Private Ceremony

Just paid £200 for the private ceremony because if you wait for an allocation from council , you would need to wait 3 months which is absolutely ridiculous.

Why private ceremonies are so costly ????

Each council charge their own different fees for a private ceremony.

The cost includes the room, the Mayor or high ranking official to officiate the ceremony, likely a photographer too. So you are basically paying for the time and expense the council has to incur for one person rather than a big group of say 50.

Group ceremonies are quite an experience though with all the pomp and stuff and you will miss that by having a private ceremony.

I've had to book a private ceremony, though I really wanted what I believe would be the exciting experience of a group ceremony. The council where I'll be having the ceremony has strick rules with regards to the number of guest you can invite. They only permit one and I have two children who I want to be there, as well as my sister. So I'm paying £140 for a ceremony that I have no doubt will be rather boring.

I agree with Cr001. My council(luton) charge only £50 for private ceremony. The cost depends on the council and the place you live.

I paid for and attended a private ceremony. Carried out by a deputy Registrar in an office, no other officials. Actual ceremony over and done in under 15mins or so. It was rather perfunctory albeit nice enough, no photographer. Costs for a wedding ceremony in the same venue under £50, which obviously involves the Register being completed and the issue of at least one certificate.

I have no real complaints but having already paid £80 with the original application for the group ceremony, for me it was just another example of the money making approach applicable to so much to do with immigration. I was able to take up to 6 guests, to limit anyone to only one guest is pretty mean, almost callous, bearing in mind the cost and journey one has gone through to get citizenship.

To the best of my knowledge, most Councils allow 2 guests. You need to consider that if each person being awarded British citizenship was able to invite several guests, with the limitation of the room capacity it would increase the time for those waiting for their ceremony.

I received my ceremony invitation a week after my approval letter (dated 17th October) and called the council the next morning to arrange a ceremony. I was given the earliest date of 9th January which is just 1 week short of the 3 month deadline. I don't really want to book a private ceremony for £200..

Now I'm worried that this date will be cutting it a bit fine, thinking that for whatever reason I won't be able to attend on that day, I will lose out on completing the Naturalisation process.

I was advised by the council to call now and again to see if there are any cancellations.. Has anyone had any experience? And how likely is it that a ceremony will get cancelled by the council?

Thanks.

Hi lizzy b
I can understand your predicament, it seems to be cutting things very fine. The Local Authority must be aware of the time constraints and the implications of a failure to carry out the ceremony by the due date and I do not think that the date offered is entirely fair. Going over the 90 days may be permissable if there is good reason (see below for quote from HO documents) but I would have certainly not wanted to try my luck with explaining to the Home Office why a ceremony was delayed- whatever the reason.

If for whatever reasons you missed the 9th Jan date (we had a major snow fall or the Council Offices burnt down in a fire!) what the procedures are and how quickly the Home Office would agree/arrange to allow a re-scheduled date is something I have no knowledge of. But if like me you were keen to ensure there was no chance of losing your German Citizenship whilst gaining UK Citizenship, the closer we get to Brexit with no deal the bigger my concerns would be. I do not know how close to the Council Offices you are, I presume it is the Registry Office, where the cermony is organised but have you tried a personal approach? You may be able to find out what Group Ceremonies are planned and how full they are and ask how often they do get cancellations; also you could check on how quickly a private ceremony can be arranged. It may be then that you can keep trying for a cancellation but have a plan to arrange a private ceremony if, by say, end of Nov you still are stuck with the 9th Jan date.

Best of luck.

"You must make immediate contact with the local authority, as you only have 90 days in which to attend the ceremony. The date by which you must attend your ceremony will be given in your Home Office citizenship ceremony invitation letter. If you do not attend the ceremony within 90 days without good reason, your application for citizenship will be refused and you will need to re-apply"

Thanks, Ffmuni! My thoughts exactly.. I just want to get this whole thing over with, and not having to stress about life after B... . I was told that Cambridge County Council only hold citizenship ceremonies once a week and are fully booked until January! There seems to be an overflow of people applying for citizenship in this area during this time. But having to wait almost 3 months is nerve wracking. I hoped it was going to be a smooth ride after receiving the approval letter. I guess I will have to ring up every day now to see if there are any cancellations. I really don't want to chance it..