Gretna Green, Scotland (Anyone having a small wedding or eloping?)

[Goldfinch2912]

Hi Everyone!

I was just wondering if there are any Gretna Green brides or grooms out there?
After doing some research, I discovered that my USA partner and I couldn't submit notice to marry in England unless he had been in England for 7 consecutive days, (I'd never really taken notice of it before!), which he hadn't. Because of this, we are getting married in Gretna Green in Scotland as they have no such rules! Due to booking the wedding fairly quickly, so I can apply for my CR1 Visa asap, we are only having 4 (maybe 6) other family members there. Next year, we will hold a big wedding reception for the rest of our friends and family so I guess I get to wear my wedding dress twice, can't complain about that . Our friends and family seem to think it is very romantic and fitting to our long distance story! Has anyone else planned something similar? Small wedding first and then reception at a later date? We are getting married next month December 29th and I literally cannot wait. Haven't seen him since September and I'm on a bit of a "so close yet so far" hump at the moment! 41 days 'till he lands in LHR!

[lucybelle]

We had an elopement planned and it turned into something slightly larger with a total of 13 people at the wedding (including us and the two drunk guys who randomly showed up!) I loved it. The only thing I would do differently would be to have a photographer.

About a year later we had a reception with a band, drinks, cake, and a photographer since I realized I wanted one! It was a lot of fun and pretty relaxed since we didn't have to do any marrying that day.

So yeah, I'm a fan.

[Goldfinch2912]

We had an elopement planned and it turned into something slightly larger with a total of 13 people at the wedding (including us and the two drunk guys who randomly showed up!) I loved it. The only thing I would do differently would be to have a photographer.

About a year later we had a reception with a band, drinks, cake, and a photographer since I realized I wanted one! It was a lot of fun and pretty relaxed since we didn't have to do any marrying that day.

So yeah, I'm a fan.

Haha, awesome ! Yes, we booked a package which includes a photographer as I'm really keen on having some photos. I'm a photographer myself so I'm hoping to take my camera and fill in the little bits our photographer won't do like my shoes and dress hanging up etc...

Sounds nice! Did you wear the same dress or something different for your reception?

[lucybelle]

I wore different dresses. But they were quite affordable, both together were less than $200. Both were short and I've worn them again since then.