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Legal Requirements

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Giving a Notice of Marriage

After you have booked your ceremony, you are both legally required to give a Notice of Marriage, in person, at a Register Office.

If you are both British, you are not subject to immigration control and must therefore give your notices of marriage to the superintendent registrar for the district(s) in which you have lived for the proceeding eight nights immediately prior to giving your notices.

  • If you live in Kent you can give notice at any of our Kent offices.
  • If you live in the London Borough of Bexley you need to give notice at the Bexley Register Office.
  • If you live in Medway, you will need to give notice at Medway Register Office 01634 338899
  • If you live outside of these areas, you will need to give your Notice of Marriage or Civil Partnership at the register office in the district(s) where you live.
  • You must both give your notices at least 28 days prior to your ceremony date and know where and when you are holding your ceremony.
  • The statutory fee in England and Wales to give notice is currently £42 per person

Couples will need to bring certain documents with them to the appointment, this will depend upon personal circumstances.

If you bring incorrect or outdated documents with you then you will be unable to give notice and will have to rebook your appointment. 

When the two notices have been given, you must wait 28 clear days before the ceremony can take place. The ceremony must take place within one year of the date of the first notice.

Foreign Nationals

Since 1 July 2021, changes relating to Brexit mean that if you are not a British/Irish national you will need to provide additional information at your appointment.

Persons with EU Settlement Scheme settled or pre-settled status will be required to provide their alpha-numeric EU Settlement Scheme share code at their appointment to enable the registrars to use the online EUSS checker tool. You will need to obtain this code from the GOV.UK no more than 30 days prior to your appointment.

If you have a pending application for EU settlement status that was submitted before 30 June 2021 you will need to bring your Home Office Certificate of Application to your appointment. If evidencing this with a share code on GOV.UK you will also need to bring the email or paper-based letter sent to you by the Home Office confirming the date of your application.

Both of you must have lived in a registration district of England and Wales for at least eight nights immediately prior to giving your notices in that district.

  • You must give notice at a designated register office in England or Wales.
  • The designated register offices in Kent are in Canterbury, Bexley, Dartford, Maidstone, Ramsgate and Tunbridge Wells. Please see our Contact page to make an appointment.
  • You must attend together.
  • You will be required to bring certain documents with you. Documents which can be accepted.
  • You will both be required to provide a current passport sized photograph
  • The statutory fee in England and Wales to give notice is currently £57 per person
  • You must give your notices at least 70 days prior to your ceremony date and know where and when you are holding your ceremony.
  • Where there are any language difficulties you must arrange for a suitable interpreter to attend with you.

Staff will always be pleased to provide help and assistance - simply call us or email us.

Further information can be found on the Government website.

If you don’t usually live in England or Wales you must reside here for 7 clear days before the date of notice. The date you arrive, and the date of your appointment do not count as part of the clear 7 days. For example - you arrive in Kent on a Sunday, your 7 clear days is the full week from Monday - Sunday, the earliest you can give notice is therefore on the following Monday.  

Marriages or civil partnerships abroad

If you’re getting married or entering into a civil partnership in Scotland or Northern Ireland contact us for help.

If you’re getting married or entering into a civil partnership outside the UK, visit the gov.uk website for help.

There is no requirement for the couple to register a legal marriage or civil partnership ceremony that took place abroad with the registration service upon their return to Kent.

If you need a ‘certificate of no impediment’ (CNI) and you live in Kent, we’ll be able to help,  contact us for help.