Occasions Telford

Research and select a venue

From the classic Wrekin Suite to our historic and picturesque hotels, unique museums and many other delightful settings – you are sure to find the perfect place for your ceremony within Telford and Wrekin. Please ensure that your chosen venue has the required capacity needed and remember, the cost of hiring an approved, licenced venue along with any reception package costs and supplier fees must be paid separately and in addition to the ceremony fee.

Check registrar availability

Once you have selected your chosen venue use our booking system to check Registrar availability. If you choose to hold your ceremony at an approved venue, you must use a Registrar from the Register Office to ensure your marriage is legal. To secure a Registrar for your ceremony complete a provisional ceremony booking and confirm the date and ceremony time with your venue. For approved, licenced venues you must book your venue and Registrar separately.

Check out our suppliers

When planning you ceremony please check out our suppliers list – a range of local businesses offering services and supplies to help make you ceremony truly special! It is recommended that you check with suppliers that their services meet your requirements, we offer an impartial, chargeable listing service therefore cannot recommend or endorse any of the providers listed.

Book and attend a ‘notice’ appointment

Before you can get married or form a civil partnership ‘notice’ must be given in person, in the district where each partner lives at least 30 days before the ceremony date. A notice is venue specific and only valid for 12 months so please do not book an appointment more than 1 year ahead of your planned ceremony date. We recommend you book your notice appointment approximately 3-6 months before your ceremony is due to take place. Once notice has been given by both partners your ceremony booking will be confirmed.

Pay your balance and make ceremony choices

We ask that the full ceremony fee is paid no later than 6 weeks prior to your ceremony date, if you have a balance you can make payment at any time via your customer booking account. Depending on your ceremony type, we also ask that you make your final ceremony choices no later than 6 weeks before your ceremony date. This is to allow sufficient time for the Registrar’s to carry out checks to ensure your choices are acceptable.

What to expect on the day

Arrival

On the day of your ceremony we recommend that you aim to arrive approximately 30 minutes before the ceremony is due to begin. This is to ensure that you are both ready to meet with the Registrar for your pre-ceremony interview, if you choose to be interviewed separately the first partner will be seen 20 minutes beforehand and the second partner roughly 10 minutes beforehand. If you do not wish to see each other before the main ceremony remember to inform your venue so they can make the necessary arrangements for this.

Pre-ceremony interview

The pre-ceremony interview is a short talk with the Registrar to ensure the information given at your notice appointment is correct and up to date. This is the final opportunity to record any changes ahead of the ceremony as well as your opportunity to ask questions. The Registrar will explain how the ceremony will be conducted, including any words you are required to say and how this will be broken down. Our experienced Registration team do their utmost to put couples at ease both before and during their ceremony.

During the ceremony

During the ceremony we ask for your full attention – especially the couple and your 2 nominated witnesses. The Registrar will guide you and your guests through the ceremony, from helping to organise entrance plans, making it clear when to stand up/sit down and ensuring if any legal words need to be spoken, that these are broken down into small, manageable amounts. We will also have details of any reading and music choices to be incorporated within the ceremony as well as who to thank or make a special mention of.

Witnesses

Witnesses are required to observe you make your contract or marriage or civil partnership and to sign the register. Please note: Registrar staff cannot serve for this purpose so you must bring 2 nominated witnesses with you aged 16 years or above. Please do not involve the witnesses with any other roles during the ceremony (such as taking photographs or looking after young children) which may distract them.

After ceremony

At the end of the ceremony – we will announce our new couple and set you up for a formal exit ahead of any further celebrations! The marriage or civil partnership certificate will be posted out to you approximately 7 - 10 working days after your ceremony. If you wish to change your name after the ceremony please visit the GOV.UK website.