How much does a civil wedding cost, and what is fixed by law

What suppliers publish, and what they do not

How to work out your ceremony cost

1. Start with giving notice. Both of you give notice at your local register office before you can marry. It carries a statutory fee each and it is unavoidable.
2. Then price the ceremony room. The register office ceremony room and an approved venue are priced separately, and the approved venue also charges its own hire fee on top.
3. Check the day and the time. Registration services publish different fees for different days, and a Saturday ceremony costs more than a Tuesday one almost everywhere.
4. Add the certificate. The marriage certificate is a separate fee, and you will want more than one copy for name changes afterwards.

Statutory fees versus the rest of the day

The statutory part is small, published, and identical for everyone: notice fees, the ceremony fee for the room you use, and the certificate. Because it is published, it is the one line of a wedding budget you can fix precisely on the day you start planning, and it is worth doing that first so the number stops floating around your estimates.

Everything else is an ordinary supplier market. A ceremony at an approved venue attracts a venue hire fee that has nothing to do with the registrar, and a celebrant-led ceremony is a different product again, priced by the celebrant. The published celebrant fees in this record show what that costs, and they show the Saturday premium as plainly as any other category does.

Where a celebrant fits, and where it does not

A celebrant writes and leads a ceremony that can be anywhere, on any day, and can say anything you want it to. What a celebrant cannot do in England and Wales is make you legally married, so couples who want both hold a short statutory ceremony at a register office and a celebrant ceremony where they actually want it. That is two costs, and both are in this record.

The arithmetic often surprises people in a good way. The statutory half of that pair is the cheapest ceremony option available, because it is the room and the registrar with none of the extras, and it leaves the whole ceremony budget for the version their guests will remember.

Questions organisers ask before they book

What is the cheapest way to get legally married?

A short statutory ceremony at your local register office on a weekday, with two witnesses and no extras. The fees are published by the registration service and are the same for everyone using that room.

Does a celebrant ceremony count legally?

In England and Wales a celebrant ceremony is not itself a legal marriage, so couples usually add a short statutory ceremony. Scotland is different, and a celebrant registered there can conduct a legally binding ceremony.

Why does the day of the week change the fee?

Registration services publish separate fee schedules by day, and weekend ceremonies cost more. The published celebrant fees in this record show the same pattern for exactly the same reason.

How far ahead do I give notice?

Notice is given at your local register office and there is a waiting period afterwards, so it is done well before the date rather than close to it. Check the current period with your own register office, because it depends on your circumstances.

What this costs where you are marrying

• What a wedding costs in the UK, from published supplier prices