If you are marrying in the register office or an approved premise, the registrar will see you both in private just before the ceremony to check the details to be entered in the marriage register and to collect the fee. You can be interviewed separately if you do not wish to see each other before the ceremony. You will be asked the following information:

• Your full name
• Your age
• Your marital status
• Occupation
• The address of your residence on the day of your marriage
• The full names and occupation of your natural or adoptive father, and whether he is retired or deceased (a stepfather's details cannot be entered)

It is your responsibility to provide two witnesses to the marriage - usually friends or relatives. They must be able to understand what is taking place and be able to give evidence of what they have seen and heard in the event that this should become necessary.

One video camera can be used during the civil ceremony but no additional lighting is allowed. Similarly, no photographs are permitted during the ceremony but time will be allocated at the end for photographs to be taken.

The law allows some choice in the formal declaratory and contracting words to be used. Also, in Swindon you are offered a ceremony pack so that you can choose different parts to your ceremony. Your unique ceremony will be scripted and you will be given a copy of it at the end of the ceremony as a keepsake.  The ceremony can also include readings of your choice, but they cannot have any religious connotations.

When the ceremony is over, you will be asked to check that your details have been correctly recorded in the marriage register. You must check them carefully as there can be problems if errors have to be corrected later. You will both then be asked to sign the register. The bride should sign in the name she was known by immediately before the ceremony. Your two witnesses will then be asked to sign.