Our fees explained
Register Office Marriages and Civil Partnership Registrations
(no ceremony)
Legally, KCC is only required to provide the basic register
office marriage and civil partnership registration for the
statutory fee of £45. However, this fee does not reflect the true
costs to KCC of providing this service and so it is subsidised by
the public purse. Furthermore, KCC is only required to provide the
basic register office marriage and civil partnership registration
on weekdays at the designated register office, which for Kent is
the Archbishops Palace in Maidstone. However, KCC does go beyond
its statutory responsibilities and also provides the basic ceremony
for the statutory fee at seven other register offices in the county
and in Bexley (Ashford, Canterbury, Gravesend, Dartford,
Sittingbourne, Ramsgate and Tunbridge Wells). On average KCC
conducts in the region of 500 marriages/civil partnership
registrations a year.
Ceremonies at Approved Premises (hotels, castles, stately homes
etc.)
The Marriage Act 1994 allows local authorities to licence venues
where civil marriages and civil partnerships may take place. This
is not a mandatory function and so local authorities do not have to
do it. The licensing of venues is a discretionary activity
only, and so the legislation allows local authorities to recover
all of their reasonable costs in providing this service. KCC has
embraced this legislation and we now have over 200 licensed venues
(hotels, castles, stately homes) across the county including nine
of its own. This is at least sixty more venues than any other local
authority and reflects the fact that Kent is a beautiful county
with a wide range of wonderful venues and locations. In embracing
this legislation KCC’s policy is to recover all of its costs in
providing ceremonies at Approved Premises and not to subsidise them
in any way from the public purse. It cannot make a profit from
these ceremonies and neither does it charge a ‘market rate‘. In
choosing to license venues, KCC is supporting the Kent and
Bexley economy and the many small business that rely on the
wedding industry. On average KCC conducts in the region of 5000
Approved Premises marriages and civil partnerships a year. Of
these, in the region of 1000 are for couples who do not live in
Kent.
There are many elements to the cost of a ceremony. Some of these
are obvious such as the registrar and celebrant, travelling
expenses and all the costs associated with our team of Ceremony
Officers who work with couples to plan their ceremony. However,
there are many much less obvious costs which nonetheless must be
recovered and some of these include the cost of running our offices
(rent, rates, utilities etc), our booking systems/software, staff
training, website, publications, corporate uniform and service
overheads (finance, IT, management, HR support). As these costs
vary from one authority to another, you will find that charges for
ceremonies also vary widely across the country. Whilst our fees
might appear to be higher than some other local authorities, we do
have a competitive range of prices to suit different budgets.
The location and the way in which you decide to marry is
entirely your own choice and if you decide to have a ‘Kentish
Ceremony’ we are confident they will receive a very professional
and friendly service. The Kent Registration Service is very well
respected throughout the country and is recognised as one of the
best due to the level of attention to detail that we commit to the
services we provide, and we are very proud that this is reflected
in the many compliments we receive from couples.
Our ceremony fees are derived by breaking down the components of a
typical ceremony on a given day of the week, and averaging out the
costs incurred. It is based on an inclusive package of
services, which applies to all ceremonies.
Fees and charges
A complete list of our fees and charges follows. The same fees
apply to all Approved Premises ceremonies including marriage, civil
partnership, renewal of vows and welcomings. There are three main
elements to our charges for a ceremony at an Approved Premise:
1. Booking fees - this guarantees the time and location of your
choice and covers our costs in setting up the booking on our
systems. Similar charges apply for cancelling a ceremony or making
amendments. These fees are non-refundable and range from £25 to
£55.
2. Ceremony fees - This covers all of KCC’s costs in providing
ceremonies at Approved Premises. Typically prices range between
£196 and £505 for a weekday ceremony and £299 and £608 on a
weekend. Rather than stipulating the format and content of
the ceremony you can tailor make it in exactly the way you wish.
This means that with our help you can write your own ceremony (or
make selections from our recommended ‘Choices’), include live music
or family and friends to read poetry or prose or give a message of
celebration on behalf of the couple. If you cancel your ceremony
the full fee will be refundable less the cancellation fee.
3. Legal preliminaries - This is the fee for giving your notice
of marriage and is set nationally by the Registrar General. It is
non-refundable and currently the fee is £35 per person.
Other options are available to enhance your ceremony experience
including ceremony rehearsals and commemorative certificates. Our
ceremony fees are subject to review each year.