Marriage and civil partnerships
Giving notice of a marriage or civil partnership
If you want to marry or form a civil partnership you must both give notice at the Register Office in the area where you have lived for the eight days before giving notice, regardless of where you intend to marry or form a civil partnership.
If you live outside of west Cheshire please contact your local Register Office, details of your local Register Office are available on the GOV.UK website.
Notices can be given up to 12 months in advance of your ceremony or civil partnership formation. A fee is charged for the notice. From 1 November 2017, foreign divorce documents will be considered for an additional fee. See below for further information about documents to bring to the Register Office
Conditions of booking
Fees are subject to change on the 1 April each year. The new fees are published on our website on or around 1 April and it is your responsibility to check the fee payable. If you object to any increase you may cancel your booking within one month of publication of the increase. In that eventuality the fee paid will be returned in full.
Cooling off period
You have a statutory 14 day cooling off period when you make your booking online, over the phone or by email. During this cooling off period you have the right to cancel your booking without giving any reason and we will reimburse all payments received from you.
Cancellation of bookings by the customer
To exercise your right to cancel, you must inform our registration service of your decision to cancel using our online enquiry form before the cooling off period has expired.
Reimbursement of fees
If cancelled within 14 days of booking any fee paid to the Registration Service will be reimbursed in full.
If cancelled later than 14 days after booking the fee paid to the Registration Service will not be reimbursed.
We will make reimbursements not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel. The reimbursement will be made using the same means of payment that you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise.
If you have any complaint or comment about our service
Information about how to make a comment or complaint about our service can be found on the complaints and feedback area of our website.
If you remain dissatisfied you may wish to contact the Local Government Ombudsman:
- Local Government Ombudsman website
- Phone: 0300 061 0614
Documents to bring with you
You will be asked to produce certain documents depending on your individual circumstances. The type of documents we normally need are:
- evidence of identity, age and nationality, ideally a passport
- any change of name documents
- proof of residence such as a valid UK or EEA driving licence or a utility bill or other official document which shows your home address. A utility bill should be dated no more than three months prior to giving notice of marriage or civil partnership, a bank statement or building society statement dated no more than one month prior to giving notice of marriage or civil partnership, a council tax bill should be dated no more than 12 months prior to giving notice of marriage or civil partnership
- evidence of how any previous marriage or civil partnership ended, such as a divorce decree absolute or a death certificate. If your divorce was heard outside the UK there is an additional fee to consider your divorce document
- if either of you are subject to immigration control you will need to provide further documents
- name and address of the venue
Notices of marriage or civil partnership are displayed for 28 days in your local Register Office and are valid for 12 months. More details of the documents can be found on the GOV.UK website.
If you change your venue or notices expire, fresh notices will have to be given and a fee will be charged.
Book an appointment
You can book your appointment online if you are both:
- British, Irish or have EUSS
- Both resident in England or Wales
- One or both of you has lived in Cheshire West and Chester for at least eight days
- You are marrying or forming a civil partnership in England or Wales and know the venue where your ceremony will take place
- The date of your ceremony or civil partnership formation is between 29 days and one year of your appointment
If one or both of you are not British, Irish or have EUSS (Settled or pre settled status) please complete an enquiry form giving as much information as possible. A member of the team will then contact you to make your appointment.
A limited number of Saturday appointments are available for an additional fee, if you would like to enquire about this service please complete an enquiry form and a member of the team will contact you.
Marriage or civil partnership schedule
If you are marrying or forming a civil partnership in west Cheshire but live outside the borough (and gave notice of marriage or civil partnership elsewhere), we will issue your marriage or civil partnership schedule.
This document will be issued following the display of your marriage or civil partnership notices for a 28 day period. The schedule will contain all of the details required to complete a marriage or civil partnership registration and is used by the Registrar who officiates at your ceremony.
