A relaxed, intimate registry office wedding

When it came to getting married, Jean and Tom knew just what they didn’t want – any faff or unnecessary stress. And definitely no long days out dress shopping! Instead they chose to focus on the bigger picture, and their relaxed and intimate wedding at Perth Registry Office was the perfect way to start their new adventure.

Love at first sight or gradual attraction?

We met through work…

Jean – I chased him for ages but wasn’t sure he was interested.

Tom – I just thought she was like that with everyone, haha.

Jean – We then started going out after being friends for a while… it began with a long distance relationship then we decided to buy a house together.

On the first night of being in the house, Tom asked me to marry him.

What inspired your wedding plans?

We wanted a stress free day… and we didn’t want it to take over our lives. We didn’t want the added faff or stress that can come with weddings. And we wanted it to be about more than one day… which it is!

We didn’t want a big wedding (even though we both have big families), with all the added extras. We wanted a simple but special day for our wee family (me, Tom and our dog, Murphy).

I did my own hair and make up, Tom wore his tailor-made jacket and waistcoat. I didn’t go dress shopping – I bought my dress on Etsy and wore my favourite sandals. We didn’t have a stag or hen do either.

We got married in the beautiful Old Chambers at Perth Registry Office which is like an old castle! As we only had our immediate family it felt very intimate.

We then went to our favourite woodland and had some photos taken, then went to the restaurant which was a stone’s throw away.

We arrived and soon drinks and short speeches were made. The room where we had our meal was decorated with flowers which the chef had prepared herself! We then cut our cheese wheel cake, made with our favourite cheeses. The remainder of the night was spent mingling with the family!

We love your dress! Tell us more…

I’ve been a bridesmaid before and, quite frankly, I hate shopping! I was inspired by my close friend, Christina and how she decided on her wedding dress. She designed her own and got it made locally. She let myself and the other bridesmaid design our dresses (as we have very different figures) but only set the colour of black. She wanted us to have a wee black dress we could wear after the wedding! There were no frantic and stressful dress shopping days out!

So, with this in mind, I wanted to follow the same ethos. My main aim for a dress was – simple, white, something I could wear again after the wedding, value for money, bohemian, and something I could wear bare-footed (again, I couldn’t be bothered with shopping for shoes!).

I then searched for maybe two hours online for designs and I found it on Esty. It was everything I wanted! And it was machine washable!

I wore sandals with it as I wanted to be comfortable and it was summer. They also had tiny little coloured jewels on them.

I wanted flowers in my hair… a natural look and local flowers, so I ordered a bunch of flowers to choose from for my hair as well as a bouquet. Tomnah’a grow their own colourful and fragrant flowers, which matches my personality!

And what about your outfit Tom?

I wore a blue waistcoat and a jacket with a green tartan pattern by Hunter Kingsley. Jean got it for me as a Christmas present so I got to design my own waistcoat and jacket! It’s not just for the wedding but can be worn for any other occasion.

My shoes were from Dune and were brown with bright blue soles.

Were there any challenges along the way?

Too many people wanting to have their say! And people thinking that the wedding planning, or the wedding was the be all and end all of our life. Our life did not revolve around it.

Any advice to share?


It’s very easy (scary) to get wrapped up in those ‘extra’ touches and what the guests would like, so we want to remind other couples it’s about your lives together, not one day. Do what you and your partner want!

Any suppliers you’d like to give a shout out to?

Them all! We loved the fact all the suppliers were local, bespoke and unique to us!

Doug was fantastic as a photographer.

Our cheese wheel wedding cake was outstanding too, we had an open house wedding day at our house and the remaining cheese was finished then!

I love my dress, I cant wait to wear it on the beach… or to a party… or make it into a shawl.

We made our own wedding rings with Vanilla Ink, they have a studio in Glasgow (and, yes Murphy was present!). They were outstanding.

I also loved my flowers which I’ve pressed and I’m going to reuse by making a picture for the wall!

Honeymoon or minimoon?

We didn’t do any, due to the dog sitting situation, though the three of us (me, Tom and Murphy) did have a day out to the beach and coffee/cakes in St Andrews two days after we got married.

We also had an open house party day for all our friends and family a week after we got married!

What’s the one moment you’ll always remember?

Tom – Waiting outside the registry office with Jean’s mum, waiting on Jean coming back… she was picking up the dog after we got married!

Jean – Being told that our music was too loud and guests were complaining about it at the pub!

We love that these two (plus lovely Murphy!) went their own way. It’s your day, you do you!