Renfrewshire Council

On this page:

• How to book a civil partnership registration or ceremony
• Civil partnership fees
• What you need to do before your registration or ceremony
• What forms you must complete
• Civil partnership schedule
• Venues

How to book a civil partnership registration or ceremony

You can book a civil partnership registration or ceremony up to one year in advance.

To book a registration or ceremony in Renfrewshire, phone us on 0300 300 0310.

One of our advisors will then take you through the process of booking your civil partnership registration or ceremony.

You'll be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit to confirm your booking.

You will also need to provide us with a telephone number and email address for us to contact you.

Civil partnership fees

Visit our page on civil partnership fees for detailed information of the costs involved.

What you need to do before your registration or ceremony

You will need to give us the necessary civil partnership forms, documents and fees before your registration or ceremony.

You must return these to us:

• no earlier than 3 months before the civil partnership registration or ceremony
• no later than 29 days before the civil partnership registration or ceremony.

You'll need to make an appointment to give us your forms and documents, at least 8 to 10 weeks before your registrations or ceremony.

You can make an appointment to submit your forms and documents by phoning us on 0300 300 0310.

Your balance will be paid at your appointment when you submit your forms.

What forms you must complete

You will need to complete a number of forms depending on your circumstances.

Each of you must print, complete, and submit a civil partnership notice form (Cp10) [183KB] to the registrar.

You will also need to submit:

• a witness form [75KB]
• a civil partnership information form. [143KB]

Along with the completed original forms, each of you are required to submit:

• your passport
• your proof of residence
• your birth certificate or an abbreviated certificate, a passport and utility bill. You can order a copy of a birth certificate.
• a decree of divorce or dissolution or annulment or a certified copy decree if you have been married or in a registered civil partnership before and the marriage or civil partnership has been dissolved or annulled. A decree of divorce or dissolution granted outside Scotland must be final and absolute - a decree nisi is not acceptable. If you are divorced or your civil partnership has been dissolved or annulled and has been granted outside the UK, you will need to complete and submit a foreign marriage divorce questionnaire or civil partnership dissolution questionnaire
• a death certificate of your former spouse or civil partner if they are deceased.

All documents must be originals and be made available to the registrar before the civil partnership. A certified translation must be provided if any of these documents are in a language other than English.

If you are waiting for any of the documents mentioned above, please give notice first and then pass the documents to the registrar when they become available.

Provided the documents are in order, the civil partnership can proceed as arranged.

Civil partnership schedule

When the registrar is satisfied that there is no legal impediment to the marriage, they will prepare a civil partnership schedule from the information you have given.

The civil partnership schedule is a most important document and the civil partnership cannot proceed without it.

If you are having a religious civil partnership (which includes all belief systems), the civil partnership schedule will be issued to you by the registrar. The schedule cannot be issued more than 7 days before the civil partnership. The registrar will advise you when to call and collect it.

The civil partnership schedule cannot be collected on your behalf by a relative or friend. The registrar will only issue it to either one of the couple.

Before the ceremony, you must provide the civil partnership schedule to the person performing the marriage.

Immediately after the ceremony, the schedule must be signed in permanent black ink using a fountain pen by:

• both parties
• the person performing the civil partnership
• the 2 witnesses.

You must return the civil partnership schedule to the registrar within 3 days of the ceremony so the civil partnership can be registered.

If you are having a civil partnership, the schedule will be kept by the registrar who will have it ready for signing at your civil partnership registration or ceremony. The registrar will register the civil partnership on your behalf, and they will post a civil partnership certificate to you.

Venues

A civil partnership may take place in a registration office or a venue agreed between you and the registrar, and it may be solemnised only by a registrar or assistant registrar who has been authorised by the Registrar General for Scotland.

Civil partnerships can take place on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Paisley Registration Office, or Monday to Sunday at a venue agreed between you and the registrar within Renfrewshire.

As well as Paisley suite, civil partnerships can be conducted at another venue agreed between you and the registrar.

By law, you only need two witnesses, who must be aged 16 years or over to your civil partnership.

Guests should arrive 20 minutes before the ceremony and the civil partnership party should arrive 15 minutes beforehand.

You can personalise your civil partnership ceremony to include your own vows, music, poems or readings. Please discuss any requirements that you have with the registrar.

If you want, you can have your ceremony video recorded. You should tell the registrar before the ceremony. After your civil partnership registration, you can have photographs taken in the venue. You must arrange videos and photographers yourself.

We provide music and silk flowers at all registration offices. If you want your own music, please discuss this with the registrar before the day of the civil partnership. You can arrange to see each suite before your civil partnership ceremony.

All our premises are no smoking venues.

Paisley Registration Office in Renfrewshire House

Paisley Registration Office has a purpose built ceremony suite at Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley. The marriage suite seats 64 people.

Photo of the registrar's desk and the couple's seats at the ceremony suite in the Paisley Registration Office.

Photo of the chair arrangement at the ceremony suite in Paisley Registration Office.

OneRen venues

Paisley Town Hall, Renfrew Town Hall, Johnstone Town Hall and Paisley Arts Centre venues are managed by OneRen.

Our registrars can be booked for these venues, depending on availability.

You should contact OneRen directly to discuss booking one of these venues before booking a registrar.

Other venues

If there is another venue you want to use, you can discuss this with our registration staff.