Giving Notice - Two Different Councils

Hi - if you are getting married in a different location to where you live then you will deal with two or possibly even three registrars. You give notice at the registrar where you live. If you both live in the same area then this will be to the same registry office, if not then you will each give notice to the relevant office. it costs £35 each. So for you this means you give notice to Gateshead. You have to provide certain pieces of evidence, utility bills to prove residency in the area, passport, birth certificates etc to prove identity and in some cases proof of your freedom to marry - this is if you have been married before. You pay the registrar the fee when you go to give notice. You can only give notice no later than 28 days before you are due to wed but no more than 12 months before - all of this is set in law and all registry offices work the same for giving notice.

After you've done it the notice of intent to marry is displayed. As long as no one raises any objection, the licence to marry is produced. It contains all the information you have provided and is what usually then appears on your marriage certificate. The licence may be held for you to collect and then pass on to the registrar undertaking the ceremony or they might post this direct to the registrar. Check what they will do when you give notice.

The money you have sent to Durham is not for giving notice, even you thought it was, but will have been taken as a deposit against your booking for the ceremony. All registry offices work differently when it comes to ceremony bookings. Some insist on deposits, others, like mine, don't want any money until a month before. Again, check with the registry office. In this instance it's Durham for the ceremony.

Durham are likely to contact you when they have the licence to marry as they'll want to check the details are correct, but again, do check.

Hope that helps. It can be confusing.

Jesus, I'm glad you thought of posting this because I wouldn't have known any different! We are getting married in Edinburgh, but live in Warwickshire...I've only been in touch with the Edinburgh council. Do I need to get in touch with our local council/reg office too then?!

This is confusing! D'oh!

Yes you do! You need to tell them you need to give notice. They'll arrange an appointment. It's worth doing it early as some registry offices only offer very limited appointments for giving notice and you might need to take time off work etc. But it's really exciting and one of the most important parts of getting married. Without doing it - you don't get married ( unless you're getting married in a church of course)

Thank you!!

That has been REALLY helpful! I'll make a note of it, and get in touch with both Durham and Gateshead to give notice.

Why can't these things be straight forward ?

Thanks again!

You don't get in touch with Durham to give notice - only Gateshead. Durham is purely for your ceremony.

Oh... GODD >.<

They make this all look so simple on TV. You just arrange a registra and TA-DA you're married!

We've got the same issue - I live in Hampshire, OH lives in West Sussex, and we're getting married in Wiltshire. Paid £35 to Wilts council to secure the date and they gave us a date by when they want us to give notice, and a reminder it's done in the edistrict we live in, and we pay them direct (£35 each). Think the ysaid we get sent the paperwork and have to pass it on to Wilts to get the go-ahead for the wedding. We've then got to pay them the balance of the ceremony.

I have found that some council websites explain things a lot better than others

Date twin, we are 20th june as well.

We live in West Berkshire and are giving notice in March.

However we are getting married in wales and have booked the registrar there. I need to check how the licence will get to them