Terms and conditions
Sunderland Registration Service
Legal information when making or cancelling a booking.
Civil marriage and civil partnership bookings
Your ceremony booking is accepted subject to the following conditions:
- No legal impediment to the marriage or civil partnership exists and legal preliminaries are completed within statutory time limits.
- Any foreign divorce/dissolution papers are accepted by the Registrar General where applicable.
- Home Office permission is granted where applicable.
- A booking confirmation fee is paid (see below).
Re-affirmation of vows and baby naming ceremonies
Your ceremony booking is accepted subject to the following conditions:
- Proof of birth or prior marriage/civil partnership is provided.
- A booking confirmation fee is paid (see below).
- The ceremony does not give any legal status or rights.
Booking confirmation fees
- A non-refundable booking fee is payable at the time of booking a ceremony.
- The non-refundable booking fee is separate to the final ceremony fee and is non-refundable.
- We do not require a non-refundable booking fee for statutory Register Office ceremonies however we will take the full fee at the notice of marriage.
- Final ceremony fees for City Hall and approved premises should be paid in full more than 10 weeks before the date of your ceremony.
Final ceremony fees
- Fees for all ceremonies must be paid at least 10 weeks in advance of the ceremony date.
- It is your responsibility to make sure your fees are paid on time.
- You will not receive a reminder to say that your fees are due.
- If bookings are made within 10 weeks of the ceremony date, the fee must be paid in full at the time of booking.
Our fees may increase each year. The fee that you pay is the one that is applicable on the date you pay your final balance. You agree that this will constitute a variation of the terms of the contract accordingly.
Sunderland City Council venues
We offer four ceremony venues in the City Hall.
1. The Register Office is for ceremonies attended by up to:
4 people (Couple plus 2 witnesses)
2. The Keel Room is for ceremonies attended by up to:
12 people (Couple and up to 10 guests including 2 witnesses)
3. The Riverside Room
42 people (Couple plus 40 guests including 2 witnesses)
4. The Mayor's Parlour
82 people (Couple plus 80 guests including 2 witnesses)
The maximum numbers are the total number of people who will be allowed into the ceremony room, including:
- both partners
- witnesses
- guests including children
- photographer
If you have more than the maximum number, then some members of the party will be excluded from the ceremony.
Changes to bookings
Any change you make to your ceremony arrangements will incur a non-refundable administration fee of £40.
Cancellation of bookings
If we cancel the booking
We reserve the right to cancel your ceremony if:
- you do not give your legal notice of intention to marry or form a civil partnership within the statutory time limits.
- Final ceremony fees are not paid within the timescales shown above and you do not respond to overdue fee reminders.
If we cancel your ceremony because of non-payment of fees any monies paid to date will be non-refundable. We do not expect to have to alter or cancel your ceremony and will use reasonable efforts to ensure this does not occur.
Sometimes a situation will arise where the ceremony will need to be cancelled due to events beyond our reasonable control. If we are required to cancel your ceremony due to an event outside of our reasonable control, we will make reasonable attempts to offer an alternative date. If this is not possible our liability to you will be limited to the amounts already paid by you at the time of cancellation.
If you cancel your booking
If you cancel your ceremony booking after full payment has been made, to be eligible for a full refund of the final ceremony fee, you must give us:
- 10 weeks' notice
Cancellation is subject to the following:
- More than 10 weeks' notice of cancellation - full refund minus your non-refundable deposit.
- Cancellation between 10 weeks and 6 Weeks before the ceremony - 50% of the final ceremony fees to be refunded minus your non-refundable deposit.
- Cancellation less than 6 weeks before the ceremony - non-refundable deposit and the full fee will be retained by Sunderland City Council: and
- If you fail to attend your ceremony without notifying us, the full fee paid is non-refundable.
If you need to cancel your ceremony you should notify us in writing or by email. Fees will only be refunded upon receipt of your written request to cancel.
Lateness
We understand arrangements can sometimes go wrong, but it is important that your ceremony commences at the agreed time. For this to happen, you and your guests are expected to be assembled a minimum of fifteen minutes before the ceremony start time.
The Registrar in attendance will need to conduct a legal interview with both of you, in private, prior to the ceremony, and will need to check that your witnesses and any others involved in the ceremony fully understand what is required of them.
The Registrar will have other ceremonies to attend after your own, and these may be in different locations within the city. If you are running late, you must contact the venue as soon as possible to let us know your whereabouts and how late you may be.
To treat all our customers fairly we will not disrupt the timing of a later service because of delays to an earlier one.
Please note that we cannot guarantee that your ceremony will proceed if you and/or your guests are late. We will wait for fifteen minutes after the agreed start time and after this we reserve the right to leave the premises. Given that you are expected to arrive fifteen minutes prior to your ceremony this means that the maximum we will wait is fifteen minutes after the agreed start time.
Please ensure that all those attending your ceremony are aware of our policy as, if any of your guests are running late, the ceremony may have to commence without them.
Liability
Sunderland City Council will not accept liability for:
- The failure of music systems provided by any venue, you or a third party.
- Any delay or loss caused by your late or non-arrival.
- Any loss caused by a request from you or your representatives to delay the ceremony.
We will also not accept liability for any loss or compensation where a ceremony or registration is stopped from going ahead because:
- It would be void if it went ahead.
- An offence under the Marriage or Civil Partnership Acts would be committed.
- It would be against the public interest.
- The ceremony is unable to proceed due to unacceptable conduct or anti-social behaviour by anyone involved in the ceremony or any invited guest.
- Either party being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Any decision to delay the ceremony is at the discretion of the registration staff attending on the day.
Privacy notice
Sunderland City Council is a registered as a 'data controller' under the Data Protection Act 1998 as we collect and process your personal information.
There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information. Generally, we collect and use personal information where we need to get in touch or provide you with a service.
As the data controller, we promise that any personal data we collect, and hold is:
- Processed fairly and lawfully.
- Used only for the purposes we tell you about when you give it to us.
- Accurate, relevant, and not excessive.
- Kept securely and not kept any longer than necessary.
- Not shared with anyone else unless you have given your consent, or we are allowed to do so by law.
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