If you are getting married in a Church of England or Church in Wales all this will be arranged with the vicar of your Parish Church and generally you will not need to give Notice to a Registrar. The legal preliminaries (equivalent to a notice of marriage) would be by the publication of Banns.
You can usually only be married in a religious building (according to their religious rites and ceremonies) within your own district. However, you may be married out of your district of residence if the religious building is agreed to be the 'usual place of worship' of one, or both, of the parties to be married (which will be stated on the notice) or in some other more specific and unusual cases – please seek advice from registration officers.
If you are getting married anywhere other than in a church of the Church of England or Church in Wales you will both need to contact the Superintendent Registrar of the district where you live. You will need to give Notice of Marriage, in person to the Superintendent Registrar of your district. We advise that you do this as soon as you have made arrangements with the religious building. You may also need a registrar from the local register office to attend to register the marriage.
If you intend to marry at a non-conformist Church, or any other religious building, which must be licensed for marriages to take place, then you will need to initially contact the person in charge of the religious building where you want to be married. They will arrange a date for your marriage.
Some religious buildings may also be licensed to register civil partnerships. You may wish to enquire of your chosen religious building or seek advice from the local registrars about which buildings have chosen to be licensed. You may also need a civil partnership registrar from the local register office to attend to register the civil partnership.
You will each have to arrange an appointment to give your notice in the District in which you live. This can be done up to 12 months in advance of the marriage date, and we would advise you to contact the registrars as early as possible to make arrangements to give legal notice. If either party is subject to immigration control you may have to attend at a register office outside your district of residence to give notice and this can take longer.
If you require any further advice on this subject, please contact the Penallta House Register Office.