{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-northern-ireland-order-2003/article-19",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-northern-ireland-order-2003/article-19.json",
  "legislation": "nisi/2003/413",
  "legislation_title": "The Marriage (Northern Ireland) Order 2003",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-northern-ireland-order-2003",
  "path": "article/19",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "19",
  "heading": "Solemnisation of civil marriage",
  "text": "(1) A person shall not solemnise a civil marriage unless—\n(a) he has available to him at the time of the ceremony the marriage schedule and the prescribed fee for the marriage has been paid;\n(b) both parties to the marriage are present; and\n(c) two persons professing to be 16 or over are present as witnesses.\n(2) A person shall not solemnise a civil marriage except in accordance with a form of ceremony which—\n(a) is of a secular nature; and\n(b) includes an appropriate declaration.\n(3) In paragraph (2)(b) an “appropriate declaration” means a declaration by the parties, in the presence of—\n(a) each other;\n(b) the person solemnising the marriage; and\n(c) two witnesses,\nthat they accept each other as husband and wife or as husband and husband or as wife and wife .",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in art. 19(3) inserted (13.1.2020) by The Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1514), regs. 1(2), 4 (with regs. 6-9)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/2003/413/article/19",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:40:22.940880+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}