Giving notice of marriage or civil partnership

By law, you must give 28 days' notice of a marriage or civil partnership. This must be at a registration office in the district in which you live.

Immigration laws changed on 1 July 2021 to reflect changes brought about following EU exit. Legislative updates regarding immigration will impact the process of taking notices of marriage and civil partnerships.

From 1 July 2021 register offices in England and Wales will become a specified office, this means that where one or both parties is subject to immigration control, notice of marriage and civil partnership will need to be given at a district where either one or both parties reside and the parties must attend together.

If one of you is from outside the UK and you’re giving notice from 1 July 2021, 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 or have a pending application submitted before 30 June 2021 under the EU Settlement Scheme
  • An exemption that includes those with right of abode in the UK under section 2(1)(b) of the Immigration Act 1971, a member or a family member of someone involved in a diplomatic mission, or a member of HM forces or of a Commonwealth forces undergoing training or visiting forces.

If you are subject to immigration control please phone the registration service on 0300 123 6705, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm.

Before you start

You can give your notice twelve months prior to the date of your marriage or civil partnership ceremony is due to take place.

The notice is valid for 12 months.

When you book an appointment you must pay the non-refundable booking fee of £35 per person.

Please check you both meet the following requirements:

  • you are both 18 years of age or older
  • you or your partner has lived in Lancashire for at least the past 9 days. Not including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.
  • you are not related to each other by blood, marriage, civil partnership, adoption or surrogacy
  • you have booked your ceremony
  • the ceremony is taking place within England or Wales
  • you or your partner do not need an interpreter.

If you do not meet any of these requirements or if you are subject to immigration control please phone us on 0300 123 6705, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm.

Book a notice appointment >

Additional information

The notice appointment is a formal interview. We ask you questions, not only about yourself but also about your partner.

Foreign nationals (subject to immigration control) will need to telephone to make an appointment on 0300 123 6705, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm. The appointment will be at either Preston, Chorley or Burnley Register Office.

You will need to check this information and confirm the information is true and correct.

What happens next?

You will receive a booking confirmation email that includes your booking ID number. Please keep it as you will need this if you want to rearrange your appointment.

We will ask to see the email or ID number when you arrive at your appointment. If you can't print the email you can show it on your phone.

What to bring to the appointment

You will need to bring proof of the details you have provided with your booking including:

Original documentation

Please make sure all documents are original and not photocopies. If you bank online, we can accept a printed statement. All evidence must be paper-based as the exact document may need to be presented in a court of law. We will not accept any electronic-based evidence. We cannot print evidence for you. Failure to bring these documents will need you to re-book and pay another fee.

With effect from 1 July 2021 if either party to the marriage is a national of any country outside the UK and Ireland and does not have settled or pre-settled status (or a pending application), you may be subject to immigration control.

Registrars cannot give immigration advice.

Please ensure you have the correct documentation before coming to your appointment. See the full list of documents required when giving notice.

If any documentation is missing we will not be able to proceed with the appointment.

You will also lose your booking fee under the refunds and rescheduling policy.

Rearrange or cancelling your appointment

You must give more than 24 hours' notice if you wish to rearrange or cancel your appointment.

If you give less than 24 hours' notice you will have to make a new appointment and pay the booking fee again.

Use the link provided in your notice appointment confirmation email to reschedule.

You can also reschedule by phone or by personal attendance at one of our offices.

Failure to attend your appointment

Please aim to arrive at least 10-15 minutes ahead of your appointment time.

The registrar will try to accommodate late arrivals depending on availability.

If there is no availability, we can reschedule your appointment. This will mean paying the booking fee again.

Your original booking fee is not refunded.

If exceptional circumstances occur your booking fee may be refunded.

Interpreters

You may need to arrange an independent interpreter to attend when you give notice or get married.

The interpreter must bring identification and sign documents confirming they have helped you.

The interpreter cannot be the bride or groom.

If you cannot provide your own interpreter, call 0300 123 6705 and ask to speak to a registrar. They can book an independent interpreter on your behalf.

We charge £80 or this service which is payable at the time of speaking to the registrars.

How we process your personal data

For details on how we process your personal data please read our privacy notice.