• If you choose a civil ceremony, you must give notice of your marriage / civil partnership.
• If you choose to be married or form a civil partnership in any other religious building (which must be licensed for both worship and marriage), you must give notice at the register office in the district one or both of you live, even if you are having a religious marriage.
• If one or both of you are subject to immigration control, then you must both give your notice together at the register office in the district where one of you lives.

You do not need to give notice if:

• you are getting married in a Church of England and Wales, and you are British or EEA citizen as the church will arrange for banns to be called.

You must give notice at an appointment with a registrar at least 28 days before the ceremony. This is because notices need to be displayed publicly for at least 28 days before the schedule to marry can be issued on the 29th day.

We recommend you give notice 6 weeks before your ceremony to allow plenty of time for your paperwork to be issued. We do not issue paperwork on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays.

Please only book an appointment to give notice of your marriage or civil partnership here if you live in Bedford Borough. You can check whether your address is within Bedford Borough here. 

If you do not live in Bedford Borough, please contact your local register office to make your notice appointment.

To give a notice of marriage / civil partnership in Bedford Borough, you must have lived in Bedford Borough for a minimum of 9 days (at the time of giving notice you must have lived in the district for 7 full days or more, the day you arrive in the district and the day you give notice do not count for this purpose).

If one or both of you are subject to immigration control, then you must both give your notice together at the register office in the district where one of you lives.

Please see GOV.UK’s advice for what to do about giving notice if one of you is from outside the UK.

If one of you is from outside the UK, you and your partner must give notice together, unless you both have one of the following:

• British or Irish citizenship.
• Settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
• An application to the EU Settlement Scheme that you made before 30 June 2021, which you’re waiting for a decision on.

If you are entering the UK to get married / form a civil partnership, you will need the correct visa. You must check this with the UK Visas and Immigration Office (Home Office). We are unable to offer any advice regarding immigration matters and you should contact the Home Office.

If you are involved in arranging or entering into a marriage or civil partnership with the aim to stay in the UK, you could be arrested or charged. You could be asked to leave the UK and be banned from coming back for up to 14 years.

Please check on GOV.UK’s getting married abroad webpage and consult with the authorities of the country where you intend to marry to find out whether you need a certificate of no impediment. We can issue this certificate for some countries but do not issue affidavits or any other types of certificate.

If you do require a certificate of no impediment, please find out how long it needs to be valid for. You should then email us to book an appointment, and we will issue the certificate of no impediment the day after the 28 day notice period is over. Appointments are available Monday to Friday only.

Please email civil.registration@bedford.gov.uk to book your appointment. Please ensure you include the following information in your email:

• Your names and address(es).
• Your nationalities.
• A contact telephone number.
• Details of where you are to be married.

Please read this section carefully so that you can produce all the correct documentation at your appointment. If you do not bring all the documents we need to see to your appointment, we will not be able to accept your notice and you will need to make a new appointment to give notice which may delay your ceremony.

You will need to provide documents to give evidence of your name, age, nationality, condition (relationship status), address and immigration status.

All documents must be original, valid (in date) and should not be photocopies or printed from online services.

If a document is not in English, you must provide an exact translation. Each page must be signed, dated and include the contact details of the translator. The translator must be a third party.

Go to GOV.UK to read which documents you need to bring to your notice appointment.

If you and / your partner do not speak and understand English fluently, you will need to bring an interpreter to your appointment. This can be a friend, a relative, or a professional interpreter. You cannot translate for each other.