Booking your legal marriage or civil partnership

Celebrants cannot currently perform legally binding marriages in England and Wales, so couples are required to separate their legal registration of marriage or civil partnership from their celebrant ceremony. This is a similar process to registering a baby’s birth and then having a Christening or Naming Ceremony to celebrate them.

The first step is to book a date and venue for your legal marriage or civil partnership to be completed. You can hold a legally binding civil ceremony at:

• a registered office

• any venue approved by the local council

For marriages, you will then need to give notice of your intention to marry. You are both required to give notice at your local Register Office, whether or not you wish to have your statutory civil ceremony in that district.

Your notice of marriage must state where your legal ceremony will take place, so you will need to book it before giving notice. The government stipulates that couples must give notice of at least 29 days and at most 12 months before the legal registration of their marriage.

 

Options and costs for your legal marriage or civil partnership ceremony

You may wish to hold your legal wedding and your celebrant wedding on the same day, at the venue of your choosing, providing the venue is registered for marriages. Or you may choose to make them on two separate occasions.

To be legally married or enter into a civil partnership, a registrar must be present. You will also need at least 2 witnesses. Some registrars are happy to work alongside celebrants and will come to your chosen venue to complete the legalities on the same day.

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Small ceremonies in working offices, otherwise known as 2+2, you and 2 witnesses

There is a fee of £56 for a small ceremony in a working office in Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn and Norwich.

There is a legal fee of £42.00 for giving notice of marriage to the local registrar

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(A minimum of 29 days must be given before the wedding day.) Marriage certificates cost £12.50 each

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These ceremonies are held at our offices in Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, and Norwich on Monday mornings. You will need to select either 'Great Yarmouth Registration Office,' 'King's Lynn Registration Office,' or 'Norfolk Register Office, Norwich County Hall' from the drop-down list of venues.

These ceremonies are only for the couple and two witnesses. A standard ceremony script will be delivered with no option to personalise your ceremony.

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I know through personal experience from a couple who have previously engaged with me that you can attend an office in another county, they used Chelmsford. (the fee may vary from the one Norfolk charge)

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