Book registrar or venue first?

Mr_Reeman

My oh and I have been looking at venues and nearly two weeks ago provisionally booked our venue. It's on hold for 2 weeks whilst we sorted out the catering estimates so we could work out we can afford it.

Today I was going to call and book the venue officially, but realised I hadn't looked into the registrar side of things! We live in hampshire, but are getting married in maidenhead. I now realise I need to give notice in Hampshire, and then send detials etc to Maidenhead before we can book the registrar.

So my question is, is there always a registrar available for the chosen day? I.e should we wait to check before booking the venue, or should that be done as part of the information needed by the registrar?

Probably silly question, but well, it's my first and hopefully last time at getting married!

floss2

Ring the registrar for the area you are marrying in and check if they have availability for the date & time - if not, you may have to change your plans. Also, ask if they can pencil you in, and then make your appointment with your own area to give notice.

sparepenge

Don't confirm your venue until you have the registrar performing the ceremony booked!
We are in the same situation as you - live in one council area but getting married in another. You have to make an appointment to give notice with the registrars of the council where you live, and you also have to book a registrar to perform the ceremony with the council where your venue is based.
Try & get your venue to hold your reservation for you until the registrar is confirmed.

lovecake

Exciting!! :j good advice from Floss2 and sparepenge there. We did exactly that -
Chose the date and time with the venue and provisionally booked
Then we called the registrar and got them to pencil us in
Then we confirmed with the venue and paid the deposit
Then we confirmed with the registrar and paid the fees
We didn't need to give notice until much later on in the process.

Good luck with it all!

Mr_Reeman

Thanks all!

I'm suddenly panicking now! Why didn't we think about the registrar?!!! We were so caught up with finding out the perfect venue was free on the date we wanted, that we didn't think about anything else! Doh!

Im worried this is all going to to pot now and we're going to lose the venue! Hopefully not. I have called the registrar but their unavailable and had to leave a message! Gah! Will try again shortly and see if we can pencil it in!

Thanks again.

myconosray

When are you getting married? Is it soon? We booked our venue first for next year and when I then contacted the registrar (also in a different county to where we live) to book the ceremony there was no problem, had my pick of time etc.
We can't give notice in our own county until after August (within a year of the ceremony)

Brighton_belle

We got married last autumn and we were a bit confused by the order these things are done, but it all becames clear:venues are very used to you needing to confirm the registrar so always take a provisional booking from you first, pending you confirming your registrar is available.
There was no provisional system with the registrar where we got married, - they wanted payment with a card on the phone there and then before then would book us.
So once we had the date and time booked and venue (the registrar needs to know the venue) then we confirmed with the venue as definite.
Then you have to register your intent to marry in the district in which you live and they send all the info to your getting married district. There is often a waiting time to do this and no great hurry if your wedding is a long time away. And as someone else has send, often a minimum earliest date you can do it as well.

Mr_Reeman

Thanks all! Phew, All booked and sorted!

I got through to the local registrar and made an appointment to see them. All good!

Then heard back from the registrar where we are getting married and when I told them the date, they immediately said "Wow another one, that's such a busy date for some reason"! My heart fell, I can tell you! They only had two times left, 1pm or 4 pm!! (this is for March next year). We wanted 2pm, so 1pm was fine with us! Money paid and all booked!

I have just confirmed with the venue officially and sent the cheque and booking details in the post!

So all good and we can now relax! Next job is wedding insurance and finding a good "things to do" list so we don't slip up again!!

Holy moly, just realised, we have an official date to get married! Right wears that French Foreign legion flyer.......:rotfl:

Beckface

Congratulations!

When you are looking at insurance make sure they cover you for deposits/payments already made as some providers do and some don't.