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What to expect in a UK Wedding?

Discussion in 'Life in the UK' started by joi1991, Sep 21, 2016.

  1. joi1991
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    joi1991 Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Much as I don't want to count chickens before they're hatched, wedding is something that needs thorough preparation. It's hard when you don't have the visa yet but you got to start preparing for the wedding. Worse is, it's is taking place in UK while both my Fiance and I are not even there.

    So I am wondering what is a usual UK Civil wedding ceremony and party like?

    And as a wedding advice, what should I forget not with regards to the preparation?


    Appreciate any advice you could give.
  2. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    Love our Manchester Town Hall wedding! But yes, it is tricky to plan one especially if you both are not in the UK. This is how we planned ours.
    - Checked venues and picked which one we like most. Since we want the church wedding to be in the Philippines, we knew then we will do a town hall wedding here. We picked Manchester Town Hall because we both loved the place.
    - Husband got in touch with the town hall's events team to get a bespoke wedding package.
    - We decided on the date and checked with the town hall if the venue is free. Since we did it on a Thursday, it was and so my husband already reserved it.
    - I did a lot of online research for our photographer and hair and make up artist. I made sure I read reviews about the vendors to make sure that they are legit and they provide excellent service. We wanted musicians to play but knew they will be expensive. So what I did was call Royal Manchester College of Music and ask for students or newly grads for wedding gigs. Left them my email and the very next day I got lots of quotes. I didn't get the first one I saw within our budget. I had to create an excel file to put all of the vendors, how much they cost, what they offer, etc. to make it a lot easier for us to shortlist and eventually choose which ones we will go with. That worked best for us and I have to say we were very happy with all of them.
    - My mother in law used to be a florist so she did our flowers and that's her wedding gift to us. She helped us with a lot of preparation. And because my mom isn't here, she made sure she's with me when I bought my wedding gown.
    - Ebay can be your best friend! That is where we ordered our bespoke wedding invitations. But you can purchase wedding invitations from shops like Paperchase, The Range, Hobby Kraft, etc.
    - We had a vintage travel themed wedding so our cake were vintage looking luggages. They were made by hubby's godfather's daughter so itvwas heavily discounted.
    - Our wedding favours were lego minifigs coz we love legos. So we ordered the bride and groom legos again from Ebay coz they're a lot cheaper.

    You can definitely save on a lot of things by doing them yourself. That's what we did for our decorations. We decorated the venue a day before the wedding. I will try to post pics here. Need to figure it out first.
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  3. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    Forgot to mention about registering and booking a wedding registrar - very important! My husband just called them to let them know of the date and to make sure there is a wedding registrar available to wed us on that date. You both will be required to go register once you are in the UK. They will interview you separately and the questions are very basic so nothing to worry about.
  4. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    edited_20160708_074333-1.jpg

    Our wedding cake toppers :D
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  5. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Sounds like you had a lovely wedding, I enjoyed reading your post, you're obviously quite organised :like:
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  6. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    You'll have to take a trip to LEGOLAND, Billund Denmark, you will love it, or you could do the LEGOLAND in Windsor UK but I don't think that will be as enjoyable.
  7. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    We did and thank you! It was quite stressful really nearer to the date and only because of the smaller details. But we made sure to enjoy our day and not fuss too much anymore. It was a fun day and we love every minute of it. Our pianist played the Imperial March as we entered the reception room :lol::lol::lol: And given that majority of our family and friends are geeks, that surely cracked them up.
  8. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    We have been to the tiny one in Trafford Centre but I didn't know there's one in Windsor. Thanks for the tip!
  9. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    That sounds great, the Star Wars music, bet that came as a bit of a shock to the congregation :like:

    I was writing a reply to joi1991 post when your post popped up, glad I scrapped it now, I cannot compete with that :)
  10. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    If you go to the one near Windsor, stop in Windsor (bit pricy), great town and a great tour around Windsor Castle which is the Queens winter residence.
  11. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    I am sure your wedding was quite special as well :) Would love to hear about it!
  12. joi1991
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    joi1991 Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Ohhh Lego! I can imagine the lovely vintage wedding. You were wise with the musicians! I told my fiancé we must invest to a Dj because he will be the one to give life to the party. But his sister & his brother are musicians so I might suggest to him that hiring they're colleagues could be better.

    Choosing a venue wasn't easy for us because we can't visit and see the place ourselves. Anyway, I was the one who picked ours and I based it on the photos of recent weddings that have taken place in that Hotel. Also, I looked into deals and price in catalogues. Fortunately, my fiancé has a friend who lives nearby who booked and signed some papers for us. I guess he mentioned we need to be personally there like 3 months before the wedding date so fingers crossed, the visa wouldn't mess everything up.

    Suppliers for the wedding, photographer, hair & makeup - All these vendors I would just find the best ones when we get there. I was thinking about having my gown made here in MNL as I suppose it is cheaper as well as souvenirs and other stuff - Divisoria. Got to take my man there :)

    Since he would wear the same suit he wore on his sister's wedding last year, I suggest I will be the one to provide his tie, cuff links and socks, I'd give the best men too. I found a wooden cuff links on the net which I really like because of the Philippine flag design but looks like they're made abroad. :(

    Thanks for the suggestions @firew0myn seems like I will frequent ebay now. I can't wait to get this done. Cheers!
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  13. joi1991
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    joi1991 Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    @firew0myn Would you mind sharing photo of the wedding venue or the DIY decorations?
  14. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Good idea to buy the gown in the Philippines, cheaper and with more character.

    Can we all come? :D
  15. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    Pinterest as well! Tons of ideas there :) And yes, if you can have your dress made in the Philippines then that will be ideal. I didn't have any idea what I want then so I had to try on a few ones. There's not a lot of wedding gown stores in Metro Manila and the one that I saw only carry Pronovias which are waaaaay expensive! Don't forget your shoes!
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  16. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    Yes, need to resize them first :D They're more than 1MB!
  17. joi1991
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    joi1991 Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I have no bridesmaid yet. So I'd consider that. ;)

    Do you have idea how much tailored gowns are in UK? Those not made by famous designers.
  18. joi1991
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    joi1991 Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    My plan is go to a tailor shop here and try on various gown types and see what suits my body type best. Then find a shop that offers the best price. Fingers crossed, the water in UK wouldn't make me big. :lol:
  19. Timmers
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    Timmers Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    It depends on your budget, they can cost literally hundreds or thousands of pounds, if you do want to get one in the UK you may want to consider hiring one.

    I think its better to get one made in your homeland.
  20. firew0myn
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    firew0myn Active Member

    DSC_0121.jpg

    We bought the letters and covered them with a gift wrapper with a map design. We bought the globe. So all these are now used as home decors.
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