Civil partnerships

If you wish to discuss booking a ceremony, please contact our office to check available dates and to make a provisional booking.

If you need to cancel or postpone your wedding or civil partnership, please email registration1@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk with your name, mobile number and the date and place of the ceremony and we will respond to you in due course.

All marriage and civil partnership applications require a face-to-face appointment. Please ring for an appointment at least two weeks in advance of the date you require. This process can be done up to one year before the date of your ceremony.

All appointments are held in the City Hall, Bangor.

About Civil Partnerships

A civil partnership is a legal relationship, which can be formed by two people of the same or opposite sex. Couples who form a civil partnership will have the legal status, of a civil partner. Please contact the Registrar's Office for information on the fees that will apply to your particular date and venue.

The civil partnership registration may take place in a registrar's office or at an approved place.
Any two people, regardless of where they live, can register a civil partnership in Northern Ireland, provided they are:

aged 18 or above on the day of your ceremony (consent is needed if either of you is aged 16 or 17)
unrelated to one another in a way that would prevent you from forming a civil partnership
free to enter into a partnership, for example, neither of you is already a civil partner or legally married

You must also complete a civil partnership notice form and return it along with other documents to the registrar's office in the district where you plan to form your partnership. A form is available from the council offices at:

City Hall, The Castle, Bangor, BT20 4BT
2 Church Street, Newtownards, BT23 4AP

The Civil Partnership Notice Form is also available online here: Civil partnership notice form | nidirect

You will need to fill in the form and provide these documents:

your full (long version) birth certificate (authorised photocopies are not acceptable)
your passport or national identity card - the registrar can advise on alternatives if you do not hold either of these
a consent form (if you're aged 16 or 17) - these are available from the registrar
if you have entered into a civil partnership before, a court order of dissolution for that partnership
if you have been married before and the marriage was dissolved, a certificate of divorce or annulment or a certified copy decree (decrees must be absolute or final)
if you have been married more than once, only the documents for your most recent marriage are required
if you are a widow, widower or surviving civil partner, the death certificate of your former spouse or civil partner

Certificates

You can buy civil partnership certificates at the point of registration. Each certificate costs £8.00. You can pay by credit/debit card, cheque or cash.

Additional civil partnership certificates

You cannot buy additional civil partnership certificates from the registrar's office at any time after registration. You can only buy these from the General Register Office in Belfast. An additional certificate costs £15.00.

General Register Office
NISRA
Colby House
Stranmillis Court
Belfast
BT9 5RR
Telephone: 0300 200 7890
General Register Office website

Privacy Notice

You can find out how any personal information you give to Ards and North Down Borough Council's Registrar's office is used and how it will be handled by viewing the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) privacy notice.