Registration

Registration

From 4 May 2021 new rules come into force for the registration of marriages. The Marriage Registers historically held at churches will be closed, and clergy will no longer be able to issue Marriage Certificates. Instead the General Register Office will maintain an electronic register of marriages.

Existing church marriage registers must be closed at 4 May, and one copy returned to the district Register Office. The other copy should be retained at the church, but with the remaining spaces crossed through. Please see the instructions for closure of registers at Register Closing Instructions. Churches are encouraged to continue maintaining a parish register of marriages, but this will be for local information only, and will no longer constitute a legal record of marriages.

Instead of signing the register at the end of the marriage service, the minister will now invite the couple to sign:

• a Marriage Document, where the couple are marrying after publication of banns or  the issue of a Common Licence or Special Licence; or
• a Marriage Schedule, where the couple have given notice of their intention to marry at the Register Office for their district (the Marriage Schedule replaces the Superintendent Registrar’s Certificate from 4 May 2021). 

A specimen Marriage Document is at Marriage Document

The Marriage Document will be prepared by the minister taking the marriage service. The Marriage Schedule will look very similar to a Marriage Document, but will be prepared by the Register Office. Instead of just the fathers’ names, the couple will also be able to include their mothers’ names, and up to six witnesses may sign the Document/Schedule. There are instructions for completing the Marriage Document or Schedule on the rear of the form.

Responsibility for registering the marriage lies with the minister who will have 21 days following the wedding to deliver the Marriage Document/Schedule to the Register Office. This may be done electronically or by post or by hand, although the electronic system for uploading the Document/Schedule to the Register Office has not yet been enabled by the GRO. The minister will no longer be able to issue a marriage certificate after the wedding but may supply the couple with a note to confirm that they were married at the Church on the relevant date.

Foreign Nationals

Note that since 1 July 2021 Banns or a Common Licence may not be used to authorise a marriage unless both of the intended parties are either:

• UK Nationals
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Hold Settled Status under the EU Settled Status Scheme; or
• Hold Pre-Settled Status under the EU Settled Status Scheme.

If either or both of the parties falls outside these categories, the couple will need to apply for a Marriage Schedule from the District Register Office.