cheap registry office slot - where to go??

[growinglavender21]

Hi everyone - looking for some wise advice or tips about registry office weddings. We want one of the small, cheap, quick ones - just the administrative process. I keep reading you can get that for around 45 quid, but those slots seem impossible to find at any London registry office. I appreciate the councils make money from the fancier, more ceremonial versions so want to push those. We're willing to travel by train to anywhere within about 3 hours from London - don't care where. Any tips of places that genuinely offer the c.45 quid option near or in London? Thank you!

PS I should've said, I know we need to pay to give notice and for the certificate itself on top of that. We just need to find a suitable registry office so we can get on with giving notice locally first. Thanks!

Some to try in Herts...

A small statutory register office ceremony room for up to 4 persons is available in the Hatfield Register Office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Watford Register Office on Mondays, and Stevenage Register Office on Wednesdays. The statutory fee for this ceremony is £46.
The fee for a marriage certificate is £11

Could it be that only the larger rooms are available due to covid? Councils might want to maintain social distancing for their staff conducting the ceremonies?

It's £57 for the basic ceremony (the two getting married, two witnesses and registrar) in Bournemouth.

But surely, by the time you've paid to travel anywhere (either fuel or public transport) you'll have spent more than any saving you've made?

Bow registry office in tower hamets have a cheap slot on a Tuesday/Wednesday. Not sure if that's of any interest.

It's £200-odd for a basic ceremony locally to me, in the Midlands - the rooms are lovely, but it hasn't been anywhere near £45 for years, even midweek.

I expect if you can go for a midweek slot you'd get it cheaper, but I'd second what others have said... by the time you've travelled, you'll probably have cancelled out any savings you've made.

That said, Bournemouth seems cheap...

I think you should just look for the lowest cost ceremony in London. For something as important as a wedding, to travel miles to a place you may have no connection with and spend fuel or train fares, just does not seem right to me.

www.sayidoislington.com/town-hall/statutory-room/

Islington looks good.

Just to say , I would recommend Islington as their booking process is so smooth and the building is beautiful. My husband and I married there and it was a lovely backdrop for our photos.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, this is really helpful! It does seem like there’s a really limited supply of the more affordable options - I wonder if that was always the case? Some of the councils I’ve looked at only offer one of those slots a week. Feels a bit unjust that such a basic government service should be unaccessible for many people.