Registry Office

[SamT210]

Hi,

Please excuse the ignorance of this post but I'm just after some help. Me and my partner have always agreed we don't want the fairytale big wedding. We'd much rather keep the actual wedding very minimal and then have a get together with all family and friends when the time is right. Can anyone advise on the procedures and costs of getting married at a registry office? We both have separated parents with difficult divorces so the idea of having all parents there is very daunting. Can you have ceremonies with no guests? Thanks for reading!

You need two witnesses. That's all. They can be random people - they don't have to be family or friends. You go to the registrar office to get the license (you need ID etc). You then have to wait two weeks before you can actually get married. Book a time slot for anytime after those two weeks, turn up, say some legally required words, sign the registrar. Done. Go home. Maybe buy your witnesses a thank you drink.

@bookmum08 oh really? Didn't imagine it as being so easy, that sounds ideal. Thanks for the reply! x

Oh and price of the license and the services of the Registrar is about £200 tops - it sometimes varies depending on what day of the week you get married as to what they charge. Weekends usually cost more.

All you need is two witnesses and they can be strangers off the street if you choose. My husband and I had a registry wedding and it was brilliant. As for the cost, mine was 20+ years ago and I don't even remember exactly, but I do know it was very inexpensive.

We had the same simple ceremony as Bookmum explained, was a couple of years ago, but cost us about £150, we did do a party etc in the evening so whole event did of course cost more, but registry office was a cheap and cheerful option for us

That's what we're after, would rather spend the money on a real good party after rather than the venue, photographers etc. Thanks for your help ladies.

We got married last week in a Registry Office. We had to register our intent to marry (£35 each) then wait 28 days after that appointment before we could marry. £240 for the Registry office venue and £270 to the Registry office to conduct the ceremony.

So £580?

Yes, it might vary in different areas I suppose but that was what it cost us in Worcestershire. Glad we did it, it was a lovely day despite only having 16 guests

Those who have had a registry office wedding, what did it actually entail? Do you do the whole walking down the aisle thing to music?

CatEatCat you can walk down the 'aisle' if you want and have music. Rules are no religious music. There are some specific legal words you have to say. I can't quite remember them but it's the whole "I take blah blah to be my lawful wedded...." stuff. You can do vows if you want to. At my one there was some pre written vows you could use or you could write your own. You don't have to have any vows if you don't want to (I didn't). Basically you can make it fairly formal and wedding like (dress, aisle, music, vows) - it's just no religious aspect to it. Or you can go totally the opposite and just have the legal basics, no music and dress in your jeans.
Mine was a bit halfway. I would have been happy with the jeans and 2 witnesses and not much else. However my mum said I had to at least wear a 'nice dress' (urgh) and it was a bit more formal than I liked.

We got married 12 years ago, in those days there were a choice of three ways to recite the vows - three varying lengths, and you could add whatever you wanted around those vows (even the longest ones were pretty short). You could add in readings or music (always non religious) and walk down the aisle etc. It was a lovely building with oak panels and sweeping staircases where we got some lovely photos. (There were 3 ceremony rooms too, small, medium and large, so you could have whatever style wedding you liked).

A statutory wedding ceremony costs £46. All registration districts must offer this option.
A marriage certificate is £11.
Your notice of marriage fees are £35 each. You must give notice in England or Wales at least 28 days before your ceremony (get married on the 29th day).

All in £127.

Please be aware that statutory ceremonies are very, very popular at the moment and you may need to wait.

In my area the statutory ceremonies can only be on a Monday.

Though they do offer you different choices of words or you can write your own, at the moment the rules state that the service duration needs to be kept to an absolute minimum. Six minutes max I think

I am sure it was 14 days not 28 - but I may be wrong.

It is definitely 28 days

You can’t have vows at the moment due to coronavirus, the ceremony has to be as short as possible. You just say the legal part.

It used to be 14 days a few years ago but is now 28 days.

I got married 8 years ago so I guess it was 14 days then.