You can choose to have your ceremony in either a register office or an approved premises.
Approved premises
Civil (non religious) marriages and civil partnerships can take place in other buildings, apart from register offices, as long as they have been approved by local authorities as a suitable venue. These venues include hotels, stately homes and other historic buildings.
Permission has been granted in some instances to be able to get married outdoors in a permanent structure that has been licensed for ceremonies.
Book a registrar
Please do not confirm and pay for your venue until we have confirmed that we can provide a registrar to attend the ceremony. You can book a registrar up to 2 years in advance.
Email: registration.service@cumberland.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 373 3730
Find out how much our registration services cost.
Book a venue
To book a venue for your ceremony, search our directory of approved premises and contact the venue directly.
You can also download or order a Cumbria ceremonies brochure, with loads of ideas about where and how to have your ceremony.
Register offices
There are 3 register offices in Cumberland with ceremony rooms where you can have your ceremony. To book a register office in Cumberland for your ceremony please contact the registration service.
When you can have your ceremony
We take bookings all year round, apart from on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Bookings are available from 8am to 5pm.
Deposits and fees
You’ll need to pay the deposit or booking fee to secure your booking. This can be paid by card over the telephone using a debit or credit card in your name.
Find out more about our venue and ceremony room fees.
If you don't have a card or someone else is making the payment, we are happy to take a card payment from a friend or family member however you would need to call together so you could confirm your details. Then we would need to speak with the card holder to take the payment.
This charge is non-refundable and non-transferrable. Once the payment has been taken we will send you a receipt for the service by email and also our card system will send you a receipt for the transaction.