The first thing you need to do is to decide where you want to get married or form a civil partnership.
The venue
The cheapest way to get married or form a civil partnership is in a Register Office. This costs £45 - plus £4 for each certificate. This does not have to be in the district where you live. You can have your ceremony in any Register Office in England and Wales. Please note the Register Office will only accommodate the bride, groom and 2 witnesses. The room is only available from Monday to Friday.
Wokingham Ceremony Room
We have a new Ceremony Room which is available for booking from 1 August 2011. The room can accommodate the Bride, Groom, and a maximum of 26 guests. The fees are: £130 Monday to Thursday, £230 for Friday and Saturday and £330 for Sunday or Bank Holiday.
Approved Premises
See our full list of approved ceremony venues. You will need to contact them direct to arrange visits and to discuss availability and terms.
For an outside venue you will need to make a provisional booking direct with them as soon as possible. This is especially so if you want a Saturday during the busy season which is from April through to September. Some of the more popular ones are booked at least 2 years in advance. Make sure you are clear on all the costs involved. Quite often you will find there is a separate charge for the ceremony in addition to any costs involved with the reception afterwards. If you are having just a few guests, check if there is a minimum charge. You may wish to consider an off season booking to take advantage of any special rates that may be on offer. We would advise that you do not pay any deposit at this stage.
Many wedding venues have business interruption insurance in place which should cover unexpected events such as flooding but some couples may like to insure their weddings to cover the outlay they have incurred should anything go wrong.
If your preferred venue is not one of the above, there is another option. You can have a simple legal marriage or partnership ceremony in an authorised place, followed by a 'renewal of vows' ceremony at a location of your choice, e.g. a private house or garden, on the same day, or performed at a later date. Go to our renewal of vows page for further information.
Booking the Wokingham Registrar Team
For a wedding, you will need a Superintendent Registrar and a Registrar or their deputies. A civil partnership requires a Civil Partnership Officer and quite often an additional officer to assist. Often during the busy season we are able to provide up to three teams
As soon as you have made a provisional booking with the venue within the Wokingham district, you will then need to check with us that there is a team available on your chosen day and time. We would advise that you do not pay any deposit to the venue until you have booked the registrar team. There is a fee for this service, payable on booking. Details are as follows for the financial year up to 31 March 2012:
- Monday to Thursday: £358
- Friday and Saturday: £412
- Sunday and Bank Holidays: £469
All fees are reviewed at the end of each financial year. Payment can be made by cheque (made payable to: Wokingham Borough Council), cash or card - (excluding American Express).
Please note that a surcharge of 1.75% applies to payments made by credit card.
Once you have a provisional venue booking and have booked a registrar team, in order to secure the venue booking, a deposit is normally required. Quite often this is non-returnable. It is therefore advisable that you are certain of your choice of venue before making any payment.
Now you are starting to spend some money you may wish to consider taking out insurance just in case your ceremony is cancelled beyond your control. We would suggest you check to make sure it covers flooding if this is not covered by the venue and pandemic flu.
What happens next?
Once you have booked the registrar team you will receive a letter from us confirming the place, date and time of the ceremony. The letter will also include details regarding the requirement for you to give Legal Notice which is the next thing you need to do. Please refer to giving notice for this information.
Pre Ceremony
It varies from one couple to the next how much pre ceremony support is required. There is therefore the option for you to come into the Register Office two to three weeks before the ceremony to meet with one of us who will discuss your ceremony in more detail with you. By then you would have completed the previously provided green form which provides us with your preferred legal words, any additional personal words and your chosen readings and music if required. It is a 30 minute appointment during normal working hours and costs £22. Should you decide to make use of this additional service, we recommend that you make the appointment approximately three weeks before you wish to come in in order to ensure we can fit you in the diary.
