Notice of Marriage or Civil Partnership

You must have decided where you are forming your marriage or civil partnership and have made your provisional booking BEFORE you book your notice appointment. To make a provisional ceremony booking in Gloucestershire please call 01452 425060 (option 3).

Before booking your notice

Once you have read through all the information, please click on the booking link at the end of this page to make your notice appointment.

Attending a notice appointment is part of the legal process to get married or form a civil partnership. When booking your notice appointment online, please ensure you have read the information, relating to what documentation you are required to bring on this page, along with our terms and conditions BEFORE you book your notice appointment.

You will be asked to agree to our terms and conditions as part of the booking process. If you are unsure or would like to check what documentation you will require for your notice appointment, please contact the ceremonies team on 01452 425060 (option 3) or by email at ceremony@gloucestershire.gov.uk.

If you are unsure if your postcode is located within the Gloucestershire district, please visit the Government's find a register office page, which will inform you of the registration service your postcode comes under.

No refund will be made if you book your appointment with Gloucestershire and you live outside of the area. You will have to pay again when you book at the correct location.

What is a notice of marriage or notice of civil partnership?

A notice of marriage or notice of civil partnership is a legal declaration which must be given individually by each of you in person.

A notice is venue specific and valid for 12 months from the date the notice is given. Before booking an appointment you must have decided where and when you would like to get married, or form your civil partnership, and have made a provisional booking with the venue and local registration service before you book your notice appointment.

If, after giving notice, you change the ceremony venue or the date is moved beyond 12 months from the date of your appointment, you must give a new notice and pay the fees again.

Your notice must be displayed publicly for 28 clear days before a marriage or civil partnership schedule can be issued. However, if one or both parties to the marriage or civil partnership is subject to immigration control, this legal waiting period may be extended, by the Home Office, to 70 days.

Please ensure that you plan ahead, as your marriage or civil partnership cannot take place if the legal preliminaries are not carried out in sufficient time to allow for the marriage or civil partnership schedule to be issued ahead of the ceremony date.

If you would like further advice on booking a notice appointment, please contact the ceremonies team on 01452 425060 (option 3) or by email at ceremony@gloucestershire.gov.uk.

When and where can we give notice?

Gloucestershire Registration Service requires you to make an appointment to give notice within six months of the date of your marriage or civil partnership formation, unless we have agreed another timescale with you. It is your responsibility to notify us if you are unable to give notice within the time span specified above. We reserve the right to cancel your marriage or civil partnership booking if you do not arrange to give notice within the requested time.

**Please arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment, so that your appointment can start on time**

Failure to attend

If you:

fail to attend your appointment;
are 10 minutes late for your appointment;
fail to bring the correct, original, valid paper documents to your appointment; and/or
do not meet the residency requirements i.e. you or your partner have not lived in Gloucestershire for nine days immediately prior to your notice appointment.

Your appointment will be abandoned, and no refund will be issued.

Please Note:- You will need to book and re-pay for a further notice appointment in event of the above circumstances and if you have not given notice in sufficient time, your planned ceremony date may need to be amended and this will incur an Amendment Fee.

Please use this link to our giving notice checklist.

Documentation required for your notice appointment

Details of your ceremony, for example, date, time and venue address.

*All documents must be originals: we are unable to accept electronic documents or photocopies.

A valid passport (or a UK birth certificate if you were born on or before 1st January 1983)
Proof of your home address
Proof of any name changes (for example, a Deed Poll or Statutory Declaration)
Proof of Marital Status (if applicable)
Proof of Immigration Status

If you are a British citizen born on or after 1 January 1983 and do not have a current, valid passport, you will need to provide

Your full birth certificate (including your parents’ details)
Your mother’s birth certificate or passport OR
Your father’s birth certificate if your parents were married to each other at the time of your birth.

If you are a British citizen born on or after 1 July 2006 and do not have a current, valid passport, you will need to provide

Your full birth certificate (including your parents’ details)
The British birth certificate or British Passport of a parent named on your birth certificate as Mother/Father/Parent.

To prove your address

You must also bring one of the following:

A valid UK driving licence showing your current residential address
A gas, water or electricity utility bill from the last three months
A bank or building society statement from the last month
A council tax bill from the last 12 months
A mortgage statement from the last 12 months
A current tenancy agreement
A letter from the owner, proprietor, or tenant of the property confirming;

that the person giving notice has resided at the address for at least nine clear days immediately prior to the date on which the notice is given;
states that the person providing the letter is the owner of the property or tenant; and
states the name, address and is signed by the person providing the letter.

If your normal residential address is outside of the UK, you will need to bring a letter which includes details of the UK address you have resided at least nine clear days immediately prior to the date on which the notice is given. This must be the owner, proprietor or tenant of the property. If the letter is from the tenant of the property, the tenancy agreement must also be provided.

This could be your partner, friend or family member’s address.
The letter must include their name, address and their signature and confirm that the person giving notice has resided at that address for more than nine clear days.

To prove your marital status

If you have been through a previous marriage or civil partnership you will also need to bring one of the following documents:

A Decree Absolute or Final Order of Divorce or civil partnership
Death certificate of a previous spouse or civil partner

Please note: If your name on the Decree Absolute, Dissolution document of death certificate is different to the name you are currently using, you must bring evidence showing a link between the two names. Documents include:

Marriage or civil partnership certificate
Change of name deed
Statutory declaration of change of name

You will need to bring proof of your divorce, annulment or dissolution if it were granted outside of the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. There is a fee of up to £83 for consideration of whether the foreign divorce is capable of recognition in the UK.

If you or your partner are from outside the UK & do not have the EUSS status described below

You’ll also need to bring:

a passport sized photo for each of you (even if only one of you is from outside the UK)
proof of your current immigration status (for example, your visa or eVisa)
a translation of any documents that are not in English

To prove your immigration status:

If you have EUSS settled or pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme you will need to bring:

Your EU settlement scheme share code
This must be generated before your notice appointment and is valid for 30 days
If you have a pending application for the above, made on or before 30 June 2021, you will need to bring your Home Office certificate of application.

If your document(s) are in any language other than English:

You will need to bring the original document(s) plus a full translation into English
The translation can be made by anyone other than you or your partner
The document(s) must be certified at the bottom by the translator stating, ‘I certify this to be a true translation of the document.’ The name, address, telephone number and signature of the person who translated the document(s) must also be brought to your Notice Appointment.

Please ensure that you read our terms and conditions and our privacy notices.

What will happen during the appointment?

You must each attend to give notice at a register office in the district where you each live.

If one of the parties is from outside the UK and does not have the EUSS status described above then you will both need to attend together to give notice at a register office in the district where one or both of you live.

The registrar will need to see you individually and will ask prescribed questions in English. If one, or both, of the parties does not have, or only has limited, English language skills then you will need to bring a translator to your appointment. A translator can be a family member or friend but cannot be the partner in the marriage or civil partnership. If you and the registrar cannot understand each other, the appointment will have to be cancelled and no refund will be issued. A further appointment will need to be booked and you will be charged a re-booking fee.

You will be asked questions about yourself and about your partner, and you will be invited to record details about your parents if you wish. We can record your parent’s details whether they are still living or not, and you will be asked to give the name and occupation for parents you wish to include.

Please note: We are unable to take bookings for clients where a divorce is still in progress and you are waiting for your divorce to be made final, as we will need to see documentary evidence of the legal ending of any previous marriage or civil partnership. Please be aware that if you book a notice appointment online and do not bring all the required, original, valid, documentation to your appointment we will not be able to take your notice and no refund will be issued. You will be charged a re-booking fee should you choose to rebook.

Book your notice appointment:

Please ensure you have read the information above or the document checklist before you book your notice appointment. If you have any questions relating to giving notice or would like to check which documents you need to present during your appointment, please contact the ceremonies team on 01452 425060 (option 3) or by email at ceremonies@gloucestershire.gov.uk and we will be happy to help.

To make a provisional ceremony booking in Gloucestershire please call 01452 425060 (option 3)

If you live within the Gloucestershire District and your ceremony is within Gloucestershire:

Please click here to log into your ceremony account to book your notice appointment

If you live in the Gloucestershire District and your ceremony is taking place in a different county, in a church within Gloucestershire, or you wish to book a CONI for a ceremony abroad, please contact the ceremonies team on 01452 425060 (option 3).