What to do, opinions please :o)

That's a hard decision, I feel for you. I think I'd be tempted to do the honeymoon option. Have you thought of a humanist ceremony?

Wow alot of decisions!! Firstly im very envious of you living in Oz, my brother is out there and I would love to live out there, but circumstances at the moment mean we cant, secondly, I would definately get the legal part of the wedding done in Oz then come over here and treat that as your proper wedding. What kind of wedding are you after? you can have a blessing in a church or a civil blessing elsewhere. My brother had a legal wedding in a registery office and then a big 'proper' weddiing and it made no difference to them or the people that attended, we all still hd a blast!

Cant comment on Jamaica or St Lucia but 2 weeks, just me and OH with no kids, sun and food...........ahhh bliss!!!!!

We have our wedding booked in a hotel in the Lakes so it was always going to be a civil ceremony as neither of us are church people.

What kind of person did your brother use to "conduct" his ceremony if he was already married?

Oz is a great place to live but just soooo far away from the rest of the world :o)

I feel for you & was in a similar situation. I'm an Aussie, living in London & got married back in Australia. I had to plan the whole thing from the UK, but it can be done! If it was me, I'd get married in Australia, then have a ceremony in the UK.

My SIL got legally married in Aus, then had a blessing in the UK. It can be as simple or lavish as you like. She had a full church service, with bells, choir, organ etc. Being a blessing though, there weren't the legal timelines & the cost of the ceremony was half that of an actual wedding. To any guest though, it looked just like a normal wedding. I'm sure you have relatives or friends in the UK that can help organise things.

My SIL brought her wedding dress with her, but you could buy one in the UK- you'll find it much cheaper! Places like BHS & Monsoon sell them off the shelf. Many of the charity shops have specialist wedding stores. They don't just sell 2nd hand 80's dresses, but also brand new, end of line stock & ex-display stock.

The one thing you'd need to check, is what paperwork you'd need to bring to prove you have actually been married in Australia beforehand. On your wedding day, you'll be given the certificate of marriage that you sign. This, however, isn't accepted ANYWHERE as proof of the marriage. You need to apply & pay for your marriage certificate from the births, death & marriages office in your state/territory where you get married. If just having a blessing or humanist type ceremony in the UK, you may not need any paperwork beforehand, but its worth checking. The proper wedding certificate can take 6 weeks to arrive, but some states have a same day, urgent service if you can collect from the main office & pay an extra fee.

I organised my whole wedding in only a few months & from the other side of the world. It can be done & will be fabulous, so don't get too stressed by it all.

Some links that might be useful:

https://www.confetti.co.uk/wedding/planning-organising/can-we-have-a-religious-blessing-after-a-nonreligious-civil-ceremony/

http://www.choiceceremonies.co.uk/Weddings-Blessings-Commitment.html

Teal thank you so much for the advice and links, I will check them out now bet London is a big change from Australia......

I believe they are called 'celebrants'? I think the same people that marry you in a civil ceremony can do this too!

Thank you, I'll need to check out the cost of a celebrant

I would do the legal bit in OZ and have the wedding you want in UK using a humanist celebrant (as already mentioned) https://humanists.uk/ceremonies/home/?gclid=CJbd-O_l1LcCFfMQtAodBxsAiQ

Not been to St Lucia or Jamaica but have just got back from St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean which was amazing!

I can't really be of any help other than to say that i think it depends on how badly you want to have your family there with you on your wedding day. You don't mention your OH's family - where do they fit into it? Is there any possibility of having your parents & any siblings over to you for the wedding? Have a quiet wedding in OZ, then fly to UK for a quick party & then onto honeymoon?

Is having the honeymoon around the time of your 1st wedding anniversary a possible idea? You could come over to the UK for the 3 weeks needed, have some UK based days out & a couple of luxury nights away immediately after the wedding before flying back to OZ?

Personally, for me, if i was strapped for cash & lived near family, i think i'd opt for a quick & quiet wedding with the amazing honeymoon afterwards, but then as you're so far from home & probably not visiting the UK all that often, i think i'd go with the wedding with family. I don't think i'd want the hassle of wedding in one country, party in another, then another haul off to honeymoon before a very long detour to pick my daughter up en route home. Do you have to actually verify being at your parents house for the 15 days before you can marry? Is there any way of spending part of the time there & part away at days out/nights away? What do the legalities allow? I assume your parents home doesn't allow for privacy & space? I find it hard being back home for more than a day or 2, but is there anyway around it?

Good Luck with your decision!

Hi Mrsrh*

Thanks for the reply. We are definitely having our wedding in May 14 in the Lake District, having all our family & friends celebrate our day is what we want, it's just whether or not to do the legal part here or there. Flying back for our 1st anniversary isn't really an option as it's so expensive to fly from Oz and we'd have to take more time off work, have our dog minded etc hence why we want to do it all in one hit next May.

OH's family are from South Africa and are trying to save to come to England. We chose England for the wedding as that's where all are friends and family are (some of OH's family are in Scotland luckily) it's also my grandmothers 80th birthday next May so we'd be back for that.

I'm going to look into a celebrant option I think and we may even invite my parents and daughter along on our honeymoon..... we all get on well and it'd give us time away from everything to relax in the sunshine to celebrate our wedding and we'll have been in Oz two years by then too, usually my parents have holidayed here in Oz in our home where as if we all go on holiday together then we can all relax on neutral territory and with some sunshine thrown in too! We probably won't get to see my parents for another 9-12 months after may so it'd actually be really nice

I would do the legal bit in Oz and then come over, your day will still be special, even if your technically already married

Where are you getting married? I live in Cumbria, and am always interested in the Lake District hotels people choose -there are so many!!

That's quite a tough decision. My best friend emigrated to the States earlier this year and married her fiance. They had to get married quickly because of visa restrictions (we all joked at the romanticism of the immigration system). What she did was marry at a registry office in the States with a handful of people present, and have had a huge reception for the American contingent in April, and will be having their UK bash a week after our wedding. None of us feel put out by it, as we all appreciate that time is precious and they don't get a huge amount of vacation time, so we're just happy to be able to celebrate with her when she comes back.

So I think the marrying in Oz, partying here, honeymooning in St Lucia all within 4 weeks would be absolutely fine.

Do the legal bit before you come. No one will realise. We had to do this with a christening we had the christening in hospital and later a blessing in church with godparents and everything. Only the wording was different

Thanks ladies I appreciate the opinions. We get married at Lodore Falls hotel in May :o)

I know it's the wrong way to do things but could you not have the honey moon BEFORE the wedding, during the 15 days notice period?

Thats a good idea!