Using a civil celebrant for your wedding gives you the freedom of your imagination when planning your special day.  You choose the venue, ceremony, songs, poems, vows etc. to make it a unique, special and beautiful occasion that reflects your personalities and the love you share.  The joy and love you feel on starting married life together is captured and shared with family and friends.

The legal bit.

The first thing to do is to give your Registrar notice that you intend to marry. Try and make arrangements with them for the date and time of your registration as soon as possible. This could be either on the morning of, or a day or so before, your wedding ceremony

You need to arrange for two people to be present to act as witnesses at your Registration of Marriage, as stated in The Marriage Act.

The legal bit takes 20 minutes in your local registry office with your two witnesses .

The registrar will prepare your Marriage Certificate for you.

Below are some useful ilnks to the legal bit:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/how-and-when-give-notice-marriage

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/living-together-marriage-and-civil-partnership/getting-married/

Sophie and Chris registered their marriage on the Thursday before their Saturday wedding at The Bristol Registry Office in the Corn Exchange.

Below is a link to their FB page so you can see a range of different ways that wedding parties use the venue.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bristol-Registry-Office/138096176376896

For us, it was just a small, low-key occasion for the closest family members. A necessary formality. Sophie and Chris didn’t even exchange rings, as they wanted to keep this for their wedding ceremony on the following Saturday, a celebration of their love and commitment, which was going to be enjoyed by all their family and friends.