You can marry in a civil ceremony at any Register Office in England or Wales. Or you can marry at any licensed Approved Premises in England and Wales. An Approved Premise will be a public building such as a hotel or stately home or any other building the local authority feels is an appropriate place in which to be married.

A complete listing of Lancashire Register Offices

A complete listing of Approved Premises in Lancashire

If you wish to be married in the Church of England or Church in Wales you should first speak to the vicar of the church in which you wish to marry. There is usually no need to involve the local registration service.

If you wish to marry by religious ceremony, other than in the Church of England or Church in Wales, you should first arrange to see the person in charge of marriages at the building. However, the church or religious building in question must normally be in the registration district in which you or your partner live. A registrar may also need to be booked from the register office in the district where the marriage is to take place in order to register the marriage.

No this is not possible. The law does not allow for civil marriages to take place in a private house, in the open air, a tent or marquee, or in any other movable structure, such as a boat or hot air balloons.

However some of the marriage venues licensed by Lancashire County Council have permanent gazebos and other garden structures where marriages may take place.

Marriages in gazebos or other garden structures are normally limited to the period between 1 April and 30 September when the weather is likely to be fine. Given the uncertainty of the English climate, if the weather is inclement then a ceremony may have to take place inside the marriage venue. Couples therefore do need to consider a 'wet weather' contingency plan.

There are some circumstances where it may be possible to reduce the standard waiting period of 16 days. They are usually exceptional and could include situations such as:

• The serious illness of either the Bride or Groom from which they are not expected to recover.
• The posting to a war zone of either the Bride or Groom as part of their duties of being a serving member of the armed forces.

If you think that your circumstances could warrant a waiver of the standard waiting period please contact your local register office without delay.

In some cases an additional non-refundable fee may be payable.

First decided on a venue and a date. It is always a good idea to have an alternative in case your first choice is already booked. Contact the Ceremonies Officer where you wish to be married who is responsible for the Register Office, Approved Venue, or religious building you have selected. They will take provisional details from you and ask you to arrange the legal requirements, such as giving Notice of your intention to marry. They will then inform you in writing of the provisional date explaining the next steps you need to take to ensure your date becomes a firm booking.

Important - Bookings are all treated as provisional until you have given your legal preliminaries.

Yes. They are called the Notice of Marriage. This is a legal document, which has to be prepared by the Superintendent Registrar or a Deputy Superintendent Registrar at the Register Office in the district in which you live. This document is valid for one year from the date you gave notice and you must be married within this period. Both the bride and groom need to attend to give a Notice of Marriage, this may well be at a different office to the one you have chosen to attend or perform your marriage. In this case you must collect the authorities (blue documents) from the office in which you gave Notice and hand them into the office where the marriage is to take place as soon as possible. The authorities are important legal documents that allow your marriage to take place. There is a fee of £30.00 each payable to the Superintendent Registrar at the time you give your Notice of Marriage.

If you have made a provisional booking you should give notice of marriage as soon as you can. Your provisional booking will be kept for two months in order that you may arrange an appointment to give your Notice of Marriage.

If you are marrying in a register office, approved premises or religious building (where a Registrar needs to attend), the registrar will see you both in private before the ceremony (this does not have to be together). This is to check the details to be entered into the marriage register. You will each be asked for the following information:

Your full name, age, occupation and the address of your residence on the day of your marriage.
The full name and occupation of your father and whether he is retired or deceased.

It is your responsibility to provide two witnesses to the marriage who are usually friends or relatives. They must be able to understand what is taking place and be able to give evidence of what they have seen and heard in the unlikely event that this should become necessary.

If you are being married in a register office or approved premises you may video and photograph your ceremony.

Once you have given Notice of Marriage and booked your ceremony date and venue with us you will be given a copy of our booklet 'Your Marriage Ceremony in Lancashire' this will enable you to choose extra words in addition to the civil ceremony together with any readings you may wish to be included. You must agree the form of words, music and readings with the Ceremonies Officer before the day of the marriage.

Once the ceremony is over the registrar will ask you to check that your details have been correctly entered in the marriage register. Please check them carefully, as there can be problems if errors have to be corrected at a later date. You will then be asked to sign the register, your two witnesses will then be asked to sign followed by the Superintendent Registrar or Minister who conducted the marriage ceremony and finally the registrar.