Thinking of getting married?

Within these pages you will find all the information you need to arrange your civil marriage in a Register Office or Approved Venue, how to give notice of marriage for a civil or religious marriage and how to arrange a Registrar to attend your religious marriage if necessary.

• If you are marrying in the Church of England or Church in Wales by Banns or Common Licence, you should contact your Vicar regarding any necessary legal preliminaries.
• If you are marrying in any other sort of church or chapel or by civil ceremony in a Register Office or approved venue, notice of marriage has to be given personally to your local Superintendent Registrar.

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 to give your notices of marriage.
• If you live in separate registration districts then each of you will need to give notice separately in your own area.

You can give notice of marriage up to twelve months in advance of your wedding day. Once you have both given notice, you must wait a further fifteen clear days before the marriage can take place. Contact the Register Office for more advice as soon as you have decided to get married.

For an appointment please contact us

When you go to the Register Office you will be asked to produce certain documents, depending on your personal circumstances. These documents should be original documents not photocopies and may include:

• valid passport
• birth certificate
• driving licence
• evidence of home address (e.g. utility bill / bank statement)
• evidence of any change of name (e.g. Deed Poll / Statutory Declaration)
• decree absolute of divorce
• death certificate of late wife or husband
• if you have not yet had your eighteenth birthday - the written consent of your parent(s) and/or guardian(s) or any organisation with parental responsibility.

A fee will be payable for each notice. For current information please contact our office.