Photo credit: Joasis Photography

PLEASE NOTE: this form is for couples who have booked and paid for two ceremony slots for this room. If you have booked one ceremony slot, please choose the ‘standard ceremony’ pre-ceremony organiser for this room.

As we are fast approaching your special day, we would like to take some details about your ceremony plans and choices. Please note that you need to complete this form at least a month before your ceremony.

Please click on the links below to see the ceremony scripts for you to choose from, depending on the type of ceremony you have chosen:

If you are interested in writing a personalised ceremony, please see the links below to see the order and structure of a ceremony for you to use as a template:

All ceremony areas in the Town Hall can be accessed by ramps or lifts for step free access. If you or any of your guests have a disability, you will need to click here to complete a Personal Emergency Evacuation Form form before the ceremony.

Please click here to see a seating plan for the Canonbury Suite.

You can see our ‘Your Questions’ page by clicking here which may answer any questions you have.

The form below will go through the personalisation options available for your ceremony:

PLEASE NOTE:  Ensure you have made final decisions on your choices before completing this form, as we are not able to accept updates to your choices after submission.

Pre-Ceremony Organiser - Canonbury Suite (enhanced ceremony)

  • Your details

  • :

  • Who will be the two witnesses?

    The Canonbury Suite risk assessment states that it can accommodate a maximum of 2 guests, who will be your witnesses.

    The witnesses must be adults who speak good English, but they can be friends or members of your family. If you require a translator, they must be one of the two witnesses, not an additional person.

  • Your choices

    You will each need to have a short interview before the marriage/civil partnership begins to check the details on the paperwork are correct. This can either be done together or separately, depending on whether you want to see each other before the ceremony.

    If you are seeing each other before the start of the ceremony, please both arrive with your guests 15 minutes before the ceremony start time.

    If you don’t want to see each other before the start of the ceremony, we would advise that one partner arrives with the guests 15 minutes before the ceremony start time, and the other partner 10 minutes before. This way your ceremony should be able to start on time.

  • Please ignore this question if you have chosen a marriage; to be legally married you will need to have a ceremony.
  • The size of the door of the Canonbury Suite does not allow for two people walking side-by-side, and the distance to the couple's chairs is very short, so we don't recommend you walk in together, or have someone 'walk you down the aisle' although you are able to do this if you wish.

  • If you want to combine several scripts or add some of your own wording to a script, please upload the full script as a Word document below

    Please note that the ceremony must contain the legal parts of the ceremony (the wording in bold in our ceremony scripts), and the wording must not be from a religious ceremony, religious texts, or contain religious messages.

    Once your form has been submitted, our staff will review your script and contact you if there are any issues.

    We reserve the right to ask you to change the script if we feel it is not suitable for a civil ceremony.

  • Max. file size: 24 MB.

  • Readings

    You can choose up to three readings for your ceremony, which will be read by one of your guests. Please note that readings must not be from religious texts, or contain religious messages.

    We ask for the readings in advance to ensure they are appropriate for a civil ceremony, so please enter the full text on this form, or they will not be able to be included. Once your choices have been submitted, our staff will review your readings and contact you if they are unsuitable.

    If you do not wish to include readings in your marriage/civil partnership, please leave this section blank.

  • This reading will take place after the registrar's welcome
  • Please keep the length of your reading to a 2000 character limit.
  • This reading will take place in between the couple's two vows
  • Please keep the length of your reading to a 2000 character limit.
  • This reading will take place after the couple's vows
  • Please keep the length of your reading to a 2000 character limit.

  • Personal vows

    You can choose to add some personal vows to your ceremony in addition to the standard vows.

    Please note:

    • You will need to read your personal vows to each other, rather than repeating them after the registrar, so please bring a paper copy to your ceremony
    • Even if your vows are secret from each other, we still need you to submit them on this form, rather than by any other method. We suggest one of you enters your vows, then scrolls up to allow the other to enter their vows without seeing the first vows
    • The words ‘to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part’ are part of the Church of England marriage vows, and so you are not able to use them in a civil ceremony
    • Once your choices have been submitted, our staff will review your vows and contact you if they are unsuitable for a civil ceremony
    • Please keep the length of your vows to a 1000 character limit

    If you do not wish to include personal vows in your marriage/civil partnership, please leave this section blank.

  • Music

    There are four moments where you can choose for music to be played at your ceremony. Please note that religious music cannot be used at a civil ceremony, which must be free of all religious connotations. Once your choices have been submitted, our staff will review your music tracks and contact you if they are unsuitable for a civil ceremony.

    If you do not wish to include music in your marriage/civil partnership, please leave this section blank.

  • Approximately 15 minutes of music is ideal.
  • Approximately 1 minute of music is ideal.
  • Approximately 5 minutes of music is ideal.
  • Approximately 2 minutes of music is ideal.
  • They will be shown how to connect a phone or tablet to our music system.

  • How would you like to be declared at the end of the ceremony?

    Would you prefer the registrar to announce you to your guests as, for example 'Mr and Mr Smith' or 'John and Jane'?

  • Parents' details

    Up to four parents' details can be added to all marriage/civil partnership certificates unless you would prefer not to include these details. Please leave this section blank if this is the case.

    You can include biological, adoptive or step-parents.

    Partner 1's parents

  • Partner 2’s parents

  • Please remember

    Covid-19 is still present in the population, and there is still a need for caution. The safety of our staff, our customers, and our community is our highest priority.

    Please postpone the marriage/civil partnership if you have any of the symptoms of coronavirus or are testing positive.

    We recommend you and your guests take lateral flow tests before attending your ceremony.

    We are asking all couples and guests to continue to take sensible precautions to help our service remain open to register births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships. We are sure you can appreciate that we are privileged enough to attend lots of special days, and we would be devastated to have to cancel ceremonies if our staff become unwell after coming into contact with ceremony parties.

  • Couples' confirmations

    We confirm:

    • We will not invite more than 2 guests and one photographer. We understand this is the maximum number of people allowed under the fire and health and safety risk assessment for this room. We understand there will be no exceptions to this rule for babies, children, extra photographers, translators or extra guests to enter the building under any circumstances
    • We will arrive 15 minutes before our marriage/civil partnership start time. We understand that consideration needs to be given to the cleaning of ceremony rooms between events, and if we arrive more than 10 minutes late, our ceremony will not take place and we will have to rebook and may incur rescheduling fees
    • We have chosen music, readings and personal vows that are not religious in nature, such as hymns or readings from the Bible
    • We have listed all readings, music and personal vows we want to include (and have not written 'TBC' or similar)
    • We understand that we cannot make changes to the details on this form after submission for any reason other than sickness
    • We are submitting this form at least one month before our ceremony
    • We will comply with any other changes or procedures as required by registration staff, or government regulations to ensure safety

    Please tick these boxes to confirm you have read these points and you agree to them:

  • By entering your email address below you consent to Say I Do Islington storing your data given in this form in order to process your request and for us to contact you as required via email. Say I Do Islington will continue to hold and process your data in line with our privacy policy available here.