Difficulties with booking a registrar

Hi, we had a similar problem, we booked everything for 6 September, naively thinking we could get the registrar without any problem. Of course they had no availability at all that day, so we had to move the wedding to the 5th. We did ask if we could have a registrar from another county and they said no, I don't know if this is the same everywhere though so might be worth asking.

Personally I would go for 12pm, and maybe have a 'cocktail hour' or some games or extra photos taken, the time will fly anyway! x

I'm afraid I've never known of registrars from other counties performing the ceremony.

Can you tell us a bit about the day? Were you getting married in a registry office or having the registrar come to the venue? If the venue is yours from 3pm, where were you planning on getting married at 2pm?

Of course, there is always the option of getting married just the two of you (with witnesses obviously) before the wedding then having a humanist ceremony on the day but I know that isn't for everyone.

Bare in mind most things run late lol watching any wedding on tv (dont tell the bride, gypsy wedding, 4 weddings etc... either the bride or groom is always late) so say 15 to 30 mins late - then you have photos and you already cut down that 2 hours wait by up to 1 hour or so easily

Book the 12pm NOW before you lose that option too. Speak to your reception venue and see if you can move times forward a bit. alternatively arrange a drinks and canapes session at another venue - I realise this will add to your budget. You could try a nice pub to keep costs down. Remember you need time for photos and also for travelling to the venue so you might not have as much time to fill as you think.

As far as I know you cannot get private registrars so unless you want to go down the church route or join the humanist society (I think they can conduct weddings) you need to book the registrar you've got NOW. Registrars from other counties will be booked up.

Sorry but you haven't got time to dither. Let us know how you get on.

I think the issue is WHERE they will go for those couple of hours as they don't have the reception venue until 3pm...

My venue wouldn't take a deposit without us confirming that the register office had us pencilled in for our chosen time!

Registrars have to come not just from the same county, but from the district within the county under which the venue is licensed.

Can you hire the venue earlier?

I went to a wedding where they did cake cutting and afternoon tea after the ceremony alongside photos, with a gap before going to the reception venue. It was lovely.

Thanks very much for the responses. We're getting married in a different place to where the reception is taking place. It's about a mile away so the plan originally was to get married at 2pm then whisk everyone away to the reception venue for approx. 3pm.

As it stands then I think we'd have to do the ceremony (and drag it out a bit ?) and then have photos before trying to arrange an hour of cocktails at the ceremony venue or somewhere else. I guess we could then maybe try and negotiate with the reception venue to allow us to arrive a bit earlier than originally planned, possibly at a cost.

All great suggestions so many thanks for your help.

Are you getting married at register office? If so, do they have a room you could hire for a drinks reception? Or go to a local restaurant/bar/field for champagne?

I think we may be able to arrange a drinks reception somewhere yes. We're getting married in the city centre so there are no shortage of nice pubs and bars around.

I think I would go for the 12pm option - that will take you to 1pm max but more like 12.45pm.

Then, if you could have some reception drinks and photos at the ceremony venue (or hire a room in a nice bar or something?) that could easily take up a good amount of the two hours you need to fill. I would also talk to your reception venue about arriving early.

How are your guests getting around if they're drinking at the ceremony venue? Are you arranging transport to the reception venue?

Sorry to repeat myself but book it NOW!!!!