Giving notice

No it doesn't, its just that the registrar can't be booked more than a year in advance. We gave notice in March and will wed in October. HTH

No it doesn't have to be exactly a year before, how would people manage it if they decide to get wed 6 months after getting engaged!

You can give notice no earlier than a year before but any time after as far as I'm aware.

Notice must be given no longer than one year in advance and at least 14 days before the ceremony is to take place.

Oh thanks. Seems a silly question now but it's just a few things people have said.

Do you think it would be better to go earlier though?

I would do it as soon as possible just to something ticked off the list and one less thing to think about. Also there was an 8 week wait for us just to give notice!

You can't book the date more than a year in advance. So I'll be at the registry office at 9am on 29th August this year to book for 29th August next year. I'll sort out the notice after that as I have to give notice somewhere different to where we're getting married.

If you are giving notice at the same place as you are getting married why don't you just book an appt when you book the actual date?

I'm confused now. I have booked my appointment to give notice on 18th August (the wedding is 27th June next year) but the registrar that I will need to book is in another area. We have already made a provisional booking I thought the procedure was that you had to give notice in the area that you live and they will then inform the registrar in the area where you will be getting married. This will then confirm the provisional booking. Have I got this right? Or do I need to book a separate appointment to officially book the registrar where I will be getting married?

We aren't getting married til 2010 but have already provisionally booked the wedding date and time of the ceremony. We can't give notice til next april, and after the 14 period we have 3 months to confirm the date we booked or it gets reopened out to the public and if someone takes it and we have to choose another date we loose the deposit we paid.

We have to give notice where we live then take the documents of proof we are legible to marry to the registrar's office where we are getting married ( next council parish). I guess it's different if you have a church ceremony. x

The 14 period? I thought they sent it for you rather than you taking it. This all gets rather tricky when these places are only open mon-fri 9-5 (there's only so much time off work people can take!!). I also haven't paid a deposit yet either, it has all been done verbally over the telephone. Starting to panic now that I will lose the date of the registrar (we have already booked so many things for the date!)

Have you tried emailing the registry office if phoning is difficult? I got a bit confused so emailed them and they came straight back to me the next day.

I think it depends where you live and the registry office itself. I'm in Kent and have been told by the Registry Office they will not let me book 29th August 2009 until 29th August this year at the earliest - you can't even reserve it! But I would assume if you are booking a registrar to marry you at somewhere other than a registry office then they may be a bit more flexible and let you reserve more than a year in advance.

The only way you're going to sort this out is if you speak to them. Try not to worry and let us know how you get on.

OK...we called the registry office of the council where are venue is on the date of our wedding (1 years notice) as this was the earliest we could book the registrar...this ensured we had someone to marry us at our venue on our wedding day. THEN, we booked an appointment to give notice at the council offices where we live as you need to do this so people can raise any formal objections to the marriage. We did this recently and the marriage notice is on formal display at local council offices for 15 days. After that period the local council office notifies the venue coucil office that the marriage notice had no objections. The the venue council send us a wedding pack with details of what happens, recommended readings etc on the day! So if you are getting married outside of your local council - you need to speak to two registry offices!! HTH

Thanks everyone. Tomorrow I am going to ring the registrars at the council where we are getting married and hopefully make the provisional booking a confirmed one before I go for the appointment at the council where we live to give notice in August.

Its all different again in Bonny Scotland! We can't give notice until 3 months before! We are currently pencilled in with the registrar but it makes me nervous that I'm getting married in less than 4 months and don't officially have the ceremony booked yet!! I'll be much happier when the form is posted on 1st August!!

Morning - cheers Loobyg. Yet another thing that has slipped my mind. What would I do without you.....