Marriages
The Registration office is now taking bookings for civil ceremonies taking place in 2025 and 2026. Contact us to check available dates and to make a provisional booking.
If you need to cancel or postpone your wedding or civil partnership please email registration1@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk with your name, mobile number and date and place of ceremony and we will respond to you in due course.
All marriage and civil partnership applications require a face-to-face appointment. Please ring for an appointment at least two weeks in advance of the date you require.
Please note: The minimum period legally required, from the date the Registrar receives all necessary documentation to the date the ceremony can take place, is 28 days. The maximum period is one year. We would suggest you make an appointment at least three months before the date of your ceremony to allow for any unforeseen eventualities.
All appointments are held in the City Hall, Bangor.
You can choose a civil, humanist or a religious wedding. Civil ceremonies can only take place at locations that hold the relevant venue licence for marriages. Religious and Humanist marriages can take place anywhere the individual officiant deems appropriate.
Whether your ceremony is civil, humanist or religious, the appropriate paperwork must be lodged at the Registrar's Office in the Council District where the ceremony is taking place.
Civil ceremonies are conducted by the registrar and are non-religious. There are some legal and procedural requirements involved. The Registrar and Deputy Registrars can explain this process. Please contact the Registrar's Office for information on the fees that will apply to your particular date and venue.
To marry in Northern Ireland, you and your partner must be:
- aged 18 or above on the day of your wedding (consent is needed if either of you is aged 16 or 17)
- unrelated to one another in a way that would prevent you from getting married
- free to marry, for example, neither of you is already a civil partner or legally married
You must each complete a marriage notice form before your ceremony can take place. A form is available from the council offices at the City Hall, The Castle, Bangor, BT20 4BT.
The form is also available online here: Marriage notice form | nidirect
To make an appointment at Bangor Castle please ring 0300 013 3333 ext. 40784
These forms, which give formal 'notice' to the Registrar of your intent to marry, must be completed by you and your partner. They are valid for 12 months from the date of notice. This means you must tell us about your plans to get married in the 12 months before your wedding date, and no later than 28 days before your ceremony.
Notice forms should be returned to the registrar of the district in which you intend to marry, along with the relevant documents (listed below) and fees.
You will also need to provide certain documents to the registrar:
- your full (long version) birth certificate (authorised photocopies will not be accepted)
- your passport or national identity card - the Registrar can advise on alternatives if you do not hold either of these
- a consent form (if you are aged 16 or 17) - these are available from the Registrar
- if you have been married before and the marriage was dissolved, a certificate of divorce or annulment or a certified copy decree (decrees must be absolute or final)
- if you have been married more than once, only the documents for your most recent marriage are required
- if you have entered into a civil partnership before, a court order of dissolution for that partnership
- if you are a widow, widower or surviving civil partner, the death certificate of your former spouse or civil partner
If you are not a UK or Irish citizen, other documents will be required. Please refer to the NIDirect website for further details
Registrar's Ceremony Room for Ards and North Down
The Registrar conducts all civil ceremonies for the district in the Council Chamber within Bangor Castle, which is only licenced for ceremonies of this nature.
The room has a strict maximum capacity of 75 people.
To check availability and/or to provisionally book your ceremony, please contact the Registrar's Office on 02891 278 001.
A provisional booking can be taken up to two years in advance.
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Marriage certificates
You can buy marriage certificates from the registrar at the point of registration. Each certificate costs £8.00. You can pay by credit/debit card, cheque or cash.
Additional marriage certificates
You cannot buy additional marriage certificates from the registrar's office at any time after registration. You can only buy these from the General Register Office in Belfast. An additional certificate costs £15.00.
General Register Office
NISRA
Colby House
Stranmillis Court
Belfast
BT9 5RR
Telephone: 0300 200 7890
General Register Office website
Privacy Notice
You can find out how any personal information you give to Ards and North Down Borough Council's Registrar's office is used and how it will be handled by viewing the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) privacy notice.
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