Somerset Wedding Registration Service - Ceremonies Guide

Give notice in the district where you live between 28 days and 1 year before your ceremony.

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BOOKING THE REGISTRARS

GIVING NOTICE This is the legal bit that takes place in advance of the big day. It’s not the same as booking the registrar, though both are very important steps for making sure you can actually marry! It’s the formal declaration that you intend to marry, and that you are legally able to do so. It’s a face-to- face appointment that usually lasts around 45 minutes and can’t be done over the phone or online. If you’re having a Church of England wedding, this process is normally covered by reading the banns in church. You can give notice up to a year in advance, and it needs to happen at least 28 days before the ceremony. You have to state the date and location of the ceremony during your appointment, so do make sure your registrar and venue are booked before you make the appointment. Once granted, the notice is only valid for the venue you have named, so if you change your mind you will need to repeat the process and pay a new fee. This is why we advise giving notice around 3-6 months before the wedding, to ensure that all your plans are firm first. The notice is valid for a full year, so that allows flexibility if disaster strikes and you need to move the date. You need to give notice in the district where you live, not the district where the ceremony will take place. This may mean that you both give notice in different districts if you don’t yet live together – that’s totally fine! Book your notice appointment online via our website. You can choose whichever office is most convenient and it will automatically offer you

appointment times. When filling out the questions, you’ll be advised to contact us for a manual booking if your immigration or marital status means you may need a longer appointment time. Don’t worry – it doesn’t mean you can’t get married, but the session will be a little longer than the standard ones. If either of you are not UK citizens and are subject to immigration control, you will need to give notice together in a district where one of you lives. The process for UK couples takes 28 days but can take 72 days for other couples depending on your immigration status. Email us with an appointment request in plenty of time, explaining your nationality and current immigration status so we can book your appointment for you and let you know what documents to bring. Documents normally needed are a current passport or full birth certificate. You will also need your mother’s birth certificate or passport if you were born after January 1st 1983. This confirms your ID and nationality. You will also need proof of address such as a driving license, utility bill or council tax bill. If you have previously been married or had a name change you’ll need to bring documentation for that too, e.g. Decree Absolute or Deed Poll certificate. Any foreign documents not in English will need a translated copy. If you are not a UK national, you will need proof of your immigration status, such as a visa or government access code. Check our website for more details on what we can accept.

Once you’ve settled on a venue and a date, you’ll need to book the registrar. If you are booking a ceremony at a register office, they will automatically be booked and included in the ceremony fee. Some venues may ask you to secure a registrar before taking your booking, but they will normally hold the date for a couple of weeks while you get that sorted out. It’s worth discussing backup dates before getting in touch in case we can’t accommodate your first choice. We will normally have a team available if you are happy to be flexible with your ceremony time. We take bookings up to 2 years ahead, so get in touch as soon as you know what you want. Once that’s ticked off your to- do list, you can relax a little bit! To book a registrar, just fill in a booking request form via our website. Our team will call you back to discuss availability, confirm details and walk you through next steps. You’ll also get a confirmation email with lots more info, so don’t worry if you don’t take it all in at first! Use this process to book your whole register office package in one step – venue and registrar, including Abbey Manor and Frome Town Hall ceremonies. Our ceremony prices are all-inclusive, with no hidden extras like cancellation, amendment or booking fees, and they are fully refundable should the event not go ahead. All our packages also include a copy of your certificate too. To keep things simple, we don’t operate a deposit system either. Just get in touch at least 8 weeks before the big day to pay your ceremony fee. If you’re giving notice in our district you can pay when you pop in for that appointment.

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CEREMONIES GUIDE

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