A UK resident wanting to get married outside the UK will often need to have some UK documents legalised before they will be accepted as legally valid in the intended country of marriage. This often involves obtaining an apostille certificate which is attached to official UK documents. The apostille certificate will validate the official signatures or seals on the document allowing the recipient overseas to accept the document as valid. The recipient can run a quick online check on the apostille to check it is valid and relates to the document it is attached to.

Some countries will also require further attestation at the local embassy within the UK. For these countries they will usually need the apostille to be attached first and then the document can be presented to the country’s embassy, often in London, for additional stamps or certificates to be attached to the document.

This will vary for different countries and may also vary depending on whether the marriage is being conducted as a religious or civil ceremony. We strongly recommend you speak to your wedding coordinator, or the person that will legally conduct the wedding ceremony, about the documents required. We typically see the following documents when a client of ours is getting married overseas:

• UK birth certificate with an apostille attached – for both people
• Proof of single status. This could be a certificate of no impediment to marriage with an apostille attached. Alternatively, a statutory declaration with an apostille certificate may be required.
• Proof of previous marriage dissolution – if either person has been divorced in the past you may need to provide a decree absolute with an apostille or the more recent version of this document which is the final order with an apostille attached.
• Passport – this would not be apostilled unless they are asking you to send a certified copy of the passport with an apostille attached in advance of presenting your original passport in person

You must check with the person that will conduct the marriage ceremony, or their representatives. Documents can take time to obtain or prepare but may also need to be recently issued to ensure they are up to date. For example, a certificate of no impediment (CNI) shows a person has no record of being married on official UK records. The document is valid on the day it is issued but in theory a person could marry the following day making the document incorrect. Many clients are advised the CNI should not be issued more than 3 months in advance of the overseas wedding date.

Often some of the documents you are asked to present before your get married overseas will need to be translated. They may simply need a standard translation so they can be understood or a more specific sworn translation may be requested. It is important you check with your wedding coordinator or the person conducting the marriage ceremony. They will be able to advise you if any or all of your documents need to be translated and to what standard. We provide a document translation service for both standard and sworn translations for many countries and can do this at the same time we are legalising documents with the apostille certificate.

We can assist you with the apostille for your wedding outside the UK. We are the UK’s leading apostille service and can offer advice on how to obtain and legalise your documents. If you decide to use our service we will work with you to meet any deadlines. We aim to get all documents legalised correctly on the first attempt by ensuring they are presented correctly. This will avoid unnecessary mistakes causing delays. Most apostille certificates can be issued within a day or two. We can even send documents overseas to expedite delivery if that will help.

The UK apostille certificate is valid in more than 70 countries. Some of the more common countries our clients get married in are Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Spain and Italy. We can also assist for countries where embassy attestation is required in addition to the apostille, for example the UAE or Qatar.

We are experts at legalising documents having provided this service since 1998. Contact us via phone, email or online chat for a no obligation discussion about your requirements.