Terms and conditions

Your ceremony booking is accepted on the following conditions: -

• That no legal impediment to the marriage or civil partnership exists and all legal preliminaries are completed within the statutory time limits.
• That any foreign divorce/dissolution papers are accepted by the Registrar General, where applicable.
• That Home Office permission is granted, 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.
• A reservation fee is payable at the time of booking. This fee is non-refundable. It is not an extra charge, but forms part of the final fee charged for attendance at your ceremony.
• Fees are subject to change each year. You will be informed of any likely increase to fees when you book.
• Unless you are holding your ceremony in one of our designated ceremony rooms, it is your responsibility to book your chosen venue for the date and time of your ceremony.

Our designated ceremony rooms are:

The Abbeygate Room at Bury St Edmunds

The John Milton Room at Stowmarket

The Pickwick Room at Ipswich

26A Quayside at Woodbridge

The Riverside Room at Lowestoft

‘You Plus Two’ rooms.

If you are holding your ceremony in any other location, you will need to book this separately.

• Celebration, Commitment and Renewal of Vows Ceremonies do not confer any legal status or rights.

• Approval of a Venue License is granted only in connection with the provision of ceremonies. Suffolk Registration Service 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 of provision of any services and/or facilities.
• Suffolk Registration Service provides a secular ceremony which cannot include religious content. This includes any hymn, carol or song that contains religious messages or references.
• The inclusion of any animals in your ceremony MUST be discussed at the time of booking. This applies to animals attending at the request of the couple or their guests. The inclusion of animals is subject to a risk assessment and subject to an additional charge of £40.00 per animal. This must be paid at the time of the booking with the deposit and is a non-refundable payment. Each animal in attendance must be deducted from the number of guests allowed within the venue room.
• We are unable to allow animals (other than assistance pets) into Suffolk County Council ceremony rooms.
• Any reference to “working days” does not include Saturdays, Sundays or Bank or Public holidays in England.
• In the circumstance of a “Force Majeure Event” Suffolk Registration Service 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 Suffolk Registration Service and its partner providers, is beyond their reasonable control.
• Marriage regulations require ceremonies to be carried out in a seemly and dignified way. To enable this, there is an expectation that couples and their guests will conduct themselves in an appropriate manner before and during the ceremony. Our staff are committed to offer a professional service, but we will not tolerate any physical or verbal aggression, including the effects of alcohol or drugs. We reserve the right not to carry out your ceremony in these circumstances.

• Suffolk Registration Service will allocate staff to attend your ceremony and reserves the right to substitute other experienced and qualified staff in case of sickness or other unforeseen circumstances on the day.
• We only permit ceremonies to be conducted and registered by our own Suffolk County Council trained registration staff.

• If you have not paid your full fees at the time of booking, you will be asked to pay these at least 3 months prior to your ceremony date.
• If the ceremony is due to take place within 3 months of the booking, you will be asked to pay the full fee at the time of booking.
• If the fees are still outstanding within 3 months of the ceremony date, your booking can no longer be guaranteed and may be cancelled.
• Suffolk Registration Service will not take responsibility for failure to give notice or pay the balance of fees which result in the ceremony not going ahead as planned.

• Cancellations made less than 2 months before the date of your ceremony – no refund will be given.
• Cancellations made between 2 to 3 months before the date of your ceremony – we will refund 50% of the fees you have paid, less the reservation fee.
• Cancellations made 3 months or more before the date of your ceremony – we will refund the fees paid, less the reservation fee.

• Where a You Plus Two ceremony has been booked, the Registrars will deliver a standard ceremony and no additional choices will be offered.
• Ceremonies in Suffolk County Council rooms have restrictions on vows and music choices. We are also unable to offer readings.
• For ceremonies at Approved Venues, Suffolk Registration Service will provide the legal ceremony and a range of choices for your ceremony content. You may include enhancements and every effort will be made to include these, provided they are appropriate for a Civil Ceremony and the choices are received within the time frame.
• We require you to provide your chosen ceremony choices at least 4 weeks prior to your ceremony date.
• Suffolk Registration Service will chase you for your ceremony choices ONCE by email or telephone.
• If your chosen ceremony choices are not received 2 weeks before the ceremony, our Registrars will deliver a standard ceremony.
• We will not be able to accept amendments to your choices on the day of your ceremony. 

• From 1 January 2024, a non-refundable fee of £100 is payable for all new bookings where the ceremony is to be held outdoors.
• Bookings will be accepted in outside areas during British Summer Time – this is usually the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October – any outside ceremonies at other times would be considered on application.
• The decision whether the weather is suitable for the ceremony to be held outside will be taken by the celebrant in sufficient time for the location of your ceremony to be changed so it can still take place at the time you have booked.
• Couples must sign and return the Outside Ceremonies agreement form to enable a ceremony to take place outside.
• The venue is required to have an alternative area available to complete the ceremony should the weather be unsuitable on the day.
• Suffolk Registration Service cannot be held responsible if the alternative area does not have enough space for all guests to witness the ceremony. You will be asked to nominate which guests are unable to enter the area to observe the ceremony.
• The celebrant will make the final decision as to where it be appropriate to complete the ceremony when the weather is unsuitable on the day.
• Suffolk Registration Service will not accept any liability arising from any incident or accident before, during or after the ceremony scheduled.

• The time booked for your ceremony is the time it will commence.
• The registrars will meet you at your approved venue or registration office approximately 20 minutes prior to the ceremony time.
• If the ceremony should commence late, Suffolk Registration Service reserve the right to amend the ceremony to reduce its duration.
• Should the ceremony not be ready to proceed at the scheduled time booked and Suffolk Registration Service are not responsible for the delay, then we reserve the right to delay or defer the ceremony to a different day/time – this may incur extra fees to be paid by the couple.

• In the event that you need to cancel a ceremony, you must notify us as soon as possible, by emailing the office dealing with your booking.
• We will only accept a cancellation from one of the parties to the ceremony and not from any other person.
• An email giving notice of cancellation will be deemed to have been received by the ceremony team on the date of sending, provided that the email is sent on a working day between 9am and 4pm. If it is sent by email at any other time, notice will be deemed to have been received on the next working day.
• If the notification is not sent to the correct email address, no responsibility can be accepted by the Suffolk Registration Service for its non-arrival.

• Any amendment to a ceremony booking will incur an administration charge.
• If a ceremony booking is amended the reservation fee will be transferred to the revised booking. This only applies to ceremonies in Suffolk carried out by the Suffolk Registration Service.
• To transfer a ceremony booking you MUST specify a location, date and time to enable the transfer to take If you are unable to do this the booking will be treated as a cancellation and the reservation fee will lost.

• For fire safety, ceremonial dignity and comfort, the number of people in the room must not exceed the licensed capacity of the room. The capacity of all venues and Registration offices will be advised at the time of booking.
• The number of people in the room must include the bride, groom, registrars, guests, children, babies and any musicians, etc., who form part of your ceremony.
• You will be asked to nominate who should be excluded from the ceremony if there are too many people for the safe capacity of the room.

Suffolk Registration Service will not accept liability for: -

• The failure of any music system provided by the venue, you or a third party.
• Any delay or loss caused by your late arrival.
• 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 the control of Suffolk Registration Service is at the sole discretion of the Registration Service.
• Once you are asked to check and sign the Schedule at the end of your ceremony, the responsibility for the accuracy of the registration passes from the Registration Officer to yourselves. If you notice any errors after the Schedule has been signed and entered into the electronic register, you will be liable to apply for the correction, including payment of the nationally set fee, currently £90.