Civil marriages
Civil marriages
A civil marriage involves a non-religious ceremony. This means that any music or readings you might choose to include in your civil marriage must have nothing to do with religion. Whether you choose to have a civil ceremony in the Register Office or approved premises you will need to get a marriage licence from the Superintendent Registrar.
How do I get a marriage licence?
Once you’ve decided on a date to get married, you should go into the Register Office to make a booking. You will need to take your birth certificates and other documents with you.
If you choose to get married in approved premises, you should arrange the date and other details with the management at the approved premises before going into the Register Office. The Superintendent Registrar will enter your wedding into the office diary and issue you with a marriage appointment slip. This slip confirms the booking and includes the details of the next steps.
Next steps:
About a month before the wedding you will need to return to the Register Office to give notice (taking all your documents with you). This is when your names and other details are entered into the Announcements of Marriage book, and then your names are displayed in the Register Office as a public declaration of your intention to marry. This is the civil equivalent of banns (a church's announcement of your intention to marry) being read in an Anglican church. The fee for giving notice is £50. The law requires a minimum period of 14 clear days between the giving of notice and the wedding ceremony.
3 working days before the wedding, you will need to collect your marriage licence which is issued by the Superintendent Registrar. Once it is issued, you will need to take it to the registrar of the parish in which your wedding will take place. If you are getting married in the Register Office or any other venue in St Helier, you will take it directly to the parish registrar for St Helier at 3 Vine Street.
St Helier parish website
Download the list of parish registrars (size 33kb)
If you are to marry in one of the country parishes, you will take the licence to that parish’s registrar. The Superintendent Registrar will ask you to make contact with him or her when you make the initial appointment. The Parish Registrar will take the licence from you and use it to prepare the documents, including your marriage certificate, which will be at your wedding. S/he will also enter your wedding in the marriage register. The fee to the parish registrar is £40 cash, although it is possible to pay the parish registrar for St Helier by cheque (made payable to the Parish of St Helier).
The law requires a minimum of 3 working days between the issuing of the licence and the wedding ceremony (unless there is a bank holiday involved). A licence can be issued up to 14 days before the wedding but only after at least 7 days of the notice period have passed.
Where can I have my civil ceremony?
You can’t get married just anywhere in Jersey. However, many of the following are approved premises:
- castles
- heritage sites
- public buildings
You can also apply to get married in a private home but the law does not permit couples to marry in the open air (such as at a park or on the beach).
Contact the Office of the Superintendent Registrar for a list of approved premises in Jersey
What times / days can I get married?
Marriages may take place in Jersey between the hours of 8am and 7pm.
You can get married at the Register Office from Monday to Saturday between the hours of 11am and 1pm. In the summer it may be possible for you to get married at a later time on a Saturday afternoon. The Register Office is closed on Sundays and all public holidays. All marriages in the Register Office take place at the discretion of the Superintendent Registrar. Half an hour is allocated for each marriage.
Marriages in non-Anglican churches take place at the discretion of the minister or priest of the church concerned, and marriages in approved premises take place at the discretion of the management of the premises concerned.
Who performs civil marriage ceremonies in approved premises?
A marriage in approved premises will be celebrated by one of the delegates of the Superintendent Registrar. Delegates are appointed specifically for this purpose. If it is a busy day for weddings, it is just possible that the Superintendent Registrar or one of her deputies might be the person who celebrates your wedding at an approved premises.
If you ask about a particular delegate for your wedding, the Superintendent Registrar will try to accommodate your wishes, if possible (please give as much notice as possible). Delegates are assigned to weddings about 6 weeks before the wedding will take place, so plenty of advance notice is advised.