In England and Wales, the law requires that for marriages and civil partnerships to be legally valid, they must take place indoors in a building that is a permanent structure, or that is a ship which is permanently moored, which has been duly licensed as an approved premises for marriages and civil partnerships and which is open to the general public.

If you are looking to have a ceremony in a venue that is not licensed, or in a truly unique setting such as outdoors or in a non-permanent structure such as in a marquee or under a pagoda for example, Kensington and Chelsea Registrars may still be able to accommodate your dream ceremony.

The process

The ceremony would not be legally valid in itself, so instead we would ask you to attend at the register office to complete your legal marriage or civil partnership registration at some point before the non-legal ceremony. This would mean that you could have your preferred location for your ceremony, with our registrars acting as civil celebrants, but would still be legally married or in a civil partnership at the end of the ceremony. Remember that you and your partner would still need to give notice of intention to marry or enter civil partnership at the latest 29 days (71 days if either of you is a non-EEA national) before the date of the legal ceremony.

Registrars would need first to assess the exact location of the ceremony to ensure that it adequately meets health and safety standards.

The cost

The fees for registrars attending a ceremony at a non-approved venue would be the same as for attending a ceremony at an approved venue. In addition however, the statutory marriage or civil partnership registration in advance would be £46 excluding certificate costs.

How to book

To make a booking, please call us on 020 7361 4100 once you have your preferred location, date and time in mind. We will ask for an initial non-refundable booking fee of £100 in order to reserve the registrars.