Making a Provisional Booking

To begin the process of arranging your ceremony you will need to make a provisional booking with us.  Please note that from the 1st April 2011 there is a booking fee of £20.00. Once your booking is accepted you will be given a letter confirming your arrangements, along with a copy of our Terms and Conditions of Booking (Ceremonies) (see related downloads).  The booking remains provisional until you have given your Notice of Marriage or Notice of Civil Partnership.

A Civil Marriage ceremony or Civil Partnership can take place in any register office in England or Wales, or at any venue approved by the local authority. These include stately homes and other prestigious buildings, hotels and restaurants. We have a list of approved venues in the Wakefield district (see Related Links).

Give notice of Marriage/Civil Partnership

• Once you have made your provisional booking you will be advised of when and where you will need to give Notice and, for bookings of at least 12 months in advance,  the first date on which you can legally give notice. You will also be given information regarding which documents the registrar will need to see at the time of your notice.
  
  
• Once your Notice of Marriage or Notice of Civil Partnership has been given,  your booking becomes confirmed.

Witnesses

• On the day of your Marriage or Civil Partnership, you will need to bring at least two other people who can sign as witnesses.

The ceremony

• A Civil Marriage ceremony cannot have any religious content, but you may be able to arrange for individual touches such as non-religious music and readings to be added to the legal wording, and for the ceremony to be videoed.
  
  
• Our Register Offices will be able to tell you more about the options available. 

Civil Partnership

• A Civil Partnership is a legally binding procedure for couples of the same sex which will Civil Partnership provide a number of important rights and responsibilities and equality of treatment on a wide range of legal matters. 
  
  
• A Civil Partnership is legally formed by the signing of the Civil Partnership schedule. Like a Civil Marriage, this is also non-religious, but couples who wish to arrange for a ceremony should discuss this with the Registration Officials.