General terms and conditions

Definitions:

"Marriage or Civil Partnerships Acts" means the Acts of Parliament (and any regulations made under those Acts) covering the legal preliminaries to and the solemnization and registration of a civil marriage/civil partnership either in a register office or other Venue
"Venue" means locations approved by Norfolk County Council under the Civil Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) Regulations 2005 for the solemnization and registration of civil marriages/civil partnerships

Your ceremony booking is accepted on the following conditions:

You accept these terms and conditions
No legal impediment to the marriage or civil partnership exists and all legal preliminaries are completed within the statutory time limits
Any divorce/foreign divorce/dissolution papers/Home Office referrals are accepted by the Registrar General/Home Office where applicable
Couples whose paperwork is subject to approval from the Registrar General are advised not to make firm arrangements for their ceremony until that approval is given
That any ceremony and other fees are paid in full, in accordance with these terms

NRS will inform you of the legal requirements for your ceremony but are not legally allowed to procure or solicit witnesses for you.

Our fees

Our fees are subject to change annually. Visit Fees for more information.
All payments should be made by debit or credit card through the online booking system on our website or over the telephone with one of our team.

Ceremonies

A non-refundable reservation fee of £200 is payable at the time of booking your ceremony. This is not an extra charge, but forms part of the final fee charged for attendance at your ceremony. This charge is used to cover the initial costs of the NRS to carry out the booking. By making a booking you are providing authority for us to commence work and we can change a fee for this.
For ceremonies costing less than £200 the full fee is non-refundable and payable in full at the time of booking
Ceremony fees differ depending on the venue or choice of ceremony. Visit Fees for more information.
Where ceremony fees are paid in full at the time of booking, you will not be subject to any potential fee increases and will only pay the fee applicable at the time of booking
If you have paid your ceremony fees in full at the time of booking and later reschedule your ceremony to a different calendar year with higher applicable fees at the time of the change, you will be required to pay the difference
Where you have not paid the ceremony fees in full at the time of booking, you are required to pay any outstanding fees no later than 12 weeks ahead of the ceremony date. This will be at the fee applicable at the date of payment which may be higher than at the time of booking
If your ceremony fees are not paid in full by 12 weeks of the ceremony date, NRS cannot guarantee delivery of your ceremony
Full fees must be paid at the time of booking if the ceremony date is within 16 weeks of booking
NRS takes no responsibility for your failure to pay the balance of fees in accordance with these terms which results in the ceremony not going ahead as planned
Marriage certificates cost £12.50 each

Legal preliminaries (giving notice):

Giving notice of a marriage or a civil partnership is a legal requirement and there is a statutory fee payment for this
The minimum fee for giving notice of marriage or notice of civil partnership can be paid at the time of booking the appointment or at the appointment
The fees payable are subject to change and any changes in the amount payable are added to our giving notice page.
There may be different fees charged depending on certain factors, such as, immigration status or where foreign divorce documentation must be checked. Further details are available on our giving notice page.
Fee payments for divorce documents/dissolution paperwork/reduced waiting periods and increased notice fees for parties subject to immigration control will be taken at the time of the appointment. Notice fees are non-refundable once the appointment has taken place.

Changes, postponements, cancellations and refunds

Visit Cancel, postpone or change a marriage or civil partnership booking and complete the change request form to make any changes, postponements or cancellations to a ceremony booking.

Changes:

Any changes to the booking after it has been made will incur a £50 charge, payable at the time of the change
Notice is only valid for 12 months from the date you gave notice and is venue specific. Any changes to the date and venue may require a new notice and an additional payment of the statutory fee.

Postponements:

The ceremony can be postponed to a future date and the full reservation fee utilised by the couple to secure the new date. It must be the same partners applying for the postponement. A change fee of £50 will be incurred.
If a new date for a postponed ceremony cannot be confirmed at the time of the booking change, then the fees already paid remain 'live' for three months after the date of postponement. If a new date is not confirmed within three months, then the booking will be cancelled and fees will not be refundable.

Cancellations

By NRS:

Your ceremony may be cancelled by NRS if:
- legal preliminaries have not or cannot be completed - see below for further details
- you do not pay any outstanding ceremony fees within 12 weeks of the ceremony date
- You or your guests arrive late for your ceremony
- You materially breach any of these terms and conditions
Where a ceremony is unable to take place due to legal restrictions identified during a giving notice appointment, the non-refundable reservation and notice fees will still apply
Where a ceremony is unable to take place due to legal restrictions identified on the day, no refund will be made

By customers:

Customers are entitled to cancel a ceremony or appointment within the 14-day cooling off period without giving reason. By agreeing our terms and conditions at the point of booking you are requesting us to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period, so the non-refundable reservation fee will apply, which is a proportion to what has been performed until your cancellation.
If you need to cancel a ceremony you must notify the ceremony team as soon as possible using the change request form on Cancel, postpone or change a marriage or civil partnership booking or by email to [email protected]
We will only accept a cancellation from one of the parties to the ceremony
Any ceremony fees paid will be subject to the refunds policy as set out below. The non-refundable reservation fee is not recoverable.

Refunds

Ceremonies:

You will be refunded the full fees you have paid (less the non-refundable reservation fee) if your cancellation request is received 12 weeks or more before the scheduled date of the ceremony.
If the date of the ceremony is less than 12 weeks from the date that your cancellation request is received then no refund will be given, apart from in exceptional circumstances (to be determined by a Senior Officer at the NRS). Instead of cancelling, you are able to postpone your ceremony in accordance with the terms set out above.

Legal preliminaries:

Any payment made when making a notice appointment is refundable if the notice appointment does not go ahead
Where an appointment is rearranged, the fee will be carried over

Legal preliminaries (giving notice of your intention to marry/form a civil partnership)

It is the responsibility of the couple to ensure they attend their notice appointment with the correct documents. Delays to the ceremony date caused by failure to provide the correct documents is the responsibility of the couple.
It is the responsibility of the couple to ensure that they give sufficient notice of their intention to marry/form a civil partnership depending on their immigration status
Further details about giving notice and the documentation required can be found on giving notice

Ceremonies:

NRS offers a range of different ceremony types and pre-approved venues for ceremonies in Norfolk. Full details can be seen on our ceremonies page or approved venues page.
Some specific terms relating to ceremonies and venues are set out below:

Script and content:

Where a statutory small office ceremony has been booked, we will deliver a pre-prepared script, and no additional ceremony script choices will be offered
For all other legal ceremonies NRS will provide a range of options to complete your ceremony script. We require you to provide your chosen ceremony choices at least ten weeks ahead of your ceremony date. If your chosen script is not submitted in time, then we reserve the right to deliver a pre prepared script.
NRS will contact you if any proposed inclusions to the ceremony script cannot be used e.g. use of hymns or readings from religious texts
If your chosen ceremony choices are not received four weeks before the ceremony, our Celebrant Registrars will deliver a pre-prepared script using our Classic script template
Please note that we will not be able to accept amendments to your choices within four weeks of the ceremony date
The Celebrant Registrars will make the final decision on any wording used and will not accept any liability for any amendments to, or omissions from, the ceremony
You will be responsible for obtaining copyright licences for any music, readings or other matters permitted at the ceremony
NRS provides no guarantee that a particular Celebrant Registrar will be in attendance or that NRS will allocate a Celebrant Registrar based on a request related to gender, age or appearance

Outdoor ceremonies:

It is possible to have the whole legal ceremony outdoors at an approved venue, including the signing of the schedule. You will need to confirm that your venue is offering legal outdoor ceremonies and that the outdoor location must be approved by the NRS.
The final decision about the suitability of the weather for an outside ceremony, rests with the Celebrant Registrars to protect the legal paperwork.
If the preferred location for the ceremony is outside, then the owner/proprietor/responsible person is required to provide a licensed room at your venue which is close by and will accommodate all guests. This is to ensure the ceremony can go ahead.

Lateness:

The time booked for the ceremony is the time it will commence. If the ceremony should commence late, NRS reserve the right to amend the ceremony to reduce its duration. This is to ensure other ceremonies our staff need to attend are delivered at the agreed time.
Should the ceremony not be ready to proceed within a maximum of 20 minutes of the scheduled time and NRS are not responsible for the delay, then we reserve the right to delay or defer the ceremony
No refund will be made in circumstances where a ceremony does not go ahead due to lateness

Celebration ceremonies:

The NRS offers other types of ceremonies in addition to marriage and civil partnerships. For more information visit Other ceremonies
The legal requirements for these celebration ceremonies do not apply but the NRS has some specific terms in relation to these:
- A ceremony planning visit may be required if your ceremony is taking place at a location such as a local village hall, your own home or any outdoor location. A £35 fee will be added to the booking.
- A Location & Contact report will be completed which will contain some conditions which may be met for the celebration ceremony to go ahead as planned
- The owner/proprietor/responsible person must confirm in writing that conditions agreed in the Location & Contact report will be met, and any advisory issues have been resolved or managed by two weeks prior to the ceremony
- If the owner/proprietor/responsible person fails to ensure that the conditions agreed in the Location & Contact report are met or have failed to address the advisory issues, then NRS reserve the right to refuse commencement/continuation of the ceremony
- If the preferred location is outside, then the owner/proprietor/responsible person is required to provide a 'poor weather' alternative location which is close by and will accommodate all guests

Health and safety

Room capacity:

Room capacity for approved venues have been approved by the approved venue, the NRS and the Fire Service, for health and safety reasons
The number of guests must not exceed the capacity of the room. The capacity of all Norfolk registration office locations will be advised at the time of booking, for approved venues the venue will confirm capacity in line with what has been approved on their ceremony venue licence.
NRS will ask you to nominate who should be excluded from the ceremony if the guest numbers exceed the capacity that the venue has been licensed for

Animals:

It is the responsibility of the couple to notify NRS of any animals that will be at the ceremony, to protect allergies or phobias amongst the celebrant registrars
Animals are not permitted in most of our NRS ceremony suites, with the exception of service animals. It is the responsibility of the couple to confirm whether animals can attend ceremonies at NRS ceremony suites. It is also the responsibility of the couple to confirm whether animals can attend at approved venues by contacting the venue owner.

Liability

NRS will not accept liability for:

The failure of any music system provided by the venue, you or a third party or the failure for the couple to provide their music in the appropriate format.
Any delay or loss caused by you, or your guests, late or non-arrival at the due date and time.
Any loss caused by a request from you or your representatives to delay the ceremony.
Any loss or compensation where a ceremony is stopped from proceeding because (a) it would be void if it went ahead, (b) an offence under the Marriage or Civil Partnerships Acts would be committed.
Any decision to delay the ceremony due to legality or reasons beyond control of NRS is at the sole discretion of the Registration Service.
In the circumstance of a "Force Majeure Event" NRS will endeavour to perform your ceremony on your chosen day but will not accept any liability for the delay or cancellation of a ceremony due to reasons beyond their control. We strongly recommend that you take out ceremony insurance to cover losses or expenses incurred in the case of events outside of your or our control.
"Force Majeure Event" means war, civil war, armed conflict, terrorist attack, governmental action, fire, flood, severe weather conditions, pandemic or epidemic or any other act or matter, which notwithstanding the reasonable diligence and foresight of the NRS and its partner providers, is beyond their reasonable control.
If it is deemed by the Celebrant Registrars that the conduct of either parties or their guests is unreasonable and unsafe due to the excess consumption of alcohol/drugs or if either parties or their guests behave in an inappropriate or threatening way towards the Celebrant Registrar, they can refuse to conduct the ceremony and leave the premises. The fee for our services will be forfeit.
NRS cannot accept liability for the failure or neglect, on behalf of the Venue, in relation to any agreement between you and the Venue for the use or provision of any services and /or facilities

Complaints

The NRS considers customer complaints very seriously. We subscribe to the principles of The Local Government Ombudsman and have processes in place to deal with both complaints, comments and compliments in a timely and thorough manner.
If you would like to make a complaint, comment or compliment then please contact Norfolk County Council's complaints department

Registration appointments

Certificates of birth and death can be purchased at the time of making the appointment online. Any certificates ordered will be given to you at the end of your appointment. If you have to rearrange your appointment the fee will be carried over and if you have to cancel, any certificate fees will be refunded.
Verbal or physical abuse, including behaviour influenced by alcohol or drugs is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Any abusive or drunken behaviour may result in the appointment being ended and you will then need to attend at a later date.
Appointments must be prebooked in advance; we do not offer drop-in appointments