The legal part of your Wedding – To be legally married you can either have a religious or civil ceremony.  Independent celebrants cannot perform legal marriages

in the UK at the moment, so you will need to marry at a registry office prior to your celebrant-led ceremony. 

The marriage ceremony in the local Registry Office or local authority approved premises will take approximately 10-15 minutes.

The Superintendent Registrar will make a short statement about marriage; you can ask the registrar beforehand to indicate what form of words will be used.  It is not possible to use religious words or hymns in the civil ceremony.  However, the ceremony may include readings, songs or music that contain reference to a god as long as they are in an ‘essentially non-religious context’.

​Each partner is required to repeat a standard set of vows. These may not be changed, but may be added to, as long as the additions are not religious. Rings are not required but can be exchanged if the couple wishes to.  After the ceremony, the marriage register is signed by both partners and the registrar. Two or more witnesses must also sign at the time of the marriage. Witnesses don’t have to be of a certain age but you should check with the registrar marrying you if they have an age limit on who they’ll accept.

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