Images from our archives by London documentary wedding photographer Emis Weddings

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Sometimes all the trends from every generation just seem to merge into something extra special. In fifteen years of writing about weddings, I’ve seen everything from vintage to fine art, boho and timeless weddings go by. A favourite “trend” for me was intimate weddings, which followed the 2020 pandemic out of necessity. And through all of these trends, one constant remained: the longing for a unique and different wedding.

Listen to experts like Mark Niemierko, the UK’s leading celebrity wedding planner, and you’ll see how uniqueness and creative thinking go way beyond wedding trends. And the quiet wedding – brought into the limelight by Gen-Z celebrities this summer – has always been a super classy approach for the ultimate in celebrity weddings. Suddenly we’re all talking about quiet weddings and “RegistryCore” (where your ceremony’s in your local registry office) is exciting news.

Should you have a quiet wedding?

Never listen to what the wedding media say you should do. Your wedding is your own, and it’s up to you whether you fall in love with this trend, or any other you see on Pinterest for that matter! We shared a lovely blog about quiet proposals earlier this summer, and scaling things back certainly seems popular right now. While the media are already proclaiming wedding trends for 2026, and many are talking of smaller guest lists and a focus on authenticity (and content creators!), plenty more will be claiming 2026 as a year of opulent, luxurious weddings. (They always do!) Everyone’s different… and that’s always been a wonderful way to approach planning an individual, unique wedding. You do you!

Pros and cons of quiet, registry office weddings

• Smaller guest lists are the simplest way to rein in spending
• Fewer guests will often mean less planning stress
• If you have a generous budget, a more intimate wedding allows you to focus on really luxurious details
• Personal touches can be ramped up if you’ve only a handful of guests. Think handwritten notes with special memories for every guest, or polaroids of your times together, elegant calligraphy menus and handwritten touches
• A pared down, minimalist ceremony in a registry office almost invites a full-on celebration later – and this can be anything you want it to be. Hire a celebrant, dance all day long, hike up a mountain. With the formalities out of the way, you can have a weddingy event full of imagination and authenticity – and that already sounds amazing
• But you can’t style a registry office wedding. I’m thinking of spaces like Hackney Town Hall, where your time slot is everything. In contrast, a country house or barn venue allows a creative, styled ceremony
• And you will have to sit through the standard, “we declare our relationship formally to the UK government” vows if you marry in a registry office. (Note: they don’t literally make you say those words, but that’s the gist of it, and romantic it is not!)

What can we learn from the RegistryCore and quiet weddings trend?

I’ve always loved wedding blog readers for being independent thinkers, and ahead of the crowd! You lovely lot don’t follow trends blindly – so it’s almost pointless me saying there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Q: Where did the ‘trend’ for registry office weddings come from?

A: A desire for a unique and different wedding.

Cheeky Q: What’s not going to be unique and different now?

Cheeky A: Registry office weddings. Oh.

If you’re looking for something unique and different, look to your relationship, to what makes the two of you special and unique (ask your friends).

I’ve yet to see a trend for not formalising your wedding vows at all, but having a celebration regardless – and that one, I will jump on the bandwagon for! Hell, I’ll drive the thing!

My ultimate tip for a unique and different wedding

Don’t avoid Pinterest and instagram entirely. Binge them – understand what other people are doing on their wedding days, and what you like and don’t like. Then drop all wedding social media like hot potatoes. Go cold turkey. (Sorry for the food metaphors: I’m writing this hungry!) Step away from all of those preconceptions about what a “wedding” should be, and ask yourselves how you’d celebrate your relationship and declare your commitment if you were the first couple ever to do it? 

Where would you go? (up a mountain, out to sea, to Africa or Iceland?)
What would you wear? (party clothes, suits, wetsuits, glitter?)
Who would be with you? (no one, everyone, or family and friends at separate events or times?)
What would you eat? (breakfast, pizza, street food, ice cream?)
What would you dance to? (nothing, your fave festival band live, classical on the lawn or RnB at the coolest club in New York?)

Then do that. And have the most incredible time doing it!