Rushed Registry Office

We used one of my brother's to control our ceremony music and it worked fine. We had two songs on their own playlist so he didn't have to worry about moving around Spotify. We agreed a signal for when to start the 1st song, when to slowly turn the volume once I reached my H2B and when to start the 2nd song. He could control the speakers from a phone so he could sit with the rest of the guests, I'm not sure whether it would have been more awkward if he had to stand at the back of the room to control the stereo. I hope that reassures you a bit about that aspect, you just need to agree instructions beforehand.

Ask them if it would be decorated already - my sister got married in a registry office in October and they already had beautiful floral displays set up for every wedding that day.

I think it’s relatively normal for a guest to control music these days - that’s how it’s been at the last few weddings I’ve been to and how it will be for ours in a couple of weeks. We’re asking FH’s tech savvy uncle to do it for us - he’s delighted to have an important job to do. At my sister’s wedding the job went to one of her hens who wasn’t a bridesmaid, so again she felt involved.

You’ll probably find as you get closer to the wedding, lots of people will start saying, “let me know if I can do anything to help!” This is a way to take someone up on their offer.

As for timing, I imagine they do one wedding an hour, so say 50 minutes so there’s a 10 minute buffer in case of issues. They must know what they’re doing and know that’s the right timing, but maybe look for feedback from previous couples to know for sure. Maybe join a Hackney Facebook group and ask if anyone has got married there and can give you feedback.

For busy times in busier register offices that sounds about normal. Quite often when I turn up for a registry office wedding the last wedding are leaving as my wedding groom is arriving. There may be some le-way if they do not have another wedding either before or after yours.

Perhaps consider not decorating the room with your own flowers for the 20 mins that you are in there - guests may not even realise that they are yours. But If you did then at least you could take them with you and decorate your reception venue if you have one.

Big wedding venues will have someone doing the music but its not difficult to press play and then fade out, who ever is doing it for you may want to familiarise themselves and have a practice or use a guest that has their own Bluetooth speaker and is used to using it.