Where to start

There is a legal difference between a marriage and a civil partnership. You can find out more about this here.

Whether you choose to have a marriage or civil partnership, your ceremony can be either religious or non-religious.

For a non-religious ceremony, East Riding Registration service offers legal Marriage and Civil Partnership ceremonies conducted by a Registrar. These are a popular choice for couples if you don’t follow a specific religion or consider yourself religious. We can include music of your choice and readings, although these cannot be hymns or readings with a religious nature or reference.

If you would like a religious ceremony, you can also have a legal marriage in a church or other registered religious building. Some churches have applied to perform legal civil partnerships. Please contact the church you are thinking of having your ceremony with them.

Wherever you reside, you can visit any licenced/registered building in the East Riding to enjoy your celebrations - even if you don’t live in the East Riding itself, or even in the UK!

Our Registration Offices are situated in bustling East Yorkshire towns, and a short distance from beautiful countryside and delightful coastline, making them the ideal location for continuing your celebrations in an area of your choice. With guest capacities ranging from 15-50 this makes our Registration Office venues perfect if you are looking for a smaller, more intimate ceremony option. The minimum requirement is 2 guests at one of our ceremonies.

The ceremony room, and the two Ceremonies Officers taking care of you on the day of your ceremony are inclusive in our fee. We are proud to offer ceremony choices to suit the needs of all our couples, ranging from the very short, modern or traditional ceremony options, all of which can be personalised with readings, music of your choice and personal vows. Additionally, for the couples looking to incorporate their own individual tastes, ideas and special requests into the ceremony we also offer a tailored ceremony option.

See our registration offices here.

Well, what can we say? We are thrilled to be working with some brilliant, experienced and dedicated teams who are experts in making sure your big day goes precisely to plan.

From large parties to miniature ones, our venues offer different settings and atmospheres; from traditional and grand, to quirky and casual they are each unique and cater for all types of ceremony.

Use our venues list page to see what they have to offer.

To have your ceremony at an approved venue you will need Ceremonies Officers in attendance. Please make sure you check our availability coincides with your venue booking, and as we tend to get bookings two years or more in advance, make sure you book early to get our most sought-after dates and times. There will a fee to pay to East Riding Registration Service and a fee to be paid to the venue.

We are happy to perform your ceremony outside as long as your licenced venue has an outdoor area for ceremonies. Use our venues list page to see what they have to offer. Backdrop of the spectacular Humber Bridge or breathtaking countryside anyone? At the moment we can’t offer a legal ceremony in places such as your favourite woods or beach, however we could attend for a non-legal ceremony. Get in touch if this interests you.

Your only option to just sign legal papers is if you were to have a Civil Partnership; a marriage requires a ceremony as it is the legal vows you repeat to each other that form your marriage. Please make sure you understand the difference between a marriage and Civil Partnership before you make your decision. Many of our couples who didn’t want a ceremony at the start of their journey tell us they are glad that they had one in the end! If you want something short and sweet, we recommend a small ceremony in one of our Registration Offices. With just two witnesses in attendance, you can choose to exchange your legal vows even leaving out the ring exchange if you wish.

Wherever you have your legal ceremony you will need 2 witnesses that can speak and understand English, able to hear you repeat your legal vows to each other and are preferably over the age of 18. They can be family or friends but can’t be staff or registrars from East Riding Registration Service.

The only provision for a legal ceremony in someone’s home is if one of the couple is seriously ill. You can arrange for a small ceremony with us at one of our Registration Offices and we can send one of our Ceremonies Officers to act as a celebrant in your chosen place subject to a risk assessment.

Contact ceremonies@eastriding.gov.uk to explore this option.