Eight steps to help you plan your intimate elopement wedding in the UK.

Updated: Jul 27, 2022

Bride and groom sit on cushions with a rustic table setting in a British barley field. Bride wears a Shikoba Bride designed bridal outfit and Glorious by Heidi bridal headpiece. — Weddings don’t require a guest list of hundreds to be magical! Bride wears a Shikoba Bride two piece by and the Loelia Crown from Glorious by Heidi

If the recent restrictions on weddings and the resulting reduced numbers have taught us anything, it’s that weddings don’t have to be grand affairs in terms of guest list numbers to be wonderful events full of soul and passion!

As celebrant led weddings become increasingly popular in the UK, opening up opportunities to have a ceremony almost anywhere you can secure permission to do so, if you choose to get wed just the two of you plus a few friends, by using the following advice it really couldn’t be simpler!

Photo of bride and groom stood in a barley field facing the sun as it sets. Long haired groom wears a pink suit, bride holds a bouquet and wears a lacy wedding dress by Shikoba Bride — Intimate weddings allow more time for the two of you to share and capture time together on your wedding day

Draw up a list of the locations where you’d like to hold your wedding celebration and contact the land or property owners to find out if / how to secure permission to do so. Be expansive in your choices as some of your choices won’t be available.
Sit down together to list all the places that you and your partner have enjoyed spending time together admiring a particular view, enjoying a woodland walk, picnicking in the countryside, watching your fave band, and that could potentially work as a location for your intimate or elopement wedding celebration.
Unless you choose a licenced venue for your intimate or elopement wedding (search your local authority website for approved wedding venues) you’ll need to sort out the legal side of your marriage by contacting your local authority to register your intent to marry via a civil ceremony at a registry office. This requires at least 2 witnesses at the ceremony and payment of a small fee and can be done before or after your celebrant led wedding.
Research and contact celebrants who you could see delivering the perfect personalised ceremony for you and your partner at your intimate or elopement wedding - social media is a good place to look to get a true flavour of the individual celebrants and what they offer.
If you want a wedding photographer, wedding videographer, a wedding cake, flowers and of course a bridal hair accessory to mark the occasion, remember that these suppliers book up well in advance so you’ll still need to give plenty of notice to secure your favourites even if it is for a smaller wedding!
If it’s just the two of you and a few friends, think about how you want to be entertained. Perhaps a bit of food, drink and some good conversation will be all you need, but if you did want some music, or games, take a moment to plan those things out. Or you could step right away from tradition and go for a walk together finishing at a good picnic spot, or book an instructor & have a go at wild swimming, or have a yoga session followed by a massage…the options for planning your intimate elopement wedding are pretty exciting and limitless.
You’ll be making big savings by opting for an intimate wedding so think about where else you might spend your budget. Perhaps you’ll want to go all out on a huge floral arch that’ll look amazing as a backdrop to your wedding ceremony in all the photos; or have a designer create you bespoke outfits that truly reflect your style; or pay to have an on site chef to cook a romantic meal for two; or book the wedding photographer of your dreams to exquisitely capture you and your partner on a hilltop with the sun setting behind you, or curled up in the shade of your favourite tree, or cycling through a landscape that means something special to you and your partner; or maybe you’ll want to contact me to design a bespoke wedding hair accessory that really speaks to your heart!
Fewer guests mean more time for the two of you on the day. How do you want to spend that time? If you’ve booked a videographer talk to them about using that time to really capture and celebrate the essence of your relationship. If you’re both into climbing how about having your videographer capture the two of you climbing a rock face to your ceremony spot? Check out Forever Curious’ awesome video of couple Phoebe and James doing exactly this!!!

If you’re looking for further inspiring ideas for your intimate beach wedding, woodland wedding, seaside wedding, pub wedding or elopement wedding, head to the Glorious by Heidi Pinterest board - \\ Wedding Inspo \\ Intimate elopement weddings \\