Essex registration service - painfully waiting for contact!

Hi, not sure if this will help or stress you but here goes...


We are not booked with Essex but are having similar challenges with Westminster.Our original wedding date was 24th April (registrar all booked) but because of restrictions not lifting in enough time to get dress fittings, tastings, suits, Hair/makeup trials etc sorted we postponed till 10th July. All our suppliers and vendors were fine with this.
The only challenge is the registrar. We’ve emailed and filled out the appropriate online forms asking to reschedule to 10th July. After not receiving a response (it’s been over a week) I bit the bullet and called.
The person I spoke to advised me to call again naming him explicitly and asking to hear back ASAP. But the part that had me worried was 1) he said keep calling until I receive confirmation as they are very busy2) in Westminster there are no appointments for statutory/legal ceremony (ie just to sign the paperwork) until 21st November 2021!
Based on the above I’d suggest keep calling until you get some sort of confirmation. I know I am. Hopefully they get so tired of hearing from me they give me the date and time I need.
My fiancé even said if they don’t have slots on our new date we ask our venue if we can swing by to sign the paperwork on our original date if they don’t have a wedding on.
These are crazy times x

View quoted message Thanks so much for your reply. Eeek! Stressful isn’t it!
I have absolutely no confidence we will be able to get a slot. When I called last Friday she asked what date we were looking to move to and when I told her she said “oh we are busy that day, we don’t have 2.30 but we do have 12.30 or 3.30”. So now I’m not likely to even hear from them before Friday this week you can bet those two slots will have gone!

I think I will ring again tomorrow. It’s so frustrating. Takes so long to get through!
Not a bad idea to still do the legal bit on your original date though! I did suggest to my fiancé if we can’t get the date we want we could go for a tiny registry office ceremony whenever they can fit us in and then exchange our own vows on the big day with a friend officiating maybe.
All the best to you I hope you get your confirmation through soon x

View quoted message Thank you. Yes it is so stressful and uncharted territory for couples and the registrars office.


The doing it on our original date is more so that if we are unable to get a new appointment for the day of our wedding event we a) don’t lose the registrar b) don’t have to wait to God knows when to have a legal ceremony c) have to pay to give notice and book again.It’s not ideal as my parents really want the ceremony and party on the same day for pictures etc but at this rate covid brides can’t be choosers ??‍♀️? (if I don’t laugh I’ll cry)
I’m off on Friday so will be calling again.hopefully will get this all sorted sooner rather than later.
Fingers crossed for you too!.

Hi, I'm afraid I don't have any advice but just thought I'd share that you're not alone. We're also on our second postponement and we have everything in place to reschedule our wedding from June to August, except for the fact that Southwark register office isn't getting back to us. Our venue are holding the date (for now) but our suppliers are not so I need to get it sorted asap. I sent the request on Monday, chased by email Wednesday and called the office today to be told they've had hundreds of requests and don't know when they'll be able to get back to me! At this point I'm thinking we'll have to give up on getting married this year. It's not practical to make provisional plans for a particular date and then have to wait a week or more to find out whether it's possible.

I hope you both have some luck with your weddings soon. x

Hi, just to say I’ve just received confirmation of our new date and time from the registrar. Hopefully yours comes through soon x

View quoted message So glad you have heard! We heard last night and got our date too. Relief! X

View quoted message Hi Hannah


Thanks for replying. We heard back last night and have our new date confirmed. Also moved from June to August. It took 8 days to get the call! Different area but at least you know there is hope. Really hope you hear something from them soon. The poor woman who called me last night was hoarse from talking!
I think if we hadn’t have been successful with this request we might have given up for this year too. Very stressful rearranging with all the suppliers, venue and registrar.
All the best! X

Glad to hear you're both sorted. What a relief! Fingers crossed I'll hear back soon. x

View quoted message Excellent news all around!
The minor stressful moment came 11am today - they said they only had 1pm and 3pm at that time.
Responded asking for 1pm and heard back at 5pm saying yes. Now having a glass of rosé to celebrate x