Where do you even start?!

Firstly - CONGRATULATIONS!!

So, having an April/May wedding may put a bit of extra pressure on you, but it IS do-able.

First, have a serious chat about how much you can afford. We didn't set a specific budget, but had a general figure in our heads about what we were going to be able to afford.

There are LOADS of venues where you can have the whole day in one place - Hitched and Bridebook are both great places to do your research on, as they have loads of listed venues. Have a look through and see which ones you like the look of, check out their website. Then start making enquiries - making your to check that they are licensed to hold ceremonies.

We got caught with this, as our first venue wasn't licensed and we fell in love with it! Luckily, our second venue came along

Once you've booked your venue and date, get straight on the phone to the registry office in the Council that your venue is in - they provide the registrar, even if you live in a different area.

It may even be worth giving a call to the areas where you are looking, just to check that they have availability for the dates/locations you will be looking in - the last thing you want is to find your dream venue only to find they have one day left, and no registrar is available.

Bear in mind that you will be looking at approx. £450 for the registrar to attend a licensed venue (paid to the Council), on top of whatever your venue costs.

Once you have a date sorted, and you know you'll be getting married in the next 12 months, contact the registry office of the Council where YOU live, to arrange an appointment to give notice. This is usually around £35 for each of you, and needs to be done a maximum of 12 months and minimum of 28 days before your wedding. This has to be done by your council, even if you are getting married in a different area.

Once you've got those bits nailed down - that's it, you are getting married, and can enjoy the rest of your planning!

Hope this helps! X

Once you decide on the Venue and get the registrar booked it starts falling into place but time does run away very fast so just be careful as April or May will come round very fast.

I got engaged on 1 June 2017 and married on 26 April 2018 and it was plenty of time to organise! Def start with the venue - hitched has a good selection. Do you know how many people you want to invite? That will help guide your venue choice.

Amazing thank you for all the tips!!

We had a chat and have decided April 202 will be our aim, but in all honesty if we can get a venue cheaper at another time we will just do that. We just dont want a summer wedding!

So i thought our budget was alright, but turns out its pretty modest... £8k(ish) and the type of venues i like have been coming in at £3k for hire and £4k for catering ? how is that even possible?!

Anyway, im a bit stuck as we want something with character, a bit of charm, and we actually want a really informal vibe, with a BBQ and street food.

I like the idea of it being all in one place as its just so much less faff, but it appears thats where the cost skyrockets.

We want a Max of 50 at the ceremony, and maybe 80 (total) for the reception, but so many of the places weve seen have minimum numbers that then of course make it ridiculous.

If we don't want a church wedding, or a registry office, were a bit stuck for options aren't we?

There are some village halls that are licensed for wedding ceremonies - Bradfield near Sheffield or Slaidburn in lancashire for instance - so perhaps have a good look around your area for those? It sounds like this would suit your vibe, and might give you a bit more freedom to have a relaxed day? If you give your area I'm sure people would have suggestions on here, or recommendations of dry hire venues that might suit, so you could bring in bbq or hog roast catering which can be much cheaper.

Or get hitched in a registry office with a couple of random witnesses the day before, then make your own ceremony (maybe a friend officiating, and some lovely readings and vows) at the venue you choose for the reception! Then you can totally do what you like, wherever. :-)

Good luck!

Yeah, the cost of catering really shook us! We managed to get a good deal after months.

Have a look for venues that don't insist on you using their suppliers, as you can have more choice with your caterers then. Our venue doesn't charge any of our suppliers commission, which is great!

Bear in mind that if everything is in one place, you're saving on transport between locations too.

Where are you based/looking to get married? People on here are generally pretty good at giving recommendations

With regards to the church/registry/location ceremony - if you find a venue that you love and fits your budget, but isn't licensed for ceremonies, maybe consider doing a 2+2 legal bit the day before, and then have a celebrant on the day? We planned this originally when our first venue of choice was unlicensed. We have now decided to keep the celebrant at our licensed venue as it means that part of the ceremony can be tailored specifically to us!

Also - it goes without saying that if a weekday wedding is an option for you, it will be a lot cheaper than a weekend!

Thank you! ive done a little digging and found a very cute little hall that appears to have their licence so im going to show it to the OH this evening. They offer a package for "all in" (plus ceremony fee at £400 + registrar fees) £3900 for 50 day guests, and out evening bit only comes to an extra £600 so its suddenly looking pretty possible.

Were based in Bedfordshire, but have only just moved there so were also looking in the Cambridge and Hertfordshire area.

The one i first saw was Bassmead Barns, but this other place is called Eversholt Hall, in case anyone has experience with either

We were thinking of a weekday wedding, as it'll be in half term anyway (don't know if that bumps the price up like it does holidays!) but to be honest, if we can get it all in under £5k a weekend would be lovely.

Is there a best way to search venues? Or even best websites to use, in on so many and so many forums and stuff and some don't have ones others do and it's all mind boggling

Ok, this is the government approved list of venues with a licence.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/704906/Approved_Premises_Ext_1_-_30_April_2018.pdf

Probably the best place to start, it's done by local authority, so you can search through it and then just google the places that take your fancy!

I'll just say... the Danish Camp looks cool!

Youre the best! Thank you so so much!

im gonna go through the 5 different websites ive been using to save venues, and basically put together a list of ones worth looking into so we can narrow it down.

Haha - finding venues is a PAIN! We're getting hitched in Scotland, where the person is registered, not the venue, so you can have the legal ceremony where you like - so much easier and more civilised. We just couldn't face finding something that suited in the south of England!

I used a mixture of Hitched and Google to find a venue, I like the feature of 'favouriting' on Hitched! Made it a lot easier.

As a guide, I think we emailed about 10 places to get quotes and availability, then visited 4 venues before making up our minds.

But of course everyone is different - we fell in love with the guy who runs our place as much the venue itself!