![Sample our Law journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5942/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Law.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
In principle, it is possible for a couple to get married in a register office in England or Wales for £127 (including the cost of giving notice and a certificate). In this article, we draw on empirical research to show how limited this option is in practice. Its availability is constrained by the scarcity of register offices limited slots for weddings, and the addition of other fees not provided for in the regulations. Its accessibility is often not obvious from local authorities’ websites, and the administration of such a wedding varies hugely, with some local authorities treating it as a no-frills legal procedure, and others regarding it as a significant ceremony that is incomplete without music or a reflective introductory speech by the superintendent registrar – even if the couple wanted neither. With significant numbers of couples having a register office wedding because the marriage ceremony they choose to have to reflect their beliefs is not legally binding, there is a need to address these issues of availability, accessibility and administration so that couples are not put off or discriminated against. Further research is also needed to explore how these issues impact those with limited means.
Funding
Part of this work was supported by the Nuffield Foundation under Grant number JUS/FR-000000384.
Disclosure statement
Rebecca Probert is specialist consultant to the Law Commission’s Weddings Project.
Notes
1. Marriage Act 1949, ss 44(3) and 44(3A).
2. Including £35 for each party to give notice (if both are relevant nationals) and £11 for a marriage certificate: The Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/911.
3. On which see R (ota Harrison) v Secretary of State for Justice [2020] EWHC 2096 (Admin), paras [20]-[22].
4. On the requirements of the 1949 Act, see Law Commission (2020, ch 2).
5. AG v Akhter and Khan [2020] EWCA Civ 122.
6. While these are not static, all of the information on the cited websites was re-checked before submission.
7. There are 27 counties, 33 London boroughs, 37 Metropolitan boroughs, 56 English unitary authorities and 22 Welsh unitary authorities.
8. This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org.
9. We have followed the usage of the Law Commission in referring to the legal ceremony of marriage as a wedding. However, since many of the couples in our study saw their non-legally binding ceremony as their ‘real’ wedding, we have ensured that we always use the term ‘legal wedding’, or otherwise clarify what form it took (eg ‘civil wedding’ or ‘register office wedding’), in order to avoid confusion.
10. To preserve their anonymity, all are referred to by a code rather than by name. Participants in focus groups are identified by a letter to denote the focus group followed by a number unique to each participant. Interviewees are generally referred to by number alone, with an additional A or B where the couple were interviewed together. For more details about the sample composition and method (including ethics, recruitment and data management), see Probert, Akhtar and Blake 2022, ch 2.
11. The Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) Regulations 2005, SI 3168/2005, Sch 1 para 4 stipulates that approved premises cannot be a register office but that this ‘does not apply to premises in which a register office is situated, provided that the room which is subject to approval is not the same room as the room which is the register office’.
12. https://www.ceremoniesinsidecoventry.co.uk/homepage/40/ceremony-fees-from-1-april-2021—31-march-2022.
13. Ceremonies in East Sussex, https://www.ceremoniesineastsussex.co.uk/brochure/? pp 18–23.
14. Celebrate in Hampshire, pp 24–28, available at https://www.hants.gov.uk.
15. For example, while all five of Northumberland’s civic venues are referred to in some headings as ‘Register Offices’, only Alnwick is given the Register Office suffix and offers a statutory ceremony: https://www.mynorthumberlandwedding.co.uk.
16. See eg Cumbria, which offers ‘Register Office ceremony rooms’, all of which are in registration offices: https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/registrationservice/marriages/ceremonyrooms.asp.
18. Lincolnshire (https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk) and Lancashire (https://lancashire.gov.uk) appear to offer such ceremonies in all of their registration offices, while such ceremonies are available at three locations in Devon (Exeter, Tiverton and Torridge), three in Norfolk (Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn and Norwich: https//www.norfolk.gov.uk), five in Shropshire (all in local libraries: https://shropshire.gov.uk/births-and-marriages/our-fees/fees-for-2019-2022/) and six in Somerset.
19. The ceremony had taken place in Surrey, where it costs £330 to marry on a Friday, with the notice fees making it £400 exactly (or £411 with a copy of the certificate): https://www.surreycc.gov.uk.
21. See eg Northamptonshire: ‘Monday to Wednesday between 9am and 11am subject to office availability’: https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/councilservices/births-deaths-ceremonies/Pages/fees.aspx.
22. For example, statutory ceremonies are available on different days at different locations in Hertfordshire (Mondays (Watford), Tuesdays and Thursdays (Hatfield), Wednesdays (Stevenage): https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/births-deaths-marriages-and-citizenship/ceremonies/weddings.aspx); and Shropshire (Tuesdays (Oswestry and Whitchurch) and Wednesdays (Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Shrewsbury): https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/births-and-marriages/our-fees/fees-for-2019-2022/).
23. Newcastle (‘Monday to Saturday’: https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/newcastle-registration-service/register-office-fees); South Tyneside (Monday-Thursday and 10am on Saturdays: https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/34820/Register-Office-fees).
24. See eg Ealing (‘non-refundable admin fee of £5 per person’: https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201037/marriages_and_civil_partnerships/2036/give_notice_).
25. See eg Cumbria (£45 to book the ceremony and a £35 ‘amendment fee’ if the couple need to amend the date: cumbria.gov.uk/registrationservice/fees.asp).
26. See https://www.birmingham.gov.uk.
27. lbbd.gov.uk/marriages-and-civil-ceremonies.
28. See ceremoniesineastsussex.co.uk/crowborough-register-office-fees.
29. At the time the minimum cost of marrying was £120, with the cost of a certificate being £4. Two couples reported paying £50, and one £56: these all included the cost of the certificate.
30. Two couples did not respond to this question, and two replied that they could not remember what the fee had been.
32. ‘Where and when you can get married’: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/births-deaths-marriages-and-citizenship/ceremonies/weddings.aspx.
37. https://www.cambridgeshireceremonies.co.uk/fees. This is for weddings on Monday-Thursday alone; weddings on Fridays or Saturdays cost £365.
40. See eg https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/19640/Bishop-Auckland-register-office. See also somersetweddingservice.org.uk/marriages-partnerships/more-information/ and https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/register_office/marriages_in_cheshire_east/marriages_in_cheshire_east.aspx.
44. 017 (male, 30, went on to have a nikah) and 024 (female, 34, went on to have a Humanist ceremony).
45. 015 (female, 25, went on to have a ceremony led by independent celebrant), and 078 (female, 36, went on to have an interfaith ceremony).
46. 064 (male, 42, nikah two months earlier).
47. 066 (female, 39, went on to have an Hindu ceremony).
48. See eg https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/register_office/ceremony-venues/statutory_ceremony_rooms.aspx; southend.gov.uk/info/200,216/marriage_and_civil_partnerships/937/weddings_on_sea_-_register_office.
49. See eg Dorset (https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/births-deaths-marriages/weddings-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/dorset-weddings/dorchester-register-office.aspx); East Sussex (ceremoniesineastsussex.co.uk/crowborough-register-office-fees; Shropshire (https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/births-and-marriages/our-fees/fees-for-2019-2022/).
50. See Staffordshire (https://www.staffordshirewedding.info/statutory-ceremonies/); Northamptonshire (https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/councilservices/births-deaths-ceremonies/weddings-and-ceremonies/weddings/Pages/default.aspx#expand-Amarriageorcivilpartnershipregistration).
52. Across Devon, Exeter’s ‘A La Ronde’ Room allows an additional six guests (for £150), Tiverton and the ‘Old Kitchen’ in Newton Abbot register office can accommodate 26 and 20 guests respectively (again for £150), and Torridge can accommodate 46 guests (for £200). See the individual webpages for each at https://www.devon.gov.uk/registrationservice/approvedvenues.
53. Among our interviewees, the lapse of time between the nikah and the register office ceremony varied from days to a few months (048, male, 38, three months) or even years (001, male, 40, seven years; 036, female, 27, one year). See also AG v Akhter and Khan [2020] EWCA Civ 122, in which the ‘husband’ consistently refused to arrange a legal wedding after the couple’s nikah.
54. Calculated on the basis that 242,842 marriages were celebrated in 2017, of which 78% were civil ceremonies: see ONS, Marriages in England and Wales 2017.
55. pembrokeshire.gov.uk/marriages-and-civil-partnerships/marriage-civil-partnership-how-much-will-it-cost.