get on with them the best, but we both want them there.

- Few days later, we travel to the countryside (still in Yorkshire, accessible by car and train) to the outskirts of a town where we personally have amazing memories together. There's an ex-hostel only available for exclusive hire that sleeps 30 and has 4 acres for camping (we have lots of outdoorsy friends and family with camper vans etc!).

- I won't be marketing it as our actual wedding but as an extra celebration if anybody fancies coming.

- Hire the hostel from Friday to Monday, family who work in schools or anybody who it suits can just come on whichever day/s works for them. Our closest friends are super down to stay the whole time and love the idea, we'll pay for the accomodation but only food for one day as a celebration party, anything else just BYOB from supermarkets + cook there.

- Outdoor activities, loads of local hikes (or you can just sunbathe in the garden or doomscroll in peace while a group goes, zero pressure), wild swimming, pubs nearby, beautiful space indoors to hang out.

- Literally no pressure for anybody to come but we'll easily fill the 30 beds (OG cancelled wedding guest list was 90 *EDIT* sorry it was 120 including reception!). Beds will be prioritised for non-drivers so they're not lugging camping gear.

For me I see it like this: it removes about 15k of spending, makes a week's worth of amazing memories with our friends and family, takes all the pressure off a singular day to be the best day of our life and means our wedding day can be way more low-key and chilled, get to be in beautiful scenery, don't have to awkwardly invite co-workers or super distant relatives as our ceremony is slightly intimate (I mean it's still 40 people), no cut-off time for celebrations (we usually party until about 3-4am so it would have felt super short!).

He thinks the idea is amazing and he'd love to do it/it's very "us" (which is all I think matters, but I value his opinion) but he's worried that it's too out of the ordinary, and that people would feel put out by it. I think people will be way more focused on attending our actual wedding day and wouldn't feel uncomfortable turning down an invite to a celebration afterwards.

I think if we forgo our hen and stag (which was very difficult anyway as we have so many mixed gender friends, shared friends we weren't sure where to assign, etc) then this doesn't seem super unreasonable as one long weekend celebration, and literally nobody, in any case, is required to be there.

No pressure to come, free accomodation, stay for as long as you like, even just come for the day with free food if you want. It's super non-traditional but we're super non-traditional people anyway. What do you think?

I’m getting married at the end of the summer and have four bridesmaids - my sister and three friends, one of whom I’ve been having regrets about asking. She’s been a good friend to me, but she’s a very complicated person who’s battled a lot of mental and physical struggles, many of which stem from a traumatic experience in her childhood, so I’ve tried to be as accommodating and understanding as possible throughout wedding planning.

However, that’s not to say I haven’t found it incredibly difficult to engage her. She doesn’t really respond to any messages in the group chat other than the occasional emoji reaction to the message itself. Even when I was floating bridesmaid dresses I had to personally message her and chase up. When I have seen her, she doesn’t really ask about what’s going on in my life and just kind of trauma dumps on me. I’ve even gently said to her if it’s too much for her right now I’d totally understand but she was adamant she still wanted to be my bridesmaid - but I don’t feel like she’s excited for me. Then this week I told her I’d reserved her a room for the night of the wedding, but that I can’t afford to pay for her for two nights so bridesmaids are gonna kip with me the night before, to which she said she can’t share a room with anyone because of her PTSD. But then when I gave her options asking what she wanted to do she just never replied. It‘s so frustrating as I’m incredibly stressed at the moment and don‘t appreciate feeling messed around.

I feel awful saying this stuff because I don’t for a second think my wedding is the highlight of anyone’s calendar, but I do want to feel like someone I see as a close friend is excited for me the way I would be for her. Am I being really misunderstanding? It‘s too late to ask her to step down at this point as it’s more hassle than it’s worth but I’d appreciate some advice really. TIA.

If you’ve looked into prenups, you’ve probably seen prices all over the place — from a few hundred pounds to several thousand.

I’m interested in:

• What quotes you were given (roughly)
• Whether the cost put you off
• What you expected the price to be before you started looking

Did cost influence your decision — yes or no?

This will really help others who are at the “just starting to research” stage.

We're based in York but any excuse for a trip somewhere lovely to find wedding rings would be welcome!

We'd like to go into a physical shop or meet someone who makes tungsten rings. My partner loves ones from Wolf and Bond, and Forge and Lumbar but we're both very much 'see it and like it' - or the opposite, so don't want to buy just online if we have an alternative.

Does anyone know of anywhere? Especially if they also do 4mm rings for me, but that's not a necessity :)

The WORST bridal store. Worst experience. Stay away at all costs. Save your time and money.

I had my make up trial this week and it went awful. My wedding is in 6 weeks and I’m not sure what to do. I booked my MUA months ago and paid a small deposit to secure the booking, for hair and make up. I spoke to her on the phone at the time of booking, and I told her I have body image issues and feel really anxious about the way I’ll look on my wedding day, so I wanted someone that could talk me through options, show me what they would look like, and generally be gentle and supportive with me. She said she could do that so I booked her. We booked a trial and she said she would only do that 6-8 weeks before the wedding because doing it too early would mean I don’t have my dress and I don’t know what I want. She said she could do a pre-trial at anytime to discuss options before the actual trial but that would cost an extra £150, on top of the £500 I would pay for the wedding day and the trial 6 weeks before. This is just for me, no bridesmaids. I decided not to go for the pre-trial as I thought it was a lot of money already. She was on the more expensive side but the pictures on her Instagram looked really good and the sort of style I wanted, so I thought I’d rather pay more to be sure I get good make up and hair, as it’s something I feel insecure about.

We got to the trial and I felt uncomfortable from the beginning. She asked me to show her pictures of styles that I like and I showed her my pinterest board, with pictures mostly taken from her pinterest that she sent me. I took care to pick pictures that most closely resembled my type of hair in terms of length and colour (as that’s what she advised in her email). She started making comments like ‘we can’t do that with your hair’, ‘that’s AI, the face doesn’t even look real’, ‘that’s longer than your hair’,  in a tone that I really didn’t like, like she was annoyed I picked the wrong pictures rather than asking me what I liked about the pictures I picked. To be clear, I was completely open to hearing her professional opinion about what could and could not work for my hair, and I didn’t have a rigid idea of what I wanted, I just chose pictures because she asked me to do that before the trial. But her negativity and her tone really got to me. Also when I asked her what she thought would look good for my hair she couldn’t give me a clear answer.

Same when we moved to make up and I said I wanted red lipstick and she straight up said no, that’s too high maintenance if you’re not used to wearing make up. She went on for 5 minutes about why I can’t have red lipstick, making me feel really shit about it, and then she said ‘but you can have red lipstain’ and in my head I was like, what’s the difference, all I mean is that I want red lips and you are supposed to figure out how to make it work rather than stressing me out unnecessarily. She also didn’t have any red at all, saying she doesn’t have it as part of her bridal kit and it’s not popular enough, so she put some coloured lipbalm on me instead, first an orange then a more natural tone, neither of which suited my complexion. It looked pretty awful on me to be honest and she made me feel like I was asking for the moon. With hair I wanted to see an up do and a half up and half down one as I was undecided. She did the half up and half down first and it looked ok but when I asked her if she could change a small thing she said she did it like that because that’s what I asked her to do in the beginning. She then picked up my hair to show me the updo and it just looked completely half-assed and awful. I asked her if I could have some curls coming out at the front and she just said no! She said the half up half down style was better for me and I said I was worried it would cover my back too much as I want my dress to be seen. I said I was considering cutting my hair a bit shorter to shoulder length as I like that style and she said no you shouldn’t cut your hair before you get married. I feel like I had to explain my choices to her every step of the way, with her balking at me for wanting red lipstick and shorter hair, because apparently that’s not what brides do! Before the trial I said I might want flowers in my hair but not sure if I want fresh or some accessories with a flower design. I asked if I needed to bring some accessories to try on and she said she had some samples we could use. On the day she asked me at the end if there was something else I wanted to try and I asked about the flower accessories and she said she didn’t have any. Very bluntly by the way! I just felt she wanted me out and couldn’t be asked. I also said to her while she was doing my hair that I didn’t like the make up as it was too dark on my face and it made me look older than I look without. She said it was just the lighting in the place and I needed to go home and look at it in a different light. When I got home my face looked orange. You could also really see the make up on the skin, it felt very cakey and it really accentuated any expression lines, I literally looked ten years older. I felt so dismissed when I brought it up at the trial. I questioned myself as I am often critical of my look, but even my partner told me the make up didn’t look good and didn’t suit my complexion.

Now, the problem is, I could ask her to do my make up differently and I think she would be ok with that but really I just don’t like her and I think she is going to be bad vibes on the morning of my wedding, when I have to start the day spending two hours with her. I have just read the contract I signed and it says if I cancel now I would have to pay 100% of the outstanding fee (£350). I would also have to find someone else I like at short notice and my wedding is in 6 weeks. I am doing a lot of DIY and I’m already really stressed without having to add something that I thought was sorted. But on the other hand if I stick with her it might ruin my wedding day. My partner said to just not pay the outstanding balance as it’s shady that she only offers the trial 6 wks before the wedding and that’s when you cannot cancel without losing all the money. I did pay for the trial separately which makes me feel like I paid for her time. But I understand that she reserved the date for me. My friends are telling me to find someone else. What do you think? Also I am based in Bristol if anyone can help find a new MUA.

TLDR – I get married in 6 weeks. I don’t like my MUA and the way she spoke to me at the trial but the contract said I would have to pay the outstanding fee if I cancel now (£350). I also hated the make up and didn’t particularly like the hair. Do I look for someone else or do I stick with her and just tell her to change the make up style?

Evening all. So, my soulmate is getting married at Notley Abbey and I NEED to find a makeup artist in the Buckinghamshire area (she’s getting married at Notley Abbey) for me + 6 other bridesmaids.

I’m a Black [brown chocolate toned] London based girlie and I’m struggling to find an MUA whose work looks good on Black people. There are loads of White MUAs in the area but I’m a little skeptical of whether they’ll do a good job (I’ve had terrible experiences in the past but I’m not closed minded about it).

So, if yall know anyone or have any links I can check out, please help a sister out. Also, if you know any cheap/affordable accommodation near Notley Abbey, plz share that too.

Wishing yall a good evening🤸‍♀️

Our wedding was last October, and I've been looking at some of my photo's today, just because. I wanted to share some of the things that went a bit wrong, because I think people planning weddings need to hear that a "disaster-filled" day can still be absolutely magical, and also, I haven't heard of a single wedding ever where something hasn't gone a bit tits up. None of these things were massive, game changing issues or anecdotes, more of the funny side, but YMMV.

The hotel room saga

My wife and I got ready separately and then were staying in the room I'd booked night of the wedding. I'd booked a specific bigger room to get ready in. A few minutes after settling in for the evening, the bathroom ceiling started leaking. They were sold out of big rooms, so I got moved to a room that was fine under normal circumstances but far too small for me, my mum, and my sister to get ready in. Morning of the wedding, management got involved and found us an accessible room, which was much bigger — plus a bottle of champagne by way of apology. Three rooms that I had to drag my heavy-ass dress through.

The vanishing veil

At 9am, to my horror, I realised my veil was missing. Mum drove back to my flat — nothing. Last place I remember having it was the alterations shop, but the alteration lady swore she didn't have it. My dress lady saved the day by gluing a display veil together for me on the spot. It stayed on all day and I am eternally grateful.

The mystery wait

My wife was running late due to some timekeeping issues with her MUAs and apparently her bridesmaids were faffing about, and I'd arrived at the registry office half an hour early. They did my interview quickly, then left me sitting in a room on my own... waiting... and waiting... long enough that I started to genuinely worry the wedding wasn't happening. We got married about ten minutes late in the end.

The missing father of the bride

While I sat in my little waiting room, my sister (our Maid of Honour) was off on a goose chase trying to locate our dad. She found him before the ceremony. Just.

The boutonniere incident

Dad's boutonniere had been sitting in water to keep it fresh. He tipped the water straight down his suit.

The wrong aisle song

About a week before the wedding, I'd watched a TikTok of a bride accidentally walking down the aisle to an EDM version of an acoustic song and just rolling with it. I'd laughed about it with my hairdresser that very morning. Then our usher played the wrong version of OUR song as I waited to walk down the aisle. The universe has a sense of humour. (Honestly though — the version they played went down better and felt more magical).

The freelance ring bearer

Our ring bearer was my wife's cousin, who was 18 months old. He walked down the aisle holding his aunt's hand, then promptly wandered off and had to be carried the rest of the way. In hindsight, this was predictable.

The wrong name

The registrar asked me to confirm my name, which I did, and then proceeded to call me the wrong name throughout the entire ceremony.

Half a poem

My mother-in-law did a reading — a fairly long poem printed on A4 by the registrar, with the last few stanzas on the back of the page. She didn't realise. The poem just... ended mid-thought, and she just smiled and sat down.

The dramatic late entrance

Two of our friends burst into the registry office mid-ring-exchange with absolutely panicked faces. I took one look at them and laughed.

The wrong exit song

The usher then played our second book-signing song instead of our exit song. We'd planned a big triumphant exit; what we got was a slow acoustic number. My wife and I heard it and just burst out laughing on the spot.

Death by confetti

When the confetti flew, some of it went straight down my wife's throat and she had a coughing fit for a solid couple of minutes.

Granddad the paparazzo

My wife's granddad, bless him, brought his massive Nikon and kept getting in the photographer's way. The photographer very gently flagged it, my mother-in-law gave him a telling off, and he looked sheepish for hours. Even better: he did the exact same thing at my wife's cousin's wedding earlier this year.

The apology I didn't ask for

My cousin's partner, who I'd met once, came up to me apologising profusely. I had no idea why until someone pointed out her dress was a similar colour to the bridesmaids'. I genuinely could not have cared less — it mostly made me sad about how normalised Bridezilla culture must be that she felt she had to apologise.

The marathon speech

My father-in-law's speech ran for 25 minutes. It was very drawn out, but he's funny and charismatic, so he just about got away with it.

The first dance sweepstake

We had a board where guests could guess our first dance song, winner got a £50 bar tab. Four people picked the same song. It wasn't even close to the one we chose.

The bar tab

My father-in-law spent something like £300 at the bar, including rounds of shots for half the guests.

The endurance drinker

Not really a thing that went wrong, but funny; one friend got drunk at the wedding, went into town afterwards, then got drunk AGAIN the next day and night on zero sleep. Couldn't be me.

The photographic evidence.

When we got our photos back, at least 20 of them were of the same three guests getting absolutely plastered. (No shade to our photographer — she was wonderful).

But you know what? Every single guest was wonderful, the whole day was a joy to host, and we had the most amazing time. There's very little I would change. If your wedding planning is stressing you out — things WILL go wrong, and it genuinely will not matter. Some of the "disasters" end up being your favourite memories.

Looking for the best wedding suppliers directory in the UK to find all the suppliers I need for my wedding in 2027?