Civil Weddings

Legal Aspects of a Civil Ceremony

In order for a civil marriage to take place, notice must be given by each party to the superintendent registrar in the district where you live (or both districts, if you live in different places). If you intend to marry in a third district, you must also give them notice and provisionally book their time. It is worth bearing in mind that if you both live in different districts, and wish to marry in a third, you will be paying for three notices of marriage - one for each district.

At this stage you will also need to produce documentary evidence in the form of birth certificates or passports, and, if either has been married before, proof of how the marriage ended (such as a decree absolute). Once these formalities have been carried out, you need to collect the authority to marry from your registration district and deliver it to the registrar who will attend your ceremony.

In order to satisfy the residential requirements, each of the couple must have lived in their district for at least seven days immediately before giving notice. After giving notice, the couple will have to wait a further sixteen days before the marriage can take place. This means that if notice is given on 1 September, the first day on which the marriage can legally take place is 17 September.

Once issued, the certificate is valid for one year from the date the notice was given. This means that the marriage can take place between sixteen days and one year after the notice was given.

Booking your Approved Venue and Registrar

Many approved venues ask that you book the registrar before you book the venue; however, ideally, you need to book the venue at the same time as you arrange the attendance of the registrar or they may not both be available at the same time.

The best way to deal with this is to decide upon the venue first, and check when it is available. Contact the registrar immediately over the telephone, with a few suggested dates and times, to secure a final date.

See also: Civil ceremony planner