Marriages

How do we arrange to get married?

Before you can marry in England or Wales, you must give notice of your intention to marry to the Superintendent Registrar of the district in which you live or, if you intend to marry in a Church of England or Church in Wales you should have banns read by the vicar. You cannot give notice of your intention to marry to a Superintendent Registrar more than 12 months before your wedding, and usually banns are read within 3 months of a wedding at a church. You will be charged a fee for entering your notice which is currently £42.00 per person. In order to arrange an appointment to give notice of marriage, please phone the Register Office on 01639 760021.

However, to arrange a provisional booking, sometimes up to 3 years in advance of the date, you should contact the office of your choice, but you MUST still comply with the legal requirements to give notice in the district or districts where you both live. This must be done no more than 12 months in advance of your wedding. If you have made a provisional booking, you should give notice as soon as you legally can.

How soon after giving notice can we get married?

You must wait 28 clear days (not including the day of giving notice or the day of issue) before the marriage can take place.

When the notice period is complete, the marriage or civil partnership is authorised, and the ceremony can take place at any time over the next 12 months at the venue stated. If the venue is changed for any reason, you will have to give new notices and pay the statutory fee again.

You may collect the authorities for the marriage from the district or districts where notice was given as soon as this waiting period is over.

The authorities are the legal documents that allow your marriage to take place.

You must give the authorities to the Superintendent Registrar of the district where the marriage is to take place.

Documents needed

When you give notice of marriage you need to provide:

Two forms of identification. A current full British Passport is the preferred document for proving your identity and nationality, along with a full birth certificate. Supporting evidence, can be a driving licence or NHS medical card.

If born after 1983, you will need to produce a British Passport. If you do not have a British Passport, then either the British Passport or birth certificate of your Mother must be produced.

One document for proof of address. This can be a recently dated bank statement, utility bill, or council tax statement etc, showing your current address.

Also, if you have been divorced in England or Wales, we will need to see the court stamped copy of the decree absolute (the final divorce paper). If the divorce took place in a foreign country, we will need to see the original document issued by that country and an English translation if the document is in a foreign language.

If you are a widower or widow, we will need to see a certified copy of the death certificate of your late partner issued by the registration authorities of the country where they died.

If you are a widow, the marriage certificate will also need to be produced.

On your wedding day?

If you are marrying in a register office or approved premise, the registrar will see you both in private prior to the ceremony. This is to check the details to be entered in to the marriage register. You will each be asked for the following information:

• Your full name, age, occupation and the address of your residence on the day of your marriage.
• The full name and occupation of your father and whether he is retired or deceased.

It is your responsibility to provide two witnesses to the marriage who are usually friends or relatives. They must be able to understand what is taking place and be able to give evidence of what they have seen and heard in the unlikely event that this should become necessary.

For ceremonies at approved premises you must agree the form of words to be used, together with any readings or music to be included, with the Superintendent Registrar before the wedding day.

Once the ceremony is over the registrar will ask you to check that your details have been correctly entered into the marriage register before you are asked to sign the register.

You may request the use of equipment for recording or live streaming of the ceremony.

Where can we get married?

There are now various options for civil or religious marriage in England and Wales.

Civil ceremonies

You can choose to marry in any Register Office in England or Wales, even though you do not live in the district covered by that office. You may also marry by civil ceremony in any approved premise.

Neath Port Talbot Register Office    

The Neath Port Talbot Register Office is located in Forster Road, Neath. SA11 3BN     

The Register Office and Ceremonies Room are located on ground level and provides access for wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs.

Background music is played during the signing of the marriage register. Couples may  supply their own music for the ceremony.

Civil Marriages in approved premises

Since 1st April 1995, civil marriages can take place in building other than a register office that have been approved by the local authority as a suitable venue for wedding ceremonies. These venues include castles, restaurants, hotels, civic buildings and country houses.

Marriages are not allowed to take place in the open air, in a tent or marquee, or in temporary or moveable structure such as boats or hot air balloons.

Similarly, a civil marriage cannot take place in any building that has a past or present connection with any religion.

If you decide to hold your wedding on approved premises, you will need to agree the date and time with the premises and with the Superintendent Registrar of this district in which the venue is located, to ensure registration officers can attend your wedding on the date and time of your choice.

Once the date and time have been agreed, you will have to visit the register office for the district in which you live to give notice as explained earlier.

The fees for the attendance of the registration officers at marriages in approved premises are set by individual local authorities and will not be the same throughout the country. This is in addition to any fees charge by the premises.

The venues licensed to hold civil ceremonies in this County Borough are listed below.

Marriage in a church, chapel or other religious building

All enquiries about marriages in the established church (either the Church of England or Church in Wales), should be made to the vicar of your local parish church.

If you intend to marry in any other religious building, you must give notice in the register office for the district in which you live as described previously.

Whilst the law relating to civil ceremonies has changed to allow couples to marry in the register office or approved premise of their choice, the law covering religious marriages has not altered. This means that you can only marry in a religious building in a different district to where either of you live, if one of you usually worships there.

If you need any advice or wish information on current fees, please contact us on 01639 760021.

Getting married abroad

If you are getting married or entering into a civil partnership outside of England and Wales, different rules apply depending on the country where your ceremony will be held.

If you want to get married abroad you might be asked to get certain documents from the UK government, including a Certificate of No Impediment.  

The gov.uk website has more details on getting married abroad including an online tool to find out which documents you need to get and how to apply for them. 

You will need to consult with the authorities in the country where you are planning to hold your legal ceremony regarding the following points:

• when should I apply to my local Register Office for a Certificate of No Impediment
• will I need to have the Certificate of No Impediment ‘legalised’ by way of apostille.
• will I need to obtain a translation of this documentation

If you wish to arrange to obtain a Certificate of No Impediment you will need to book a notice of marriage appointment. Once you have attended, the certificate(s) will be ready for collection after 28 clear days.

If you need to have a Certificate of No Impediment ‘legalised’ you should apply to the Legislation Office.

The Legalisation Office will check the document and can attach an ‘Apostille’ (stamped official certificate). www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

Register of Approved Premises

Name of Premises	Contact Details
Aberavon Beach Hotel	AA/RAC 3 Star Port Talbot SA12 6QP Telephone: (01639) 884949
Blancos Hotel	Green Park, Port Talbot Telephone: (01639) 864500
The Grand Hotel	Station Road, Port Talbot, SA13 1DE Telephone: 01639 882830
Glyn Clydach Hotel	Longford Road Dyffryn Neath SA10 7AJ Telephone: (01792) 818411
Margam Orangery	Margam Country Park Margam Port Talbot SA13 2TJ  Telephone: (01639) 881635
The Castle Hotel	The Parade Neath SA10 1RB Telephone: (01639) 641119
The Coach House Glyn Clydach	Longford Road Neath Abbey Neath SA10 7AJ  Telephone: (01792) 818411
The Towers Hotel	Jersey Marine Swansea Bay SA10 6JL Telephone: (01792) 814155
Celtic Lodge	36 Westernmoor Road Neath SA11 1BZ Tel: (01639) 644600
Plas Cilybebyll Manor	Cilybebyll Pontardawe SA8 3JQ Tel: 07968 194348
Ynysmeudwy Arms	168 Ynysmeudwy Road Pontardawe Swansea SA8 4QJ Tel: 07971 342453