Mothers’ names on marriage certificates

[MittensForKittens123]

I didn’t really pay much attention at the time, but I remember last year it was announced that marriage certificates would be changed to include mothers’ names as well as fathers’.

Does anyone know when the new certificates will start being used?

We get married in September, and I’d really like my mum’s name to be on there - she was a single mum, and I feel like she ‘deserves’ to be on there much more than my dad. Wedding planning with divorced parents is hard!

I was told that it is only the online version of the certificate that will have an option for mother’s name but the hard copy will still just have father. I got around it by having my mum sign as one of the witnesses

We did the same. Our mother's signed our marriage certificate

Thanks both, that sounds like a good compromise- I might call the registrar next week and find out exactly- I’ll report back!

It was in the news the week i it engaged, and I was so happy. A year later and nothing else seems to have been done with it, which is a shame.

Hopefully I’m wrong and you get good news from the Register Office.

We had both mums sign as witnesses so that both were on the certificate.

We had mums as witnesses too.
our vicar told us aboutaa year ago that it was changing but no idea when!

Yep, I'm another one who had both mums as witnesses so their names are on there.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3501391-Any-registrars-around-Question-about-marriage-certificate

Looking at this thread it seems the change might have been made!

So I got an answer from the registrar- it’s not the answer I wanted but it’ll have to do...
“Many thanks for your email. This is very unlikely to be an option for your ceremony in September I'm afraid. It is most likely to happen as part of the changes to the law that will allow Civil Partnerships to take place between opposite sex couples, since the Supreme Court ruling on this we haven't yet been given any sort of timeline of when this is likely to be.
Adding your Father's details to your marriage certificate is completely optional if you would prefer not to record one parents details without the other“

Oh :(

What about those who don’t have fathers for whatever reason? Who signs in thier place.

Fathers don't sign, it's just traditionally the certificates recorded their names and occupations, but not the mothers' which is the change coming soon. In order to have both represented on certificates, albeit in different ways, many people choose their mums to be the two witnesses thereby having both mums and dads names on them.

If the fathers name isn’t entered on the certificate it will remain blank - as it states fathers name fathers occupation

I am glad it’s at long last changing as the marriage certificate hasn’t changed since 1837 (whereas birth and death have both altered)

It's changed this week! In the telegraph today that it was passed this week - put forward by Tim Loughton MP. Great news.

That’s great! Do we know how long it will take to get through the House of Lords? If I’ve understood correctly, as soon as it gets the Lords stamp then it’s law - is that right?

Get married in Scotland . Mothers names and occcupations have been listed for decades.

Bloody hell, we've managed to include Mums in Scotland for many, many years. It's really not hard.

I'm not sure, this diagram explains the process I think, but it doesn't state timings.

I was slightly wrong saying that mothers names have been on marriage certificates in Scotland “for decades”. It’s actually since 1855 .

Not just their name either, it’s also maiden surname of mother, additional married names if remarried and rank, profession or occupation.