Celebrant-led wedding ceremonies: booking your legal marriage or civil partnership

At present, celebrants are not able to perform legally binding marriages in England & Wales. Couples are therefore required to separate their legal registration of marriage or civil partnership from their celebrant ceremony. This process is similar registering a baby’s birth before having a Naming Ceremony or Baptism/Christening to celebrate or commemorate this.

The first part is booking a date and venue for your legal marriage or civil partnership to be completed. A legally binding civil ceremony can be held at:

·         a register office or

·         a venue approved by the local council

Notice of your intention to marry is required, and this must be at your local Register Office, whether or not you wish to have your statutory civil ceremony in that district. You will need to book your legal ceremony before you give notice, as the notice of marriage must state where your legal ceremony is taking place. As stipulated by The Government, couples must give a minimum of 29 days and a maximum of 12 months notice before the legal registration of their marriage. 

Options and costs for your legal marriage or civil partnership ceremony

You can opt to hold your legal ceremony and your celebrant wedding on the same day, or you can hold them as two separate occasions.

In order for your marriage or civil partnership to be legally formalised, a registrar from the local authority must be present. You are also required to have at least two witnesses. Some registrars are happy to work alongside celebrants and will come to your chosen venue to complete the legal formalities on the same day. Alternatively, you may wish to have your marriage legally formalised separately. This can take the form of a simple, statutory ceremony costing around £57, or a larger ceremony, with guests. Often, couples wish to have a small legal ceremony at the register office, which can include close family, with a larger, more personalised celebrant-led wedding ceremony to follow, which they view as their main wedding day.

Although costs and processes differ between registration districts, if you inform your local register office that you would like a celebrant-led ceremony, they will be able to discuss the options available to you. If your registrar is willing, I am always happy to work alongside your registrar, in order to help make the whole process as easy and stress-free as possible for you.