Civil weddings

You can marry in any Register Office or Licensed Venue of your choice 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 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.  Richmond is not a designated Register Office. You must be resident in that district 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 16 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 to the office that will be dealing with your ceremony.

You cannot be married 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.