The 10 best wedding venues in Nottingham

The spread is wider than in most English cities. A ceremony at the Council House starts at £115 an hour, and exclusive use of the entire building on a Saturday evening, ceremony included, is £2,250 — modest for a landmark civic address on the main square. Private venues around the city tend to open their all-in packages somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000, and the Malt Cross prices a midweek January-to-March wedding for 50 guests at £3,990. Statutory fees sit outside all of that: £46.50 each to give notice, £12.50 per certificate, and a deposit of £75 for a Council House ceremony or £100 at an approved premises, with the balance due one month before the date.

It depends on which side of the city boundary the venue sits, and the boundary is not obvious from the postcode. A civil ceremony must be attended by a superintendent registrar and a registrar from the district where it takes place, so Wollaton Hall, Colwick Hall, the Council House and the Island Quarter all go through Nottingham City's registration service on 0115 841 5554. Trent Bridge, Holme Pierrepont Hall and The Carriage Hall are in Rushcliffe and go through Nottinghamshire's service, usually the West Bridgford office — and so does Newstead Abbey, which Nottingham City Council owns but which stands at Ravenshead, outside the city. In every case the registrar is a separate booking from the venue, so make it as soon as the date is provisionally held.

Yes, and a marriage in England and Wales is legally binding in its own right — there is no need to repeat it as a civil ceremony back home, though several countries will want the certificate registered or legalised once you return, so check with your own consulate before travelling. The obstacle is residence: each of you must have lived in a registration district in England or Wales for the seven days before giving notice in person at that district's register office, and the ceremony cannot take place until at least 29 days after notice is given. If either of you is subject to immigration control, you must give notice together, the fee is £63 each rather than £46.50, and a Home Office referral can push the wait to 70 days. Notice lasts 12 months, so it cannot be given more than a year ahead of the date.

Work on twelve to twenty-four months for a Saturday at the better-known venues. Colwick Hall states plainly that most weekends this year and next are already taken, and the Malt Cross built a discounted midweek package specifically for couples unwilling to join a waiting list. Flexibility is where the leverage is: January to March, Tuesday to Thursday, and prices fall sharply across the board. Holme Pierrepont Hall will hold a date for 14 days with no deposit and no obligation, which is a practical way to compare two shortlisted venues without committing to either.