Registrar unavailability - looking at Celebrants

We are doing this as our venue does not have a wedding license. However, 3.30pm doesn't seem like a bad time as a guest. It would allow time to travel the day of, grab some lunch, check in, then food around 5-5.30pm.

We’re getting married next June. We’re doing the legal bit at York registry office on the Tuesday and then having our wedding on the Saturday. FH brother will be performing the wedding as we wanted it to be personal and tailored to us. Plus we’re not dictated to by availability and it’s saved a fortune on having a registrar come to the venue on the weekend.
I’ve been to a few weddings where a family member/close friend has done the ceremony and it’s worked really well and like I say is really personal to the couple and in some cases had no idea it wasn’t an ‘official’ person until afterwards.Though I would say I just went to a wedding that started at 3:30pm and I think it worked well. Guests weren’t in a rush and didn’t get bored waiting for it to start etc and still had plenty of time to celebrate!
Do what ever makes you the happiest. If having a registrar is the most important thing for you then I think the times they have available will work fine. Alternatively having someone else conduct the ceremony can also work really well. Good luck and happy planning!

Congratulations on your engagement!
We had the same problem, the only registrar availability on our date was 12:30pm or 3:30pm (and our venue had no other dates available). We were disappointed initially too and unsure what to do.
We were advised by our venue to consider celebrants but we really wanted the ‘official’ bit to be on the day, with our friends and family, which was why we’d chosen a venue with a wedding licence. So, we opted for 3:30pm and 3 months later, we’re feeling quite happy about it! There are lots of positives: no early starts for suppliers/hair/makeup, guests travelling on the day won’t be in a rush, those staying in hotels can check-in before the ceremony and we both get plenty of time with bridesmaids/groomsmen to have a relaxing morning, get ready and have photos taken etc. Our timings are also a bit more compact with no waiting around between different parts of the day, which we think will be more enjoyable for guests. Good luck with making a decision!

Thanks for the responses. Definitely a consideration. We have the venue for two days
So as I said most guest will be there from Friday afternoon and only a few will need to travel on the Saturday. So a wedding at 3:30 I think may kill the mood. As it's a manor on a working farm, I think people would end up being bored waiting as they are already on site. I guess we could organise something to fill the day until 3:30 but it would be an extra cost and I wouldn't be able to join inwith any of it. Just feels like we'd be wasting the venue/ most the day.
Only concern is whether doing the legal bit before will take anything away from the day. Super annoyinv there is such a lack of registrars to fill demand and celebrants can legally marry you in Scotland but not England.

As most people are staying the night before I don't think 11am is all that bad. Try searching on here for 11 or 11.30 am wedding or early wedding as there have been posts about it and you will get some views on the pros and cons.

You could bring the first dance and evening section forward to 6pm instead of the 99% of weddings that have a first dance around 8pm

As for a celebrant I know that some people completely disregard the official paperwork in the register office and regard the celebrant lead wedding as the actual wedding day.

We’re getting married at 12pm by choice, and my dream was to get married at 11am. The benefit is less time to fret about hair and make up or get nervous! You’ll probably not sleep that well the night before due to anticipation and wake up early and then be milling around for ages getting nervous so I think there are lots of pros to an earlier wedding. Also you could have your wedding breakfast at a decent lunch time! Like 2pm. I’ve been to so many later weddings where no one had time for lunch before but they’re expected to wait until 4pm for any proper food! Plus - if you’re having evening food/buffet it’s always such a waste if the wedding breakfast doesn’t finish until late and no one has time to work up an appetite.
Everyone will start drinking a bit earlier so they’ll be ready for dancing a bit earlier too.
The wedding day goes so fast anyway! You’d be making the most of it by getting married earlier!

View quoted message Ahh I just dunno 12:30 -1:30 would have been perfect for us. Does anyone have any idea what time id have to be up to start getting ready for an 11 am wedding? We were up at 6am for my friends 1:30 wedding! Not sure I'd be worried if we have a few drinks the night before if people will be lagging if up early by the afternoon and be in bed early 🤦🏼‍♀️. So many different scenarios going through our heads.

We are getting married next June and our registrar was the same. They only had 2 times available which was 12pm and 3pm. We have booked for 12pm as I think that is most probably a suitable time. Sometimes you have to keep trying with the registrar because people change times and dates etc. Good Luck!