You are hereLegal Hoops or simply a licence?
Legal Hoops or simply a licence?
Dear Resident Reverend,
We are hoping to be married next summer- in my old home church in the Uk- where I was christened and confirmed and where my parents are still residents. My fiance is American, and I understand that changes regarding special licence, and common licences are changing. It seems from what I have read on the Oxford Diocesan website- we would be married by common licence, that bans would not need to be read in 2 churches... and that we could need to contact an embassy for my fiance regarding a letter to confirm that he is single. Not sure if this would need to be Brit Embassyin Uk or USA embassy in Uk...
Do you have any experience of this.. I have spoken to my vicar (who is coming out of retirement to marry us- and whilst he has spoken to the Bishop, he felt there was more 'legal' hoops to jump through than practical ones.
Hope you can help
Karen
Hi Karen
Yes the new marriage measure will make it easy for you to marry in your home church and your vicar will be able to help you sort out the legalities but you won't be able to book it until after October 1st. Banns are not read if a Common or Special licence is sought.
The letter from the Embassy thing that I usually refer to on these pages is if either party is a national of a country outside the Old Commomwealth (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), the European Union and the United States - so it is not applicable in your case. It is simply to confirm that the marriage would be deemed legal in that country if the couple went to live there.
Hope this helps. I'll post more details about the Marriage measure with a link so that you can read the finer details at your leisure.
jan