8 isle of wight ceremonies guide
ON THE DAY Arrival
Witnesses On the day of your ceremony, the law requires that you bring with you at least two other people who are prepared to witness your celebration and sign the marriage or civil partnership schedule. They may be relatives, friends or colleagues who are able to speak and understand English, as they must be able to comprehend what is taking place and testify to what they have seen and heard. Signing the schedule You will be asked to sign your usual signature on the schedule in the name you are contracting the marriage or civil partnership (for example, as you would normally sign a cheque or application form). This is even if you will be changing your name after the ceremony. Number of guests Of course, in addition to your witnesses, you may wish to invite your family and friends to your celebration. Each ceremony room will be licenced for a particular number of guests and you must adhere to these numbers as they are laid down according to fire regulations (photographers and videographers are included in this number). No extra guests are permitted to stand in the ceremony room, unless stated. Please note that children of any age are counted as individual guests and must be included in your overall numbers.
It is very important that you and your guests arrive in plenty of time – it is probable that the registrars will have other ceremonies to attend on the same day, so we are unable to delay the start of your celebration so that we do not risk being late for any other couple’s ceremony. You must be ready to start your ceremony on time. If you are late for your ceremony, we may not be able to proceed as planned and may have to remove some of your ceremony enhancements. To avoid any disappointment, please make sure that you have allowed enough time to get ready and arrive at the venue calmly and promptly. You are both required to be ready for a pre-ceremony interview with the registrar before your ceremony can begin. This is from 30 minutes before the start time of your ceremony. Your guests will be seated whilst this interview is taking place and so it may be useful for you to appoint an usher who can help co-ordinate this. If you do not wish to see each other until the start of the ceremony we can conduct separate interviews at all of our venues, and their staff are well practised in keeping you hidden until the last moment. We will also endeavour to help you stay apart at our register office too, but due to the nature of our building, this is not always possible. You may wish to nominate a guest to liaise with the registrars at our offices to try and assist with the situation.
DK Photography Isle of Wight, www.dkphotography.org.uk
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