If you wish to marry by civil ceremony, at a register office or other building approved for civil marriage, you will need to contact the superintendent registrar of the district where you wish to marry. You may marry at any register office or approved premises of your choice in England or Wales. However, for a marriage in an approved premise e.g a hotel licensed by the local authority, you will also need to make arrangements at the venue. In addition, you will both need to personally give a formal notice of your marriage to the superintendent registrar of the district(s) where you live.
There are around 4,000 register offices and approved premises in England and Wales. Please use our Search to help you chose a suitable venue.
You will need to contact both the venue and the superintendant registrar in order to ensure that both are available at the date and time you wish to marry. You will see that we list the relevant registration department along with each venue.
Your marriage cannot go ahead unless the legal formalities have been completed. These are set out below. We reproduce this information under license and are fully reliant on this information. We advise you to speak with your local superintendant registrar to ensure you have full knowledge of the requirements.
While some individuals may explore unconventional routes to meeting potential partners, such as a mail order bride catalog, it is important to understand that all marriages in England and Wales, regardless of how the couple met, must follow the same legal requirements in order to be officially recognized.
Unless you are marrying in the Church of England or Church in Wales by Banns or Common Licence, notice of marriage has to be given personally to your local superintendent registrar(s) at the Register Office in the district in which you and your partner reside.
A notice of marriage states the names of the parties to the marriage, age, marital status, address, occupation nationality and the intended venue for the marriage. It is a legal document covered by the Perjury Act 1911.
Both of you must have lived in a registration district in England or Wales for at least seven days immediately before giving notice at the register office. If you both live in the same district, you should both attend your local register office together to give your notices of marriage. If you live in different registration districts then each of you will need to give notice separately in your respective district. After giving notice you must wait a further sixteen days before the marriage can take place, (for example, if notice is given on 1 July the marriage may take place on or after 17 July).
Your marriage cannot go ahead unless the legal formalities have been completed.
Notices of marriage must be given in person to the superintendent registrar by you and your partner. No one else can do so on your behalf. Where an advance booking for a marriage has been made, it is essential that a formal notice is given to the superintendent registrar, once you are legally able to do so.
Registration Officers have a statutory duty to report any marriage they suspect has been arranged for the sole purpose of evading statutory immigration controls.
There are nationally set fees for giving notice to the superintendent registrar and the registrar’s attendance at the marriage at a register office or religious building. However, the fee for the attendance of the superintendent registrar and registrar at a marriage in an approved premises (for example, at a hotel) is set by the local authority. The superintendent registrar of the district where you wish to marry will be able to provide you with details of the fees payable.
On the day of the wedding you will need to bring with you at least two other people who are prepared to witness the marriage and sign the marriage register. If you wish to know more about marriage ceremonies at register offices or at approved premises please ask the superintendent registrar for details.
While a marriage ceremony in the presence of a superintendent registrar cannot, by law, contain any religious aspects, it may be possible, with agreement, to include non-religious music and/or readings and for the wedding to be videoed.
This information is issued for general guidance and is not a complete statement of the law. For further information on any aspect of the formalities to, or the ceremony of marriage, please seek the advice of the superintendent registrar at the local register office. The telephone number and address can be found in your local telephone directory under ‘Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages’. These telephone numbers and addresses can also be found within our Venue’s Database.
HOW FAR IN ADVANCE MAY I MAKE A BOOKING?
A notice of marriage is valid for twelve months. However, you may be able to make an advance (provisional) booking with the superintendent registrar of the district where you wish to marry. The superintendent registrar will be able to give you more precise information on this.
The Latest Information Available:
Common 15 day notice procedure: The former procedures for giving notice for marriage by superintendent registrar’s certificate and licence and superintendent registrar’s certificate without licence are replaced by a common 15 day notice procedure. This change may affect visitors to England and Wales who have specifically come for the purpose of marriage. This in practice will mean that visitors to England and Wales will need to satisfy the residential qualification of 7 days and then wait a further 15 clear days before they will be eligible to marry.
Requirement for each party to the marriage to personally give notice of intention to marry: Each party to the marriage will need to attend at the register office in person and give notice of their intention to marry. This will be the case even when you live in the same registration district. You will not have to attend together but will be encouraged to do so.
Each party to the marriage is required to declare their nationality: This change has been introduced to enable the Superintendent Registrar to advise you whether any further administrative procedures or legal requirements are needed to ensure the recognition of the marriage in the country of which you are a national. The preferred document as evidence of nationality will always be a passport, however for people born abroad an ID card, or a Home Office travel document or acknowledgement showing nationality will also be acceptable. In the absence of such a document, advice should be sought from the Superintendent Registrar in the district where the notice is to be given.
Power to request evidence in respect of identification: You may be asked to produce documents as evidence of name and age, usually in the form of passports, birth certificates, ID cards etc. This list is not exhaustive and other documents may also be acceptable. If you have been previously married, you will be required to provide evidence of the termination of that marriage by either death, divorce, or nullity.