Marriages in Harrow

The civil wedding ceremony

Basic procedure

All marriages are conducted by two members of staff; the registrar of marriages and the superintendent registrar. On the day of the ceremony the registrar of marriages will see the bride and groom before the ceremony starts, to enter their details into the Register. S/he will also record the names of their fathers and their occupations (even if retired or deceased.)

The marriage service falls into five sections -

• the superintendent registrar's introduction
• the bride and groom's declarations that they are free to marry each other
• the customary exchange of rings (this may be omitted for really simple ceremonies and may be placed later in the ceremony)
• the bride and groom's words of contract that they are marrying each other
• the signing of the register by the bride, groom and witnesses

With the exception of the exchange of rings, all the above are legal requirements. The declarations and the contracts must be heard by a minimum of two witnesses, who will also need to sign the register, along with the bride and groom. You can review the text for a basic marriage in the document linked below:

Text for a basic marriage (PDF)