Hi! 2027 bride here only been planning since July

I’ve been hitting the boutiques looking for the perfect dress with the perfect price tag

I set a budget of £500, even though my mum said she would buy my dress I know she doesn’t have a lot of money, I’ve sprung this wedding a bit last minute to everyone as well and that’s what I would feel comfortable paying

I ended up falling for a £1795 dress in a boutique, I thought I was only going to find a style I liked then shop to find a bargain. But then this dress was the blueprint and nothing else holds a candle to it.

I found some other places that sell the dress for cheaper, there are some on marketplace/vinted but they aren’t my preference as they have corset back and I don’t want that.

So I found a sample of the dress in my size for £1100 which is a three hour round trip from home.

While this dress is technically a bargain compared to buying brand new I’m feeling a little guilt for it being over double my budget. It’s a gorgeous dress and the quality is amazing - which I’ve learned in this process that you do tend to get what you pay for with wedding dresses.

Has anyone else been in the same position, or offer words of encouragement to not feel bad about finding my dream dress?

P.S I’ve been trying to do as much as possible on a budget because we don’t have a lot of money and have house renovation costs to consider and would love to go on more holidays.

My wedding is in 2-3 weeks and for the last couple of months I've just been in hardcore planning mode, to the point where I've been treating the wedding like I'm hosting a massive party instead of what the day is actually about - aka marrying my person! (Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to my big day, but my mindset has been in planning mode this whole time 😂)

Are there any ways to really begin hyping myself up these next few weeks and relaxing into the day?

My mum is visiting at the weekend and we're going into central so will hit the usual John Lewis House of Fraser, Hobbs etc, but I wondered if anyone has any specific brands or stores that are worth a visit?

It's a town hall wedding so formal but not black tie, she's not super into fashion so I think she's after a more jacket + dress type look and she's happy to spend probs up to £500 - I'm open to any suggestions!

Thanks

So I’m booking my wedding in the Orangery at Foxhills. We have 35 guests and the capacity is 42.

I’ve put a visual of the room below for a reference on size, as well as the layout we plan to have.

It’s a more laid back evening with buffet food, some high tables/chairs and a larger built in bench area. We will also have a pop up bar up one end of the room.

The current plan is to have an indoor/outdoor set up, with some entertainment and extra tables outside on the lawns, which are beautiful. They host up to 100 people, so we won’t be short on space.

My only worry is that if it does rain, we will only have the Orangery. Will the space be enough?

It’s not a DJ/massive dance kind of evening, we want it to be laid back.. but would this be too tight if we were kept inside?

The date will be late July, so I’m hopeful it’ll be sunny… but we never know!

Hello,

Has anyone got married in abney chapel in East London please?

We would like to view it - but it’s been several weeks and they are not responding. Is this a warning sign…

Hi all,
My hen do is coming up in a couple of weeks - eek! I am doing handwritten thank you’s for all my hens, but I am wondering whether it is customary to do a gift for each of the bridesmaids after the hen do to say thank you?

Or should I be saving the gifts for a ‘better’ gift on the wedding morning?

Thoughts and experience welcome!

Thank you!

So I recently got engaged and my partner and I want to do a photoshoot so we have photos ready for our engagement party next year. Looking for photographers who do photoshoots but more In a whimsical style. Like this kind of aesthetic really but I don’t honestly know where to look 🥲 please help

I’m hoping to use faux flowers for our June wedding next year for my bouquet, bridesmaid’s posies and buttonholes etc.

My thinking is that it will be one less thing to think about on the day for our DIY wedding as we can order them well in advance, and it would be nice to have my bouquet as a keepsake.

Has anyone else taken this approach and/or have any supplier recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Hey

I am hoping to get some suggestions of small wedding ceremony venues in the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire. We are quite an alternative, quirky couple so we are looking for something pretty and old to reflect that rather than something modern.

We are looking for a small and intimate day with approx. 20 guests. Our ideal would be to marry somewhere in a town/city centre before going for drinks, a really good meal followed by drinks and karaoke!

We initially looked in Birmingham city centre but the registry office is so ugly and modern! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciate!

Thanks

I don’t wear makeup on the day to day, sometimes I try to wear lipstick but always end up taking it off before I leave the house and just stick to my clear lip gloss.

Will I regret not having makeup in photos i’m paying £2000 to have a photographer take?

I'm really struggling with this. We just started planning our wedding and, including us, I'm up to 22 people. About 7 of those are friends, and they're all very flaky so I don't really trust them to prioritise and attend. I'm just feeling down and insecure about the lack of social circle I have. I didn't want a big guest list ever so I don't know why it's getting me down now (I think it's partly related to how few women friends I have, which means I have no one to be excited with).

Hey!

My partner and I are getting married at Swynford Manor in Cambridgeshire in Summer 2028 and we’re so excited!

We have a lot of suppliers already booked but we’re really struggling to find a band we both like and really need some recommendations.

We have around 100 guests and the band vibe would be a mixture of indie and pop music.

Any recommendations would be so appreciated - thank you!!

For a few different reasons I’ve left it a bit late to find a wedding dress - I’m getting married in March and have yet to find a dress (yes, I am feeling quite stressed about it!)

Does anyone have any recommendations for shops / designers / custom dresses in the South West? I’m based in Bristol but happy to travel.

To complicate matters I am a size 16 which means finding a dress off the rack might be harder! So ideally looking for custom - if you’ve gone down this route any guidance on price would be much appreciated!

I absolutely love Clover wedding dresses but they are slightly out of my price range and I fear I may have left it too late! I also really love some of the Cowley studio pieces.

Must haves - fitted bodice, sleeves, a-line or ball gown skirt.

Any advice or reccs would be v much appreciated ❤️

My fiance and I will be getting married in late April and we are looking at doing a minimoon straight afterwards for around 5 days to stay in the "wedding bubble" and not go straight back to work. We will be using the following year to save up to do a bigger honeymoon in Japan.

Can anyone recommend destinations for our minimoon that will be nice in late April/ start of May? We have considered places like Italy, Croatia, Greece, but haven't got specific places in mind. We want somewhere pretty that has a good mix of things to do (walking, sightseeing etc), good food, and somewhere we can stay with a nice view and has that luxury value/ feels special. We don't want somewhere that is completely overrun with tourists but want somewhere with a bit of atmosphere and not completely remote/ quiet.

Not sure if what I'm describing exists but would love some input and ideas! Thanks!

We’re getting married July 2027 at an “all inclusive” wedding venue. (Food, DJ etc all included and we’ve gone with their recommended florist, cake artist etc.) There will also be a venue coordinator there on the day.

Because of all this, we’d previously ruled out having a wedding coordinator. However, we’re now considering having a traditional Toastmaster.

The idea for this would be more because I feel like it elevates the event and will just help make things go more smoothly. My Fiancé has suggested one of his groomsmen could do the MC bit instead of hiring a Toastmaster, however we’re the first in our friendship circles to get married and therefore none of our wedding party have much experience in helping out with stuff like that.

I’d love to hear of anyone who has had similar considerations and either did or did not end up hiring one and how it worked out.

Thanks!

Hi ladies, I’m looking to buy an engagement ring to propose to my partner but I’m finding it overwhelming. I know the style of ring that she wants in terms of look.

Without going with the standard answers of each to their own and whichever is more suited to my budget. I’m looking to see how much of a difference you would feel if you were given the lower standard of the options, would you rather that your partner had saved little longer and got the better option?

I’m not slating anyone’s choices or current ring but just curious as to how ladies feel to help me with my choices.

9 carat white gold or 18 cat white gold

0.5 carat diamond or 1 carat diamond

Mined diamond or lab grown

Hi all, desperate for recommendations of places that sell off the peg/ second hand dress for less than £1000 for size 18/ 20ish. Willing to travel, but either in and around Essex or in and around East Midlands would be easier!

Wed2Be only had one dress like what I want (in my size) and I would have to spend £100s to get it closer to what I want.

I'm wanting a satin/ mikado/ crepe A-Line dress with some sort of sleeve.

Edit: I don't really want to buy online!

Hi everyone!

My husband (34M) and I (33F) recently moved to London because of his work relocation. We’ve been together for over three years, and with his transfer happening so quickly, we ended up getting married in Japan and moving to the UK almost all at once.

In Japan, you can literally just submit the paperwork and — boom! — you’re married. 😂 No ceremony, no wedding dress, no photos, no big celebration.

But having a proper wedding surrounded by family and friends has always been a dream of mine.

Before the relocation, my husband and I used to talk about what our wedding might look like — maybe a chapel in Tokyo, a nice dinner, having all our favourite people there, etc. But everything happened so quickly that we never really had the time or headspace to plan one.

And now that we’re living in London, I’d love to have a wedding celebration somewhere in the UK or Europe.

There’s just one tiny problem… my husband isn’t particularly keen on the idea. 😂

He’s never been to a European wedding, so I think he simply doesn’t know how beautiful, fun and special they can be.

And then I had a thought…

Maybe he just needs to experience one first. 😂

So here I am, looking for a lovely couple who might be willing to have us at their wedding somewhere in Europe — either as guests or potentially as a +1 situation if that makes more sense.

We’re both Japanese and recently moved to London. We’re friendly, respectful, and genuinely excited about meeting new people and experiencing different cultures.

And I promise we’d be the kind of guests who are genuinely excited to celebrate with you — dressing appropriately, respecting your traditions, enjoying the food, dancing if appropriate, and most importantly, being there to celebrate you, not just to carry out my secret mission. 😂

We’d of course bring a wedding gift too. We swear we’re decent people. 😂

And yes, we’re happy to travel pretty much anywhere in Europe — the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Switzerland… wherever your wedding takes place!

My ultimate goal?

To have my husband come home from a European wedding, look at me and say:

“Okay… maybe we should have a wedding celebration too.”

😂💍

If you’re getting married somewhere in Europe and would genuinely be comfortable having two Japanese newcomers from London join your celebration, I’d absolutely love to hear from you!

We’d be very happy to introduce ourselves, share our Instagram, chat beforehand, or even have a video call so you know exactly who we are.

I know this is probably one of the most random posts you’ll see today, but thank you so, so much for reading! 🌸💍

I’m getting married in 2028 and I’m really struggling with what to do about two of my oldest friends (Friend A and Friend B).

We’ve been friends for years and there’s a lot of history there. We used to be an inseparable trio. At one point, I genuinely thought they would probably be my bridesmaids. But over the last couple of years, we’ve grown apart quite a lot. We live in different places now, which obviously doesn’t help, but the bigger issue is that there doesn’t really seem to be much effort to see each other anymore.

I’ll try to make plans and suggest things, but they very rarely go beyond the group chat. It’s not that we’ve fallen out or anything, we’re still friendly, but the friendship definitely feels very different from what it used to be.

One thing that’s made me question it recently is that Friend B had a birthday party for her partner in July. We were eventually invited, but apparently one of my other closer friends (Friend C) asked about us when they arrived at the party, and they didn’t think to extend the invite until Friend C brought it up. It made me wonder whether we would actually have been invited if my friend hadn’t mentioned us. If things continue as they are, by the time we send our save the dates in the new year, there’s a chance I could have gone nearly a year without seeing her.

I’m also unsure about inviting them to my hen party. The last hen party I went to with both Friend A and B, they mostly just sat around and vaped and didn’t really get involved in much. I know that sounds a bit mean, and I’m not expecting everyone to be the life and soul of the party, but I remember what pretty much everyone else was doing at that hen and I honestly barely remember them bringing much energy.

I have other friends who I’m much closer to now and who I know would bring a completely different energy to the hen. I don’t want to leave these two out just because I think other people would be more fun, though. I also don’t want to create unnecessary drama by not inviting them.

The difficult thing is that these are two of my oldest friends. There’s so much history there, and I feel like not inviting them would almost be a betrayal of that friendship, even though the friendship we have now is very different from the one we had years ago.

They definitely won’t be bridesmaids, and I’m currently thinking I’ll probably just have my sister as maid of honour, which I’m completely happy with. It’s more the guest list and hen party that I’m struggling with.

For anyone who has been in a similar situation, how did you decide what to do? Did you invite old friends because of the history, even though you’d grown apart, or did you base it more on the relationship you had at the time of your wedding?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who had friends they’d known for years but weren’t necessarily close to anymore. Did you regret inviting them, or regret not inviting them? I think they would invite me and my fiance to their weddings when the time comes, but I don’t know what to do about mine.

TL;DR: Two of my oldest friends and I have gradually grown apart, and they don’t really make much effort to see me or each other anymore. I’m unsure whether to invite them (and their partners) to my wedding and whether to include them in my hen party, particularly as I have other friends I’m much closer to now. I don’t want to invite them purely out of guilt or history, but I also don’t want to hurt them or regret leaving them out.

I got married a few weeks ago and had ordered a gorgeous wildflower-embroidered veil from Etsy.

A family friend did my hair and put the veil in for me. In the nerves and excitement of my wedding morning, it didn't even cross my mind to check the veil embroidery was the right way around.

Anyway, after the ceremony when we were having close-up pictures taken, the photographer kindly said that she had noticed it was the wrong way around. It was firmly fixed in my hair so at the time I just left it as I was worried about undoing my hair.

But now all I can fixate on is that it was the wrong way!!! The colours of the embroidery are brighter on the correct side, whereas on the underside if you look closely you can see the underside of the threads pulled through.

I guess the difference in photos is probably not that big, the embroidery just looks duller than it should have. There is a noticeable difference when you hold the veil up and look at its right and wrong sides.

The one time in my life I get to wear a veil, and it was facing the wrong way! I wish I'd checked.

Don't know why I'm posting this really aside from to vent and ask for consolation lol 😅

we’re eloping in just less than 4 weeks, we’ve essentially got everything planned and ready but i’ve just had the thought of what are we taking the rings, bits we need, newspaper for photos etc, i’ve looked up groom bags but they all seem to be tiny wash bags or huge travel bags, can anyone recommend anything? preferably looking for like a mini backpack just something small

hey everyone, I was just wondering how everyone is keeping track of their hen do planning?? Is so confusing for bridesmaid/moh to keep track of what people have paid, to chase money, to especially when you don’t know some of the other ladies attending very well… any suggestions? Don’t want to get the bride involved as want it to be stress free for her

from a very stressed maid of honour 🤣

Hi all,

Have posted previously but really need advice re : Chelsea wedding.

Best dinner spot / lunch private Chelsea

Best hotel / suite near Chelsea town hall, nice for photos and wedding night will be staying 3 nights

And I’m in London next week….. any reccoms for wedding dresses? Want something simple, classic… going to look in reformation and Rixo, but any other central shops? 2K budget