Notice of intention to marry

Once you have selected your venue and made the booking(s) you must both give notice of your intention to marry. 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, this may not be in your district of residence.

Further details can be found on the General Register Office website and you can also find your local register office from the DirectGov website.

Richmond upon Thames Register Office is not a designated office.

76 Register Offices in England and Wales have been selected as designated Register offices. 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.

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 but you will need to obtain your Certificate for Marriage.

For example, if you both give notice on Wednesday 9 September the earliest date you could get married would be on Friday 25 September.

If notice is not given in time then the marriage 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.

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 (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 £30.00 each to pay when you give notice.