Civil partnership

Civil partnership formations are available for same sex and opposite sex couples. For more information about the similarities and differences between civil partnership and marriage, visit the GOV.UK webpage here.

Page contents

• Choosing a venue
• The cost of forming a Civil Partnership
• Book your ceremony or reschedule
• Giving notice of civil partnership
• Your ceremony
• Return your ceremony arrangement form and pay
• Re-registration of the birth of your child after a civil partnership
• Correct a civil partnership registration
• Religious Building Civil Partnerships
• Forming a civil partnership abroad
• Urgent marriage or civil partnership (deathbed ceremony)

Choosing a venue

Your first decision is choosing a venue for your ceremony and it will be one of the most important decisions you will have to make. In the Wakefield district your ceremony can take place at one of 'Our Venues' or at a venue approved by the Local Authority. Please click on the links for further information.

Outdoor Ceremonies

The law has recently changed to allow ceremonies to take place outdoors in the grounds of an approved venue. If the venue wishes to offer this then they  must first obtain confirmation from the local authority that the location for any outdoor ceremony is seemly and dignified. You should contact your venue for more information.

If your chosen venue has an approved outdoor structure or outdoor linked area and you would like your wedding ceremony to take place there, the venue should provide you with a copy of an outdoor ceremony agreement form which must be completed and returned to us at least 8 weeks prior to your ceremony. If you require a copy please contact us.

Please note that you should make additional plans with the venue to hold your ceremony in one of their approved ceremony rooms in case the weather is inclement on the day. The indoor ceremony room should be able to accommodate all of your invited guests.

Celebrate… your way

If you have your heart set on a ceremony in a barn with hay bales, a tipi in the woods, a lakeside, or in a private house or garden then choose to celebrate your way with us, by having your legal ceremony at one of 'Our Venues' or another venue approved by the local authority followed by a celebration ceremony at the venue of your choice (subject to a satisfactory risk assessment).

More information is available at our Celebrate your way page here.

The cost of forming a Civil Partnership

The fees associated with forming a Civil Partnership in Wakefield are provided in our Ceremony Fees document. A brief outline of the fees are below;

Non-refundable booking fee – a fee to secure your ceremony date and time

Notice of civil partnership fee – a statutory fee for each person to give their notice of intention to form a civil partnership

Ceremony fee – is subject to the venue, day, and time of your ceremony

Certificate fee – statutory fee of £11 for each certificate you require

Postage fee – fee to send certificates purchased, by first class signed for post after the ceremony

All other fees contained in the document are for additional non-essential services.

Your ceremony fee, certificate fee, and postage fee should be paid in full 8-10 weeks in advance of your ceremony.  Please contact us by telephone to make payment.  The ceremony arrangement form can be completed and returned by email.

Book your ceremony or reschedule

Once you have chosen your venue you need to book a ceremony date and time. The online booking form is not linked to a diary system, therefore we will need to check the date and time you have requested is available before confirming your ceremony.

If you choose to make a booking for a ceremony you will need to book online. Bookings are not taken by telephone. Your booking will be confirmed in 5 days.

Ceremonies cannot be arranged in less than 12 weeks. If you live within the Wakefield District and need to arrange a ceremony due to exceptional circumstances, please email ceremonies@wakefield.gov.uk.

Please provide detailed information as to your circumstances and documentary evidence to support your request. Unfortunately we cannot consider requests that are for personal choice only.

Giving notice of civil partnership

Once you have arranged your ceremony there is a legal requirement for you to each give notice of your intention to form a civil partnership.

Immigration laws changed on 1 July 2021 changing the process for giving notice and the documentation required. There are two types of nationality defined by the Immigration Service: a relevant national and a foreign national.

A relevant national is a British Citizen, an Irish Citizen, or a person who has been granted EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) status (either settled or pre-settled or has a pending application for that status (submitted before 30 June 2021).

A foreign national is an EEA national without EUSS settled status, EUSS pre-settled or pending application to the EUSS, OR any other person from any other country.

The first date you can give your legal notice is 12 months prior to your ceremony, however, when you can arrange an appointment and attend to give notice will differ depending on where you live.

If you do not live in the Wakefield area you will need to contact your local Register Office to arrange an appointment to do this.

If you plan to form a civil partnership in a Church of England or Wales and are a foreign national, you will be required to give notice at the Register Office as outlined above. Banns cannot be read. For further information visit our giving notice of marriage or civil partnership page.

Once you are within 20 weeks of your ceremony date please use the ‘Book Now’ button below to book your appointment at Wakefield Register Office or Pontefract Registration Office.

Unfortunately due to the additional demand for appointments on the registration service and significant resource pressures we currently have limited availability for notice of marriage/civil partnership appointments.

The date available on our online booking system is the next available date, please do not contact us by telephone to try and establish an earlier date as this won't be possible. However if the earliest appointment available would not allow 28 clear days to elapse before the date of your civil partnership please contact us on 0345 485 2888.

Please note that the booking system can only currently be used to book:

• appointments where both parties live in the Wakefield District and want to attend an appointment together
• appointments where only one party lives in District and the other will give notice in another District
• appointments for Marriages/Civil Partnerships taking place in England or Wales.

If you are booking an appointment where both of you live in the Wakefield District but want to attend separately, or you are forming a civil partnership outside England or Wales, please contact us on 0345 485 2888 to book your appointment.

Relevant Nationals

If you are a relevant national then before you can be married or form a civil partnership in England or Wales you must give notice of your intention to the Superintendent Registrar in the District where you live. Please note this does not apply to the Church of England or the Church of Wales.

If you are unsure where to give your notice, it is the registry office in the local authority area to which you pay your Council Tax.

If you and your partner are relevant nationals a notice appointment will not be booked until you have booked a date, time, and venue for your ceremony with the Registrar in the District where the venue is located.

Foreign Nationals

If you are a foreign national before you can be married or form a civil partnership in England or Wales you and your partner must give notice together of your intention to the Superintendent Registrar in the District where one of you lives.

We highly recommend you only book a ceremony once you have a confirmed notice appointment with your local register office. We would also recommend that the ceremony date you choose is more than 70 days after the date of your notice appointment.

If you plan to form a civil partnership in a Church of England or Wales and are a foreign national you will be required to give notice at the Register Office as outlined above. Banns cannot be read.

If you are within 20 weeks of your ceremony date and live in the Wakefield area please contact us to arrange an appointment to give notice on 0345 4 852 888 for more information please visit our page here.

Your Civil Partnership ceremony

Your provisional ceremony booking is confirmed when you have both given your notice of civil partnership.

The Registrar will provide you with a guide for your ceremony at your appointment to give notice. If you live outside Wakefield and give notice in another District we will send a guide to you in the post when we receive confirmation that you have given notice at your local Register Office.  The guide provides all the information you need in respect of your ceremony.

We provide you with many opportunities to enhance and personalise your ceremony so that it is unique to you. You can include personal vows, readings, and music. You can share your story, how you met, and your shared hopes and aspirations. You can also choose to combine sands, which symbolizes the two of you and your families joining together as one. If there is anything additional to this that you would like to include in your ceremony please contact our Ceremonies Co-ordinator by email at ceremonies@wakefield.gov.uk.

If at this point you would like to meet a dedicated member of our ceremonies team to discuss all aspects of your marriage ceremony, you can learn more about our bespoke ceremony meetings here.

Your ceremony will be delivered by a qualified, experienced, and dedicated Registrar.

Return your Ceremony Arrangement Form and make payment

You have been provided with a copy of a ceremony guide that outlines the choices you need to make in advance of your ceremony.  If you cannot locate your original a copy is available to download on this page. 

Your ceremony choices and fee should be completed and paid in full 8-10 weeks in advance of your ceremony.

Please return the form by post or email to ceremonies@wakefield.gov.uk.  Please provide a telephone number on the email for us to contact you to make payment.

Re-registration of the birth of your child after a civil partnership formation

If you and your partner are natural parents and have formed a civil partnership with each other or formed an opposite-sex civil partnership since your baby's birth and want the birth record to show your son or daughter as a child of your civil partnership then you need to:

• Download and complete the application LA1 form here
• Return the form by email to wakefieldregistrars@wakefield.gov.uk or post it to Wakefield Register Office, Wood Street, Wakefield, WF1 2HQ
• Upon receipt of a satisfactorily completed form, we will contact you for an appointment – only one parent needs to attend the appointment and bring the completed LA1 form which has been signed by both parents along with the documents as outlined on the form
• Please note that if your Civil Partnership took place outside the UK then your application will need to be referred to the General Register Office, therefore you should advise us of this before booking an appointment, as the appointment cannot go ahead without the approval of the GRO
• At the appointment to re-register you can purchase a new birth certificate

It is free to re-register a birth. However, if you wish to purchase a copy of the new birth certificate, it costs £11 per copy.

Correct a civil partnership

If you notice a mistake on your certificate after your ceremony you can apply for a correction.  The correction will need approval and be undertaken by the General Register Office before the Registrar can issue new certificates.

You need to;

• Contact us in the first instance as it is possible that the mistake is only on the civil partnership certificate.  We can check if the details on the civil partnership schedule are correct, and if a mistake was made when inputting the details into the electronic register
• If the mistake is in the electronic register you will need to complete an application form stating what the error is and how it was made.    Documentary evidence showing the correct information will need to be produced in order for the correction to be authorised and you will need to return any certificates you previously purchased for destruction

View the government advice on how to correct details on a civil partnership registration here.

It costs £90 to apply for a correction. If you wish to purchase a copy of the certificate after correction it costs £11 per copy.

Your civil partnership in a religious building

In 2011 the law was amended so that Civil Partnerships could be formed in religious buildings. A religious building can make an application to be approved as a venue for the formation of Civil Partnerships, however, to date, no premises within the Wakefield District have applied for approval.

Forming a civil partnership abroad

It is important that you consult with the local authorities in the country where you are planning to have a civil partnership to find out what you need to do.

Some countries may require you to give notice of civil partnership to the Superintendent Registrar of the District in which you live. Please contact us by telephone for further information.

Urgent marriage or civil partnership (deathbed wedding)

The Registrar General can authorise marriages/civil partnerships to take place at short notice in circumstances where one of the parties is seriously ill, not expected to recover and cannot be moved to a place where a marriage or civil partnership could normally take place. This is known as a marriage/civil partnership by Registrar Generals Licence.

A service is available for urgent arrangements to be made for marriages or civil partnerships by Registrar General's Licence. The service can be accessed by contacting us or, if outside of normal opening hours, by telephoning Wakefield Council Contact Centre on 0345 8 506 506 between 8:30am and 5pm, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays excluding Christmas Day.