The latest updates from the ceremony team. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more news, tips, local suppliers and ceremony inspiration.
16th January 2024: New Ceremony Packages Launched
They’re finally here! We’re unveiling our new ceremony packages, available from 1st April 2024 and bookable from Wednesday 17th January. We’ll be replacing our Full ceremony package with a choice of a Classic ceremony or an Enhanced ceremony that has more options for personalisation and some exciting new unity ceremony elements. Read more in our latest blog post or head over to our Ceremony Enhancements page for more details.
All new Pre Ceremony Check forms and guidance are now available to help guide you through the choices and let us know just how you’d like your special day to happen.
5th December 2023: New Prices & New Digital Forms
We’ve just announced the new prices for our ceremonies from 1st April 2024. Check the Costs page for full details. We’re working on setting the 2025-26 prices much earlier so it’ll make it easier for you to budget ahead.
Brand new digital Pre Ceremony Check forms for our simple 2+2 ceremonies launched last month. The new system is easier to complete and is compatible with most devices. We’re polishing up the full ceremony versions so those should be live by the new year too.
The Old Council Chamber in Weston is still unavailable – more work required to fix the ceiling still needed unfortunately.
20th April 2023: Old Council Chamber Closure in Weston
We’re so sorry to have to announce that the Old Council Chamber in Weston is no longer available for ceremonies with immediate effect. Internal damage to the ceiling means the room is unsafe. As it’s a listed building it will take longer to repair than a more modern building, and it’s unclear yet what the extent of the damage is, or whether asbestos is involved. We’re contacting all couples who have booked the room already to offer a switch to the 40 guest capacity Hutton Suite with a refund of the balance, or a full refund if they would rather move their ceremony elsewhere. Email us via our contact form if this affects you and you have any queries.
1st April 2023: Somerset Council
Somerset Council is here! We’re now part of the brand new unitary authority created from the merging of Somerset County Council and the district councils of Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset and Somerset West & Taunton. Our services won’t change, other than a bit of rebranding and a new look to the county-wide main council website.
27th February 2023: Change to minimum marriage age
The Marriage & Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 comes in to force today. This means that the minimum age for marriage and civil partnerships is now 18. Previously young people aged 16 or 17 could marry with parental consent. This is no longer the case, and comes after a long campaign to increase the official marriage age for all.
9th January 2023: We Are Recruiting
4th January 2023: Fee Increases
Our ceremony prices have remained the same since 2018. We opted not to increase them during the pandemic or add any additional charges for amendments or postponements. However, the time has come to finally revise our prices. All our fees are based on a very strict cost-recovery formula and are not profit making. They cover all the admin involved in taking bookings, preparing scripts, assembling essential paperwork, travel time and costs as well as the ceremonies themselves. We aim to keep the ceremonies as affordable as possible and offer a range of options. The basic statutory ceremony for the couple and their witnesses only remains at the national fee of £57 (including certificate). Our cheapest full ceremony with guests, music and readings is still just £165, available in the Hutton Suite in Weston Super Mare from Monday to Saturday. You can see all the revised ceremony costs that will apply from 1st April 2023 on our Costs page. The new fees will apply to all ceremonies taking place from that date onwards. Couples who opted to prepay their fees early will still need to pay the additional balance. We apologise for any inconvenience, but hope you all understand the need to make sure we cover our costs.
1st November 2022: Ceremony Survey
Take part in our big Somerset Ceremonies survey. This is your chance to tell us what you really want, so we can write the best scripts and offer the extras that you need to make your big day truly special. Read more about it and find the link in our blog post: Somerset Ceremonies Are Getting A Refresh – Somerset Registration Services (somersetweddingservice.org.uk)
12th October 2022: Ceremonies on the King’s Coronation
The date for the King Charles’ coronation has been set for Saturday 6th May 2023. As far as we are aware, there should be no disruption to our ceremony provision. No extra bank holiday has been announced (it’s already part of the early May bank holiday weekend.) If you do decide you would prefer to move your ceremony to another date to avoid the clash, please fill in a booking request form as soon as possible so we can look at other options for you – tick the Amendment option:
4th October 2022
The ceremony booking team have been working hard to get through the summer backlog. The waiting time for you to get a call after submitting a request is now back down to around 3 working days. Thanks so much for your patience, everyone.
14th September 2022
Registration Services have been asked to continue to provide essential services on the day of Her Majesty’s funeral. While it is a national bank holiday on Monday 19th September, we will go ahead with weddings as planned if couples choose to do so. Most branch offices will be closed, but our Taunton and Weston Register Offices will be open for booked appointments. We will be prioritising death appointments as a matter of urgency, but will honour any notice of marriage, partnership or birth appointments that are already in the diary. Appointments at other offices will be contacted and rescheduled as soon as possible. The Heritage Centre will be closed for the day, including the certificate service. We apologise for any delays or inconvenience.
Phone lines will be open from 9 to 5 for death registration queries only, and will close for the duration of the funeral to allow staff to watch. Mondays are especially busy with death registration work, and we will only have a skeleton staff. We appreciate your patience, and normal service will be resumed on Tuesday 20th September.
8th September 2022
We’re saddened to hear about the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. This truly is the end of an era. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
We’ve had a lot of contact already from couples concerned about how national mourning arrangements might affect their ceremonies. We don’t have details yet, but will post here and on our Facebook feed as soon as we know. We’ll also phone or email any of our service users who might be directly affected.
7th September 2022
There’s a small queue for ceremony bookings. The team are currently calling couples back around 1 week to 10 days after the request forms have been submitted. We’re working hard to get the wait down to less than a week. If we miss you, we’ll leave a message or email you to arrange a call back at a better time.
Notice of marriage or partnership appointments are still in short supply due to the summer peak season and some staff shortages. We are booking couples in no more than 3 months ahead where possible. If there are no appointments at your preferred office on the dates you are looking for, do please check other locations as we may be able to fit you in elsewhere. You can book your appointment online – find the link button on our Contact page.
If you’re looking for a ceremony as soon as possible, the earliest we can offer at the moment is around 2 months ahead. If there’s an emergency situation, please let us know.
We’re anticipating some disruption to our certificate service during the planned postal strike this month. Apologies in advance for any delays. If you need to get any information to us quickly (eg ceremony forms) it may be better to use email.