Marriage certificate

[Frogqueen13]

Not really aibu but need posting for traffic.

Threw my marriage certificate away by mistake, paid £23.40 via the gov website for a replacement so we can apply for our mortgage and they have sent us a photocopy....

Is this right? How can I get a photo copy verified?

£23.40 for a photocopy!!

Aibu to expect an actual certificate?

Is it a photocopy or an official copy? I used the archive service (I think it was cheaper, £10 a cert IIRC) and it's been fine.

Its a photocopy on bog standard a4 paper

Are you sure you used the official website? Neither the price nor a photocopy on a4 sounds right to me.

Yes it was for the priority service I am so annoyed

I got a copy of mine last year. It wasn't that Mitch and it looked exactly the same as my original

Are you sure it’s a photocopy or is it an extract of the register dated in the last few weeks (whenever you applied)? I got a copy of ours recently and it was printed but dated as an extract in december 2018. Has been fine and is officially an ‘original’ certificate.

This one

Its not even straight on the paper

I’d complain then. I’ve ordered several marriage certs through them and have all been proper ones.

The £9.25 one is sent after 14 days. It seems the correct place.

In Birmingham they are £10 each plus £6 fee per order, so it varies.

My replacement is identical to the original except the signatures are 'photocopies', not original. But it's the same shape, size, colour etc.

@IAmRubbishAtDIY it was long and thin this one is a4

Hmm. Weird. Have you tried looking via the council of wherever you got married?

I didn't think you could get real replacements, only certified copies. Is it certified?

Oh cross post. Well all you need is the certification.

There's an online complaints form on the GRO website.

That look fine to me. All marriage certificates are copies of the original register entry. As long as it is certified it will be ok.

So where to I get it certified the post office said no as its a photocopy?

If its on official a4 green paper landscape and signed by a Registrar or deputy registrar its official.

They're either computerised typed copies of the record or actual handwritten photocopy of the original book.

It's the paper that matters it will have a serial code at the top 3 letters then numbers and is officially known as a certified copy of the marriage tegister.

I'm a Registrar

Make a brief appointment at your local register office, they'll photocopy, and verify and sign using specific wording which will be acceptable to most banks (although some insist on seeing the original certified copy on green paper).

If it's on green paper it's official and the post office have it wrong. Most of the old records are handwritten and need to be photocopied from the registers.

It does look a bit flimsy.

You only get the long thin ones and day of your marriage, they're always handwritten. Once it's on the system you get A4 paper.

Sounds fine to me. I would just go to another post office counter to be honest, I suspect the person you saw was wrong.

I applied the same as you and got an A4 copy dated as per yours, mine has been accepted without issue.