Richmond Wedding Guide - London Borough of Richmond upon ...

Legal Preliminaries
Civil Ceremonies
You can marry in any Register Office or Licensed Venue
of your choice anywhere in England or Wales. At a
Licensed Venue, Registrars from the local Register
Office will attend to conduct and register the ceremony.
The first thing you need to do is decide on a venue. You
then need to check the availability of the venue on the
date of your choice. If you want to marry at a Licensed
Venue you will also need to check with the local
Register Office to see if the Registrars are available. You
may need to be flexible over the time of your ceremony.
Once you have selected your venue and checked the
availability of the Registrars you need to ‘give notice’.
This is the term used for the legal preliminaries. Both
parties need to give notice, in person, in the Register
Office of the district in which they live. If either one of
you is subject to immigration control you must both
give your notices in a designated Register Office, this
may not be in your district of residence. Richmond is
not a designated Register Office. You must be resident
for at least seven days prior to giving notice. You can
attend together but you each need to give your details
individually. Your notices will be displayed on a notice
board in the Register Office for 15 days. You cannot
give any less notice than this. At the end of the notice
period the Superintendent Registrar will issue
authorities in respect of each notice. If you are
marrying in your own district the Superintendent
Registrar will keep your authorities with your
paperwork. If you are marrying outside your district
you will need to collect your authorities from your
local office and take them to the office that will be
dealing with your ceremony. You cannot be married
Photo courtesy of Thomas Photography
without this paperwork. Notice MUST be given at least
16 days before the date of the wedding.
You can give your notice up to a year in advance of the
day of the ceremony.
Notices are ‘venue specific’ - if you change your venue
you must each give fresh notices.
Religious Ceremonies
If you are marrying in a Church of England or Church
in Wales you will need to talk to the vicar, he/she will
advise you about what you need to do.
If you are marrying within any other denomination
you will need to give notice (see Civil Ceremonies) at
your local Register Office.
You first need to get permission from the minister or
governing body of the Church. Some Churches need
the attendance of a Registrar at each ceremony but
some have an ‘authorised person’ who acts in the role
of Registrar. If you need the attendance of a Registrar
you will need to book them as far in advance as
possible.
When you have given the notice and it has been
displayed on the board you will need to collect your
authorities from the Register Office and deliver them
to the Minister. He/she cannot marry you without
these documents.
Photo courtesy of The Richmond Studio
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