a. Marriages in England and Wales
Each party must give notice of the intended marriage, in person, to the superintendent registrar of the district in which he or she resides, and has resided for at least seven days. Such notice should be accompanied by the appropriate fee and should be on the prescribed form which will be supplied by the superintendent registrar on application. After the expiration of fifteen clear days the superintendent registrar will, on application, deliver a certificate stating that the notice required by law has been duly complied with. The superintendent registrar's certificate is valid for twelve months after the entry in the marriage notice book, after which it expires. After expiry, the application must start afresh.
If one or both of the parties reside in Scotland, notice must be given to the district registrar(s) of the registration district(s) in Scotland in which each party has her or his usual residence or has been resident for fifteen clear days immediately previous to the giving of such notice, and the certificate(s) of such district registrar(s) must be obtained and will have the same validity as a certificate of a superintendent registrar.
If either of the parties is not in membership, a certificate (form D) in respect of each such party must be produced to each superintendent registrar (for parties resident in England or Wales), or district registrar (for parties intending to marry in England or Wales but resident in Scotland), at the time when such notice is given.
b. Marriages in Scotland
In Scotland, under the provision of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977, each of the parties to a marriage shall submit to the district registrar a 'marriage notice' accompanied by the prescribed fee and certain documentary evidence. No residential qualification is required. Provided that the other party submits a marriage notice, a party resident in the United Kingdom outside Scotland may submit to the district registrar an 'approved certificate' which will be issued, in the case of England or Wales, by the appropriate superintendent registrar. However, although allowed under the act, this procedure is more cumbersome than submission of a marriage notice directly to the district registrar, and is, in practice, rarely followed, since a marriage notice is always required for the other party. The district registrar will normally be able to issue a marriage schedule fourteen days after entering the marriage notice, if this means it is being issued less than seven days before the marriage. Provision is made, however, for the issue of a marriage schedule earlier than fourteen days subject to the completion of certain formalities and the approval of the Registrar General.
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