Book an appointment to give notice of your marriage / civil partnership

• If you choose a civil marriage ceremony or civil partnership formation (ie not religious) in a register office or approved venue, you must give notice of your marriage / civil partnership at the register office in the district where you live.
• If you choose to be married or form a civil partnership in any other religious building except for Church of England or Wales (please see below), the building must be licenced for marriages, and you must give notice at the register office in the district where you live. 
• 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 or Wales, and you are British, Irish or a Relevant National as the church will arrange for banns to be called. Please speak to the vicar for clarification or further advice.

Legally you must give notice between 29 days and one year before your ceremony.

This is because notices need to be displayed publicly for at least 28 days before the schedule to marry or form a civil partnership can be issued on the 29th day.

If your notice period is extended because of immigration control, the waiting time may be longer. Notices are usually valid for 12 months. If your notice expires, you must provide notice and pay the fee again.

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. 

We may issue the certificate of no impediment the day after the 28 day notice period is over. We do not issue on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays.

Appointments are available Mondays to Saturdays 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 require to your appointment, we will not be able to accept your notice and you will need to make a new appointment and pay the fee again to give notice which may delay your ceremony.

You are required 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 must not be photocopies.

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. This can be a family member or friend but cannot be one of the parties to the notice

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

If you and / or 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.