By Iblal IqbalPart of: Family Law Specialists
You have found your church and pencilled in a date, and now the vicar mentions marriage banns. They are the announcement, made in church on three Sundays, that you plan to marry. For most Church of England weddings, they are a legal step, not just a tradition. If your banns lapse or the wrong route is used, the wedding can be delayed. A couple who knowingly and wilfully marry without the proper steps have a void marriage (Marriage Act 1949, s.25). While you plan, think too about what you each bring to the marriage, which our guide to prenuptial agreements covers.
This guide covers England and Wales, where banns apply to Church of England and Church in Wales weddings. There is no single rulebook for marriage banns UK-wide, because Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own marriage laws.
Reviewed by: Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA), Kabir Family Law
Key takeaways
- Banns are a legal step. A Church of England wedding needs banns, a licence or a register office marriage schedule (Marriage Act 1949, s.5).
- Three Sundays, then three months. The wedding must follow within three months of the last reading (s.12).
- They go out where you live. Each home parish reads them, and so does the wedding church if it is elsewhere (Church of England).
- Not every couple can use them. If either of you lacks British or Irish citizenship or EU Settlement Scheme status, you need a register office schedule (Church of England).
- Skipping them on purpose voids the marriage. That applies only where a couple act knowingly and wilfully (s.25).
What are marriage banns?
Marriage banns are a public announcement, during a church service, that two people intend to marry. So what are the banns of marriage for? The Church of England calls them a chance for anyone to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place (Church of England).
The church keeps a register book of banns, recording your names, where each of you lives and the date of every reading (s.7). If the church misses a reading, uses the wrong parish or lets the banns lapse, the vicar cannot marry you on them, and your date may have to move.
Are marriage banns a legal requirement?
For most Church of England weddings, yes. The law allows four routes, and banns are the usual one (s.5). The same rules cover the Church in Wales (s.78(2)). Your vicar will tell you which route fits your marriage, so treat this table as a map, not a plan.
| Route | Usually used when | What can go wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Banns | You both live in England or Wales and can show the right nationality or status. | They lapse three months after the last reading. |
| Common licence | Time is short, you live abroad, or you may move house. | An official decides whether to grant it, and it lasts three months (s.16). |
| Special licence | Your usual connections do not cover the church, such as a school chapel. | The Archbishop of Canterbury grants it as an exception only. |
| Register office schedule | Either of you lacks British or Irish citizenship or EU Settlement Scheme status. | The wait can reach 70 days, and the vicar may decline it. |
The wrong route is not a slip you can fix on the morning. If it does not apply, the vicar cannot go ahead.
How does the reading of banns work?
Each church runs things its own way, but the legal outline for banns of marriage is the same. Here is what happens, and where couples come unstuck.
- You speak to the vicar. The Church of England suggests arranging banns about four months ahead (Church of England). Leave it late and three Sundays may not fit.
- You give written notice. The vicar need not read banns unless it arrives at least seven days before the first reading. It gives your names, addresses, time at each address and evidence of nationality (s.8).
- The church reads them on three Sundays. This happens at the main service (s.7). The Sundays are usually back to back, but they need not be.
- Each home parish reads them too. The wedding church then needs a certificate from any other parish before the vicar can marry you (s.11).
- You marry within three months. After that, the banns become void and you need fresh readings or another route (s.12).
A house move mid-way, or a date that slips by a few weeks, can leave your marriage without valid banns on the day. That is why the Church of England points couples who may move towards a common licence.
Who can have banns read for a wedding in the Church of England?
Banns go out in the parish church where each of you lives (s.6). For your marriage, you can also choose a church one of you usually attends, or a parish where one of you has a qualifying connection (Church of England Marriage Measure 2008, s.1). That connection includes:
- your baptism or confirmation in the parish;
- living or regularly worshipping there for six months or more;
- a parent who lived or worshipped there for six months in your lifetime;
- a parent or grandparent who married there.
Your home parishes still read the banns as well. Some couples cannot use banns at all, though. If either of you is not a British or Irish citizen and has no EU Settlement Scheme status, the law generally rules banns out (s.5(3) and s.78). Same-sex couples cannot marry in the Church of England either (s.25(4)). And you must both be 18 or over.
If one of you has a previous divorce, a church wedding may still be possible, but each vicar decides (Church of England). Finding out late that banns are not open to your marriage can cost you the date, since the register office route has its own 28-day wait.
Do other churches and register office weddings need banns?
Not as a legal step. In England and Wales, marriage banns count only for Church of England and Church in Wales weddings. For a register office, an approved venue or another faith’s building, you give notice at the register office at least 29 days before (GOV.UK).
If your church makes its own announcement, ask the minister what the legal steps are, because it does not replace that notice. Knowingly and wilfully skipping due notice also makes a marriage void (s.49). A ceremony that skips the legal steps may create no marriage at all, so you could lack a spouse’s financial claims. Our guide to the common law marriage myth explains how few rights unmarried couples have.
What happens if someone objects to the banns of marriage?
Objections are the reason banns exist. A lawful reason means a legal barrier, not family disapproval. The main ones are:
- one of you is already married or in a civil partnership (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.11);
- you are too closely related, or one of you is under 18 (s.11);
- one of you does not truly consent (s.12).
The Act expects that someone may forbid banns on lawful grounds (Marriage Act 1949, s.14). So if a genuine objection to your marriage comes up, expect the vicar to look into it first, which can delay the date.
If anyone is pressuring you into a marriage, the family court can step in before the wedding (Family Law Act 1996, s.63A). Our page on forced marriage protection orders explains how.
A true objection does not go away if you press ahead. A marriage made while one of you is still in an earlier one is void, so the problem only moves to a later, harder moment.
What if your marriage banns were wrong or never read?
Take a breath, because a small slip does not undo a marriage on its own. The law voids a Church of England marriage only where the couple knowingly and wilfully married without banns, a licence or a schedule, or on banns over three months old (s.25). Nor can anyone later attack a marriage after banns with evidence about where you lived (s.24).
It is different when a couple skipped the steps on purpose, or when a legal barrier existed. In law, a void marriage never existed. Even so, the court can make a nullity of marriage order, and then make financial orders much as on divorce (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.23). Our guide to marriage annulment explains that process.
It is harder still if a ceremony created no marriage at all. Those financial powers depend on a divorce, nullity or separation order (s.23), so without a marriage to end, the claims may not be open to you. These questions often surface years later, mid-separation, when the answer shapes your home and your finances.
Worried about the banns for a marriage, planned or past? Don’t guess at where you stand. Book a free initial consultation, and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation.
Remarrying after a divorce? What to settle before the banns
If one of you had an earlier marriage, the vicar will want to see the decree absolute or final order (Church of England). A divorce order starts as a conditional order and only later becomes final (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.1). Until then, a new marriage would be void. Our guide to the decree absolute and final order explains the difference.
Money is the trap people miss. Remarry before you apply for a financial order against your former spouse, and you can no longer seek maintenance, a lump sum or a property order for yourself (s.28(3)). No church service reverses that. So settle the finances, or at least start the claim, before your marriage banns begin. To protect what you each bring, read our guide to prenuptial agreements early.
Marriage banns checklist: is your church wedding on track?
Tick what is already true. There is no pass mark, but the gaps show what to raise before you fix the date.
There is no score. Anything you cannot tick yet is worth raising before you fix the date.
The calls a checklist can’t make for you
- Whether a past slip with banns or paperwork affects a marriage, and what that means for you.
- Whether your divorce and finances are finished enough to remarry safely.
- What claims each of you would have if the relationship ended.
These turn on your facts, and they are far easier to sort out before the wedding than after it.
Book a free initial consultation
One of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation.
Frequently asked questions
Can you view marriage banns online?
Not as an official list. The minister reads banns aloud in church, from the church’s register book of banns (Marriage Act 1949, s.7). If you want to hear yours, you can go along to the service.
What is the purpose of marriage banns?
They make your plans public, so anyone who knows a legal reason why you cannot marry can say so before the wedding rather than after it.
How do you get wedding banns read?
Start with the vicar of the church where you want to marry. The vicar needs written notice at least seven days before the first reading (Marriage Act 1949, s.8). The Church of England suggests arranging banns about four months ahead.
How long do banns of marriage last?
Three months. If the wedding has not taken place within three months of the last reading, the banns become void (Marriage Act 1949, s.12). You then need fresh readings or a licence.
How much does it cost to have banns read?
In 2026 the Church of England’s legal fee for a church wedding is up to £605 in your home parish, or up to £723 elsewhere. It includes calling your banns and a banns certificate.
Do you need banns for a Catholic wedding?
Not as a legal step in England and Wales. For a Catholic wedding, you give notice at the register office at least 29 days before the ceremony. Ask your parish early about anything the church itself needs.
Planning a church wedding? Check the legal steps before you set the date
Banns look simple, but your route, a past divorce and the money you each bring can change what you need to do, and when. Getting it wrong can cost you the date, or leave doubts over the marriage itself. Book a free initial consultation and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation. You can also read our guide to prenuptial agreements.
Expert Tip
A common mistake with church weddings is leaving the legal steps until the last few weeks. Marriage banns last only three months, and every home parish has to read them, so a late start or a house move can leave you without valid banns on the day. Speak to the vicar as soon as you have a date in mind, and take advice early if either of you had an earlier marriage.
Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist
