Who to have as witnesses?

We didn't have best men/bridesmaids but we chose the closest people to them as our witnesses, my 17y/o niece and one of my OH's best mates.

Do you have siblings that don't have a role already? Or I've seen grandparents as a nice option.

We're having my brother and FH's stepson (who is also his groomsman. His son is Best Man). We wanted his stepson to have a larger role in the wedding, and we agreed to have someone from my side as the other. I'm walking down the aisle on my own, so my brother was my obvious choice.
I've been Best Lady and witness at the same wedding before though.

Do you have any sibilings you could use instead? I recall seeing an advice tiktok about not choosing friends because they’ll away be on your certificate especially if you fall out down the line!

Yes siblings could work, we have 3 between us though so not sure how we would pick without someone feeling left out.
I hadn’t thought about the flaw in using friends, that could potentially they may end up not being friends in the future.
Leaning towards family, starting to think mother’s is just easier even if I’m not 100% happy about it.

Our witnesses were my OHs best man and one of my closest friends (I didn't have bridesmaids)

I don't think you need to worry about falling out with them in future - how many times do you actually look at the witness names on your wedding certificate anyway?! And probably better to pick a friend you haven't fallen out with (yet) than a mother-in-law that you already don't have a great relationship with!

If you want to go with siblings, then can you find a role for the third one (doing a reading?) so that he/she doesn't feel left out? You could also have that sibling join the other two for the signing - while only two witnesses are needed to sign the paperwork, you can have extra people there.

View quoted message We just picked our oldest sibilings on each side to make it fair. They can’t argue with that then! X

View quoted message Good point I don’t think many people regularly look at their marriage certificate so maybe it doesn’t really matter too much.
We are only having 30 guests so I quite like the idea of almost randomly picking two people, everyone there will be close family and our closest friends. Not sure the best way of doing this though and do you think people would be onboard with it being a surprise or is it something people feel they need time to prepare for?

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There are two potential problems with this - one is that some people may not feel comfortable being a witness and the other is that the registrar will probably want to know beforehand. I know they did at our wedding, as they asked to speak to our witnesses briefly before the ceremony began.

You could randomly pick two people in advance, but I would check with them that they are happy to do the role.

For our witnesses we are having the best man and the matron of honour the best man is my OH’s oldest friend and matron of honour is my sister. x

Your close friends or family members who've been super supportive and positive about your big day, might be a great choice