Giving your notice of marriage or civil partnership
Check your local area before giving notice
Before you can get married or form a civil partnership, you must give legal notice at your local Register Office. This is a legal requirement in England and Wales.
This applies whether your ceremony will take place at Swindon Register Office and Ceremony Rooms, at one of our approved venues within Swindon, or at any other venue across the UK.
Please note, the following places are not part of the Swindon registration district:
- Aldbourne, Broad Hinton, Cricklade, Marlborough, Purton and Royal Wootton Bassett – these are in Wiltshire
- Faringdon, Shrivenham and Watchfield – these are in Oxfordshire
You can also check the council area where you should give notice on the GOV.UK website.
If you live in Swindon
If you live in the Swindon registration district and wish to get married or form a civil partnership within the next 12 months, you must give notice to the Superintendent Registrar for Swindon.
Legal requirements for giving notice
If you are British or Irish Citizen, or if you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, then both parties must give notice at their local Register Office.
If either you or your partner is from outside the UK, you must give notice together at a local Register Office where one of you lives.
In all cases, notice must be given at a Register Office in the district where at least one of you lives.
All non-British nationals will need to provide evidence of their immigration status with their eVisa and provide a share code.
View your eVisa and get a share code to prove your immigration status online via the GOV.UK website.
- Each party of the marriage must give notice of marriage to the Superintendent Registrar in the district in which they reside
- If you both live in the same registration district, two notices need to be given
- If you live in a different registration district from the person you are marrying, you must give notice of marriage at the Register Office in each district
- Each party to the marriage must give their own notice of marriage. It cannot be given by the other person.
- If you live in the same district, it would be helpful if you could both attend together to give your notices
Notice of marriage
You can make an appointment using our form:
Make an appointment to give notice of marriage
Notice of civil partnership
You can make an appointment using our form:
Make an appointment to give notice of civil partnership
Authority to marry or form a civil partnership
Once you have given notice, your details will be publicly displayed at the Register Office where you gave notice. This is a legal requirement.
The notice must be displayed for:
- 28 days for most couples
- 70 days if one or both of you is referred to the Home Office for further checks (for example, due to immigration status)
After this period, the 'authority to marry' or 'authority to form a civil partnership' will be released by the General Register Office.
You must form your marriage or civil partnership within 12 months of the date of your notice of marriage or civil partnership. If the notice expires and you have not formed your marriage or civil partnership within that timeframe, you will need to give notice again.
You are still able to make a provisional ceremony booking before you have given notice. This may be sensible to ensure you are able to secure your preferred venue, date and time. You can book up to three years in advance.
If you would like to find out more about our availability, contact Swindon Register Office and Ceremony Rooms.