Planning a same sex wedding

The UK Government has recently published a reminder of the timescales involved for same sex couples in England and Wales who want to be amongst the first to get married.

The reminder follows the introduction of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which became law in July 2013 in England and Wales and:

• allows same sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies,
• allows same sex couples to marry in religious ceremonies, where the religious organisation has ‘opted in’ to conduct such ceremonies and the minister of religion agrees,
• protects religious organisations and representatives who don’t wish to conduct marriages of same sex couples from successful legal challenge,
• enables civil partners to convert their partnership to a marriage, and
• enables married individuals to change their legal gender without having to end their marriage.

Same sex couples can give notice of their intention to marry to their local register office from 13th March. Most register offices will require at least 16 days’ notice, say the Government, and different rules may apply for religious ceremonies.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.

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