How to Get Married in the UK: Eligibility, Ceremonies and Costs

To get married in the UK, both partners generally need to be at least 18, free to marry, and not closely related; you give formal notice at your local register office at least 29 days before the ceremony, and hold the wedding within 12 months of that notice.¹ That is the rule in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate systems, with different minimum ages and ceremony options, so where you marry changes what you have to do.

Who Can Legally Marry

In England and Wales, both partners must be at least 18. Since 2022, parental consent no longer allows anyone under 18 to marry, and arranging a marriage for someone under 18 is a criminal offence, whether or not force or coercion is involved.²³ Scotland and Northern Ireland still allow marriage from 16 under different conditions, covered further down.

Neither partner can already be married or in a civil partnership with someone else. Bigamy carries a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.⁴

You also can’t marry a close family member. The prohibited relationships in the Marriage Act 1949 include parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews, and the list extends to certain in-laws and step-relatives, such as a former spouse’s parent or child, or a parent’s former spouse.⁵

Choosing a Civil or Religious Ceremony

You have two legal routes: a civil ceremony or a religious one. Your choice decides where you can marry, who officiates, and what preliminary steps you follow.⁶

Civil Ceremonies

A civil ceremony takes place at a register office or a venue approved by the local council, such as a hotel, stately home, or historic building. Since April 2022, outdoor civil ceremonies at licensed venues have been permanently legalised in England and Wales.⁷ A registrar conducts the ceremony and you exchange vows. Civil ceremonies are entirely secular: no hymns, religious readings, or religious music.

Religious Ceremonies

Religious weddings take place in a registered religious building and follow the traditions of that faith. Either a registrar attends, or the building has an authorised person who can register the marriage.⁶ If you’re marrying in the Church of England or Church in Wales, you have an alternative to the register office notice: banns or a licence.

Banns are a public announcement of your intention to marry, read aloud in church on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding. They must be read in the parish where each partner lives, and at the church where you’re marrying if that’s different.⁸ Banns don’t work if the date is too close for three Sunday readings, if one of you is British but lives outside England and Wales, or if either partner is a national from outside the European Economic Area. A common licence skips banns, is valid for three months, is issued at the discretion of the church’s legal official, and costs around £200. Where one partner is from outside the EEA, you’ll usually need a Superintendent Registrar’s Certificate rather than banns.⁹

Humanist Ceremonies

Humanist weddings are not legally recognised in England and Wales. If you want one, you’ll still need a separate legal ceremony at a register office to make the marriage valid. Scotland is different, as noted below.

Giving Notice

Both partners must attend a notice appointment at their local register office, and you must have lived in that registration district for at least the previous seven days. If you live in different districts, each of you gives notice separately at your own office; you don’t need to attend on the same day.¹

At the appointment you sign a legal statement confirming your intention to marry. Notice is then made public, and you must wait at least 29 days before the ceremony. Give notice on 1 June, and the earliest you can marry is 30 June. Once notice has been given, you have 12 months to hold the ceremony; miss that window and you start the notice process again.¹

Documents to Bring

Bring originals. Register offices don’t accept photocopies.¹⁰

Proof of identity: a valid passport or UK birth certificate. If you were born after 1 January 1983, a UK birth certificate alone isn’t enough — you’ll also need evidence of your parents’ nationalities, such as their birth certificates.
Proof of address: a valid UK or Irish driving licence, a utility bill from the last three months, a bank statement from the last month, a council tax bill from the last 12 months, a current tenancy agreement, or a mortgage statement from the last 12 months.
Details of your ceremony venue, confirmed.
Proof of any name changes, such as a deed poll.
Evidence from any previous marriage or civil partnership: a decree absolute, final order, or former spouse’s death certificate.

If either partner is from outside the UK or Ireland, add a passport-sized photo for each of you (even if only one of you is a non-UK citizen), proof of your current immigration status such as a visa, and translations of any documents not in English. EU or EEA nationals with settled or pre-settled status should bring a share code from the government’s immigration status service.¹⁰

If You or Your Partner Is From Outside the UK or Ireland

You don’t need a visa to give notice and marry if you’re a British or Irish citizen, have indefinite leave to remain, hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or are already in the UK on a visa lasting longer than six months.

Otherwise you’ll need either a marriage visitor visa (a stay under six months where you won’t be living in the UK afterward) or a family visa (your partner is a British citizen or settled in the UK and you plan to live here permanently). You cannot give notice or marry on a standard visitor visa.¹¹

Where at least one partner is subject to immigration control, both of you must give notice together at a register office in the district where one of you lives, rather than separately. The Home Office is notified and may investigate the relationship. That can extend the waiting period to up to 70 days, or the Home Office may refuse to approve the notice, blocking the marriage.¹¹

The Ceremony and Registration

On the day, you and your partner need at least two witnesses present. In a civil ceremony the registrar leads and you exchange vows. In a religious ceremony the officiant follows their faith’s traditions, but prescribed legal declarations must still be made for the marriage to be valid.⁶

After the vows, you, your partner, the witnesses, and the registrar all sign the marriage schedule. Witnesses must be able to understand the proceedings and speak English. Children can technically serve as witnesses, but register offices strongly prefer adults over 18.⁶

The registrar takes the signed schedule back to the register office, where it’s entered into the national register. You can then order your marriage certificate; ordering it at the time of registration costs £12.50.¹²

What It Costs

Several statutory fees apply on top of anything you spend on a venue or reception. From 6 April 2026, the main fees in England and Wales are:⁶

Notice of marriage: £42 per person (£84 for a couple).
Civil ceremony at a register office: £62 for the registrar.
Registrar attendance at a religious building: £114.50, where the building has no authorised person of its own.
Marriage certificate: £12.50 when ordered at the time of registration.

An approved venue such as a hotel or stately home sets its own hire fee on top, and those vary widely. A Church of England common licence, used instead of banns when time is short or one partner lives abroad, costs around £200.

Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Partnerships

Same-sex couples in England and Wales can marry or form a civil partnership. Both are legally recognised, but they are separate regimes with different formation and dissolution rules, and you can’t treat one as the other for legal purposes.¹³

A marriage is formed by exchanging spoken vows in a civil or religious setting (religious only where the organisation has opted in to same-sex marriages). A civil partnership is formed by signing the civil partnership document, with no spoken words required, and is always civil.¹³

If you’re in a same-sex civil partnership and want to convert it to a marriage, you can do so at a register office, local registration office, or a religious venue that permits same-sex marriages. Both partners sign a conversion declaration, and you get a marriage certificate dated back to when your civil partnership was originally formed. Conversion costs £50, plus £12.50 for the certificate and £30 for an appointment if you want a ceremony alongside it. Witnesses aren’t required for a conversion, though friends and family can attend.¹²

Marrying in Scotland or Northern Ireland

Marriage law is not uniform across the UK. England and Wales share one system. Scotland and Northern Ireland each run their own.

Scotland

Scotland allows marriage from 16, with no parental consent required. You submit notice to the registration office in the district where you plan to marry, at least 29 days before the ceremony.¹⁴ There’s no general residency requirement for UK citizens, which is why Scotland has historically been popular for couples from England wanting to marry quickly. Humanist and belief ceremonies are legally recognised, giving couples wider options than in England and Wales.¹⁵

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland sets the minimum age at 16, but anyone under 18 needs parental or guardian consent, or a court order. That contrasts with England and Wales, where marrying under 18 is a criminal offence regardless of consent. You choose between a religious and a civil ceremony and submit a marriage notice form to the registrar. Additional rules apply to anyone under immigration control who isn’t a British or Irish citizen.¹⁶

One cross-border rule closes an obvious loophole: if either partner is 16 or 17 and normally lives in England or Wales, a Northern Ireland registrar cannot accept their marriage notice. That prevents couples from getting around the England and Wales minimum age of 18 by travelling across.¹⁶

Penalties for False Statements and Sham Marriages

Lying during the notice process is a serious criminal offence. Making a false oath, signing a false declaration, or providing false information to obtain a marriage or marriage certificate is punishable by up to seven years in prison on indictment.¹⁷

Sham marriages arranged for immigration purposes carry heavier consequences. Facilitating a sham marriage is an offence under the Immigration Act 1971, with a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment. Both parties can face conspiracy charges carrying the same maximum, and anyone involved can expect cancellation of leave to remain and removal from the UK. The Home Office uses the notice period to flag concerns, which is why the waiting period can extend to 70 days for couples under immigration scrutiny.

1
GOV.UK. Marriages and Civil Partnerships in England and Wales – Give Notice
2
legislation.gov.uk. Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022
3
GOV.UK. Legal Age of Marriage in England and Wales Rises to 18
4
legislation.gov.uk. Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – Section 57
5
legislation.gov.uk. Marriage Act 1949 First Schedule Part I – Prohibited Degrees of Relationship
6
GOV.UK. Marriages and Civil Partnerships in England and Wales – Plan Your Ceremony
7
GOV.UK. Outdoor Civil Weddings and Civil Partnerships Made Permanent
8
The Church of England. Reading of Banns
9
The Church of England. Common Licences
10
GOV.UK. Marriages and Civil Partnerships in England and Wales – Documents You’ll Need to Give Notice
11
GOV.UK. Marriages and Civil Partnerships in England and Wales – If You or Your Partner Are From Outside the UK or Ireland
12
GOV.UK. Convert a Same-Sex Civil Partnership Into a Marriage
13
GOV.UK. Marriage and Civil Partnership in England and Wales
14
National Records of Scotland. Registering a Marriage or Civil Partnership
15
mygov.scot. Marriage and Civil Partnerships in Scotland
16
nidirect. Guidance on Marriage Procedures in Northern Ireland
17
legislation.gov.uk. Perjury Act 1911 – Section 3