Births, ceremonies and deaths

Face coverings

Following new government guidelines, face coverings must be worn at all times when visiting any of our offices or attending ceremonies, unless you are exempt from doing so.

Death registration

We are offering telephone appointments for death and stillbirth registrations.

Birth registration

We are now offering appointments to register all babies.

We are currently experiencing very high levels of demand. Appointment availability is updated continuously on our online system, so if there are no appointments available, please do not call us, please continue to check the booking system.

Ceremonies

Ceremonies of marriage and civil partnership formations can now take place.

We are accepting new bookings for ceremonies of marriage and civil partnership formations from Monday 20 July 2020. Please note that we are experiencing a very high volume of calls; please bear with us during this time.

If you have an existing booking that was made prior to 23 March 2020, please do not call us. For all existing bookings up to 31 October 2020, we will proactively contact customers in priority date order.

For Essex Register Office ceremonies, maximum attendance is 7 until further notice. This includes the couple, two registrars and two witnesses.

At community venues and approved venues, up to 30 individuals can attend the ceremony. This includes the couple, two registrars, two witnesses and any staff such as photographers. Couples will need to contact their venue to understand how many the venue can accommodate, while observing social distancing.

There are restrictions on receptions. Find the latest guidance on the GOV.UK website.

Notice of marriage or civil partnership

We are now offering notice appointments for all couples who have ceremonies booked and due to take place before 1 January 2021 and who need to give notice so that their ceremony can proceed.