Marriage Certificates

What is attestation of a marriage certificate?

Also known as legalisation, this process takes a document issued in one country and makes it legally recognised within another. The steps involved to complete this process varies dependent on several factors, including where the marriage certificate was issued and where it will be presented. There may be other things to consider such as when the document was issued.

We can help you with the attestation of any marriage certificate issued anywhere within the UK and Ireland. This covers the following registration areas:

England & Wales (General Register Office - GRO)
Scotland (General Register Office for Scotland)
Northern Ireland (General Register Office for N. Ireland)
Eire - Southern Ireland (General Register Office - Ireland)
Overseas UK registrations
All Local Register Offices*
Most Houses of Worship**

To order the attestation of a marriage certificate online, start by Choosing a Country

How should I present my marriage certificate for attestation?

All documents must be processed in their country of issue. Therefore if you were married outside of the UK, even if you are British citizens, your document must be returned to its country or origin in order to be attessted. Don't worry, we can help with this as we can process document from over 150 countries!

You must present an original document for attestation; a photocopy will not be accepted, even if it has been certified by a solicitor or Notary Public. If you would like to keep your original marriage certificate clean and don't wish to use this copy for the attestation process, you can request an official duplication. As long as this version carries the official General Registry Office (GRO) seal, it will be accepted.

Note 1 - There can be problems with original marriage certificates that have been issued more than 20 years ago. This can happen if there are difficulties locating a sample signature of the registrar or minister of worship who signed the marriage certificate. If time delays are likely to cause significant difficulties to your schedule, you would be advised to seek to have a duplicate issued of the document and have the attestation process carried out on that version. We offer an official duplication service should you need it for a replacement marriage certificate.

Note 2 - Non-GRO (i.e. Islamic) marriage certificates are not accepted directly by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office which is required as part of the attestation process. These documents require certification by a practising UK solicitor or Notary Public which must be performed before being sent to us for attestation.