Notice of intention to marry or enter into a civil partnership

Once you have selected your venue and made the booking(s) you must both give notice of your intention to marry or enter into a civil partnership. This is the term used for the legal preliminaries.

You will both need to give notice, in person, at the register office of the district in which you live. However, if either of you are subject to immigration control you must both give your notices at a designated register office, which may not be in your district of residence. A list of designated register offices can be found on the marriage and civil partnerships section of the Directgov website. Richmond upon Thames Register Office is not a designated office.

All of the offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland are designated Register Offices.

You both need to give notice, no one can do it on your behalf.

Residency requirements

Before either of you can give notice, you must both need to have lived in the registration district in which you wish to give notice for at least seven full days (eight nights), immediately before giving notice.

For example, if you move into a house or arrive in the country on Tuesday 1 September, the seven day period starts the following day, Wednesday 2 September, and is complete on Tuesday 8 September. You can then give notice on Wednesday 9 September.

If you live in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and neither of you are subject to immigration control, this is the office you need to attend. You will need to make an appointment to give notice, please telephone 020 8940 2853 or 020 8940 2651.

Documents

You will each need to produce documents when giving notice.

After you have given notice

Once you have given notice, your notice will be displayed on the notice board(s) in the register office(s) you attend for 15 clear days. The notice boards can be viewed by the general public. This is a legal requirement.

After 15 clear days has elapsed for each notice, you are free to marry/enter into a civil partnership but you will need to obtain your Certificate for Marriage/Schedule for Civil Partnership.

For example, if you both give notice on Wednesday 9 September the earliest date you could get married/enter into a civil partnership would be on Friday 25 September.

If notice is not given in time then the marriage/civil partnership cannot take place.

Certificate for Marriage

A Certificate for Marriage is issued for each of you by the register office(s) to attended to give notice.

If you are not getting married in the district where you gave notice, the 'Certificate for Marriage' for each of you will need to be collected from the register office(s) you gave notice at and delivered to the register office in the district of where the marriage is taking place.

Schedule for Civil Partnership

Once your notices have been given, it is not necessary for you to return to the office to collect any paperwork. The Register Office for the district where you will form your partnership will be able to print your legal paperwork once the waiting time has elapsed.

Validity of a notice

A notice is valid for 12 months but it is valid only for the venue named on the notice.

It may be possible to alter the date/time of your marriage/civil partnership (provided it is before the expiry date), but a change of venue would require a fresh notice and fee.

Fee

There is a statutory fee of £35 to pay for each notice given.

Credit card payments are subject to a handling fee. There is no handling fee for debit card payments.