It could be that you’re at the early stages of planning, or you’re possibly a way down the ‘wedmin’ checklist already, but be very clear about one thing; there has to be someone to conduct the wedding. Someone has to marry you two. Legally. If you’re getting married in a civil ceremony the marriage can be conducted by a registrar, or deputy registrar, for the district in which the  wedding is to take place. One of your key questions now must be -  how to book a registrar for a wedding? Let’s look at the essential checklist - The Ultimate Guide on How to Book a Wedding Registrar.

1 - Wedding Ceremony and Wedding Venue

Think through the ceremony you want and where you want it. Apart from the wedding venue being such an important part of your day, it has a direct bearing on getting your registrar booked. You can of course get married in a registry office. It perhaps doesn’t sound very glamorous but it’s worth checking out. Many registry offices have styled themselves to be attractive as venues and lots of them have gardens or courtyards that are ideal for wedding photography and wedding videography

As to the ceremony, there is a lot of flexibility about what it can contain. The one seriously fixed rule is that a civil ceremony cannot include a religious element. The ceremony does of course have to take place in an approved venue. There are rules about outside venues and it will be wise to check them. The good news is that nowadays there are not only lots of wonderful wedding venues available, but there are also very useful lists of approved venues to help you in your search.

2 - How to book a registrar for my wedding? 

That’s the big question. What’s important is the sequence of things to do. When you’re happy with the dates and venue, and you know that they are fine with the appropriate registrar, you can place the booking. It’s an obvious tip really but a good start point in booking a registrar for your wedding is simply to search for ‘book a registrar’ along with the name of the council local to the venue. You really do need to choose your wedding venue, and get an idea of what dates it’s available on. Then you need to ensure that the appropriate registrar is available on one of those dates. If the dates marry up (sorry!) you can confirm the booking for both the venue and the registrar.

It’s essential that the registrar you’re booking is the registrar for the area of the venue. If, for example, you’ve chosen a venue near where you grew up, but not where you live now, it’s the registrar near the venue you need to marry you. It’s usually possible to book a registrar online, and the system is geared to offering you the time slots available on the day of your choice. When you book the registrar you can, if you wish, pay the ceremony fee in full, or you can pay a reservation fee. Be aware that the fee is usually non refundable.

 3 - Give notice to your Wedding registrar and pay your fees

This is an important point. ‘Booking the Registrar’ and ‘Giving Notice’ are not the same thing. You may have booked the registrar months ahead, but you’re still legally obliged to ‘Give Notice’. It has to be done at least 28 clear days ahead of the ceremony. And to ‘Give Notice’ you have to meet with the registrar of the district where you live. It’s not the same as the registrar near the venue who you’ll book for the ceremony. Because giving notice of your intent to marry is a legal requirement it must be given, in person, by both of you. It’s at this point that you will confirm your identity and indeed that you are free to marry or enter a civil partnership. Providing evidence of who you are is pretty much what this stage is all about. When you go to ‘Give Notice’ you will both need to take documents as proof of identity. They must be originals, as copies or photocopies won’t be accepted.

You’ll need to take -

-     a valid passport.   

-     UK birth certificate (if you were born before January 1st 1983) or

-     a national identity card from the EU. European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland

As proof of your address you will need to have one of the following -

•         valid UK, EU, EEA or Swiss driving licence

•         gas, water or electricity bill from the last 3 months

•         bank or building society statement from the last month

•         Council Tax bill from the last 12 months

•         mortgage statement from the last 12 months

•         current tenancy agreement

•         letter from your landlord (dated within the last 7 days) confirming you live there and including your landlord’s name, address and their signature.

If your normal address is outside the UK, you’ll need to give details of a UK contact address. For example, this could be your partner, friend or family member’s address.

If you’ve been married or in a civil partnership before you’ll also need to have with you one of the following documents:

-     a decree absolute or final order

-     your former partner’s death certificate

You need to bring proof of your divorce, annulment, or dissolution if it was granted outside of the UK, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man. You will have to pay a fee of £50 for the local register office to check your documents or £75 if the General Register Office needs to check them.

If you or your partner is from outside the EU, EEA or from Switzerland you’ll also need to bring:

•         a passport sized photo for each of you (even if only one of you is from outside the EU. EEA or from Switzerland.

•         proof of your current immigration status (for example, your visa)

•         a translation of any documents that are not in English.

It really is an important part of the process. If you don't give notice at least 28 days before the ceremony, then the ceremony - your wedding - cannot go ahead. When you give notice there is a fee to pay. It’s £35 for each of you. With that done, you’re well on the way!

Wedding Videography and the Wedding Registrars

All wedding registrars are used to working with wedding videographers on a daily and weekly basis, so they are always lovely and accommodating! They even know little helpful hacks by way of moving out of the way of the bride when she is coming down the aisle so the wedding videographer and wedding photographer can get some fab shots of the bride!

Also wedding videographers and wedding registrars know that you cannot film any of the legal signing of the documents. This why there is always some fake/ pretend signing of the docs afterwards! Sometimes Race Wedding Videography will work with the registrars and place a lavalier microphone on them so we can get some super quality sound of what they are saying during the ceremony. So, when you listen and watch back your wedding video it will sound perfect and just as you remember it! This eliminates background noise of chairs moving as an example. We also place a lavalier microphone on the groom to capture the sound of the vows of the bride and groom. If you want to know about wedding film audio click here and also while we are on the subject read our blog on filming in a church

So, there are some important steps to take, and careful planning is essential. You’ll find that there is plenty of advice online from councils - but do make sure you follow instructions from official sites.  Most of all? Have fun. It’s your day.

One more thing. Have you booked your wedding videographer? Asking for a friend….

A perfect wedding deserves the perfect marriage… & Race Wedding Videography is the perfect marriage of art and technology

Nostalgia is a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. Your wedding videography will be your time machine. It will go backwards, and forwards, it will take you to a place you ache to go again - your wedding day. Your wedding video will make you travel to a place where you are loved.

When you’re so much a part of it, there’s so much you miss. Your wedding day is your day. All eyes are on you. You’ve done all the preparations and planned every detail. Now you’re at the heart of it. Professional Wedding Videography is the only way you’ll be able to look back at everything that happened. Things you’ll have missed because you were focused on the two of you. So, If there’s one thing on your wedding checklist that you must not forget it’s Wedding Videography. Don’t think having a Wedding Videographer is a luxury - it’s an absolute necessity.

Race Wedding Videography will shoot stylish and elegant footage of your entire wedding day. Zooming in from sky-high drone shots to the tiniest details, your Wedding Video will be a carefully crafted record for you to treasure and share forevermore. There is no cheesy posing, just you guys being you.

Race Wedding Videography has one simple package covering the wedding day including a drone. You will receive a full wedding film (20 minutes +) including all of the ceremony, a highlights trailer (2 minutes), a highlights trailer just for Instagram and Tik Tok plus a video with the speeches in full (usually 20 minutes+). I don’t offer a package for a half day or just the ceremony, I don’t do the crumbs - if you want me I am here for all of the day and the cake! You will undoubtedly have many wedding videography questions when looking at potential wedding videographers. To help with this, I offer FREE 30-minute Wedding Film Q&A sessions on ZOOM - this way you will have all the information you need about wedding videography before you say yes or no, whatever your decision I am here to help.  If you are thinking ‘I need a Wedding Videographer Near me?” - I am based in Woodbridge, Suffolk and cover all of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

I can’t wait to hear from you!