Gave notice of intent to marry and…

[PlusOneThousand]

…it was very anticlimactic. I had heard we’d be interviewed separately and would be asked lots of questions about each other, how long we’d known each other, etc. We were not, it was very boring. The only thing I was asked to confirm about my fiancé was his name.

anticlimatic like clicking into this post then? 🤣

Sorry! Haha. I suppose I was just expecting more of a grilling, as everyone else we know appears to have had

Jokes aside, I thought that only happened when you were marrying a foreign national.

When I clicked on this thread I expected to find out you’d discovered he was a bigamist

Is this normal for England, or is one member of the couple a foreign national seeking leave to remain?

In Scotland, you just need to take your birth certificate and (if applicable) divorce papers to the registrar's office.

If you want a grilling then try something like The alpha pre marriage course

My aunt didn’t have this exactly, but she did find out my uncle was divorced when she went to her appointment

What’s this? 👀

All my reference points were couples married in England previously, but we are also in England and yeah, just took our documents to the registrar’s office. Very straightforward.

Or get married in a Catholic church.

Google "pre marriage course church of england" (or whatever denomination you are)

Not the case.

They have the right to question you separately but that doesn’t mean they will. Registrars know what they are looking for

That's good, it means the marriage itself will be full of climaxes 😉

Perhaps you were imagining the experience a bit like a grilling from the Home Office investigating a spousal visa? Totally unrelated to your post, a South African called Justin offered me money once to marry him. Not enough money though!

Hope your wedding day rocks and you live happily ever after.

@minnienono we got questioned separately (both British) wonder what vibes we gave off!

Getting married in the Church of Scotland was surprisingly easy, but it depends on the minister. We expected that we might be refused because DH was a divorcee, but the minister just asked why the marriage had broken up.

DH said "We drifted apart." [Reality - his ex had acquired a boyfriend, but DH was quite private.]

The minister outlined the process of the banns and going to the registrar's and also advised what to do if I wanted to change my name on my passport.

The leaflet that we were given said "The minister doesn't attend receptions..." but when my man invited him and told him which hotel we were using, the minister accepted with alacrity!

We got questioned separately, dunno why, we're both British nationals. They can't have been that bothered though coz they got me in to help when DH couldn't explain what my job was 😂

We are actually getting married in a Catholic Church abroad! It was more straightforward to marry civilly here.

Thank you! I think I was expecting something more Home Office like, yes, but the reality is we’re both British nationals (well, I was using an Irish passport but I have both)

No, wife and I (both British) were asked loads of questions about each other. She struggled to remember my date of birth. 😂

I suspect that the questioning may be far more rigorous in some registration districts than others. I have a vague recollection of reading about one particular register office somewhere in London being frequently used by the organisers of sham marriages; so they must need to be on the lookout for that sort of thing.

Possibly! This was in London

I can’t remember this (though I’ve been married since the dawn of time) but I can remember going to church when the banns were read and thinking “is that it?”

Oh and congratulations OP!

We were asked quite a few questions - eg DP's date of birth and how long we'd been together. She made us come in one at a time to answer them, too. We were in London, too. We had a laugh that it was like Green Card the movie.

We were asked separately. They didn’t seem bothered by the fact that DH couldn’t remember my DoB or the date of the wedding!! He’s rubbish with dates but I think they realised it wasn’t a scam wedding. I guess if it was he’d have done a bit more revision!