Anyone getting married a distance away?

Plenty of people getting married abroad, so yes! We have a wedding planner doing all the co-ordination for us, i.e. sending various photographer portfolios for us to choose from, planning menus, liaising with the priest, etc, etc, so it's actually a lot easier than having multiple contacts. Can you get someone local to your chosen area to do some of the legwork for you like that?

We're getting married about 2.5 hours away from us, but it is where we both used to live, so PIL2b are local and are helping out with collecting stuff etc. But obviously, there's still some things that we need to do in person; our venue have been really helpful and understanding knowing that we can't just drop in. I'm a bit worried though, closer to the time, what will happen if I need to quickly sort something out.

Just make sure that your venue know that it will be difficult for you, if you have someone local to there, get them to help out, and make sure you plan things more in advance.

Unfortunatly no one vlocal, the hotel does have a wedding planner though who I'll be going to meet in a couple of weeks so hopefully she'll be very helpful its just all the little things I'm sure I'll think of last minute I'm worried about!

We got married about an hour away from where we live, the most important/difficult thing was packing up everything the day before. If you have a lot of stuff (and believe me it all adds up quickly!) think about hiring a van for it all or roping in family and friends to take it all for you!

x

Yep, we live in Warwickshire and getting married in Cumbria (about 3 1/2 hours drive)- where I'm originally from. I still have family there but I only really use them to stay with when we go up. It has been fine. Probably a bit more hassle then having a wedding local but I don't know any different. We had a list of things that we had to do in Cumbria (eg florist, photographer.... on the day suppliers), did loads of research on the internet and narrowed it down purely through internet research to top 3 then booked appointments all on one weekend and went up. Means very busy weekends where we have been sorting out more than one thing at once. Also, weekends are soemtimes difficult to make appointments with people because they are at other weedings. We have told all our suppliers we live away and they hae been really good about it- lots of email and phone contact instead and not insisting on lots of meetings.

Everything else (eg dresses, mens outfits, stationery) has been organised local to us or by internet.

It has been a lot easier than I thought. I've had to take some pot luck decisions eg hair and makeup but have just made sure I've had trials and trusted my gut instinct.

And as someone else said, some people organise weddings abroad which must be even worse.

We live in Merseyside and we're getting married 2hrs (approx 90-100ish miles depending on the route taken) away in North Yorkshire. It's an area which we have a great affection for and we have wonderful memories of holidays and days out there.

Also, due to problems with OH's family, we couldn't get married in our hometown (certain members of OH's family wouldn't have attended).

We're using a mixture of suppliers - our DJ, Harpist, Videographer, hairdresser, MUA and favours are local to the venue, but our flowers, cake, suit hire etc are from our home town and our TOG from Liverpool. We are frequently up in Yorkshire so we've not really had any problems planning, there is email as well.

Thanks I'm sure I'll be okay just not so easy to check on things I suppose but email will help vfor sure

100 miles from home to our venue, and no problems so far. Most of our correspondence with the hotel has been by email, and we've just done the travelling to meet people as necessary - and doubled up where we can, such as meeting our photographer at the hotel before a meeting with the wedding coordinator at the hotel.

It has meant that a few people have declined our invitation due to the distance, but all the key people are happy to travel so that's the main thing really.

One thing to recommend is going to at least one wedding fair near your chosen venue, it's a great way to find plenty of local suppliers (togs, florists etc).

Good hint! thanks :-)

I gave notice in Lambeth, she gave notice in Surrey, and we're getting married in a venue covered by Ringwood register office, Hampshire. We had no problems (apart from the registrar forgetting to log out of the same sex database and back into the regular database, and getting half way through the paperwork before realising that I wasn't after a same sex partnership.

We booked the Hampshire registrar first, then I went and gave notice in Lambeth, a few weeks later she gave notice in Surrey, and after the 15 days or whatever it is, and the Hampshire computer had realised that we had both given notice, the computer automatically sent us the booking pack to give us some idea of how to put our ceremony together (vows, readings, etc).

Of course I can't guarantee that everything will go perfect for anyone else, but providing you do it in plenty of time, there's no reason you should have any real problems providing you both meet the criteria to get married (not still married, British nationals, or have visa paperwork, etc etc). The whole idea of the registration process is to try and detect fraudulent marriages (usually for a passport) or anyone being coerced against their will into it - not to make it awkward and try to stop you getting married. If you have no reason to be nervous about being caught for something, then you have nothing to worry about in giving notice..

Regarding suppliers travelling, it's also worth asking those a little outside of your area if you find someone that really offers what you want and you can't find anyone or anything even remotely similar nearby - our band, for example, is travelling 10 miles outside of their normal area because we asked them about it - and although 10 miles may not seem far, we could have looked elsewhere if we'd taken their website booking details at face value. The worst they can say is "sorry, no, we can't help you"

Hi tizmelou, and welcome to Hitched.

Yes we are getting married 3 hours away from where we live. It has taken a few hours driving to be honest, but if you are organised and manage to make the most of the time you are in the area, it can be done. Also loads can be done via the internet and other time consuming choices such as, dress, stationery etc you can source local to where you live.

Happy planning!