About Moving To London England From America

Welcome on Expat-blog Classy53!

I moved the discussion on the London forum.

Good luck,
Christine

Hi Classy53, have you tried to contact the US embassy?

You'll have to see with them how to get your wedding recognized in the US if you marry in the UK. Can it be a problem to marry outside the US?

I got married in London four years ago. Neither my husband or I are British, but he was living in London and it was "sort of" a halfway point between my American family and his French family...

The easiest way to do it is to contact the parish vicar wherever your fiance is currently living, and explain to him what you want to do (hopefully you luck out, and find a flexible one). You'll need him to obtain a Special Marriage License from the Anglican Diocese (which functions as a branch of government for the purposes of marriage). Foreigners need the special marriage license in place of the usual "announcing of the bans" which is traditional for Brits, but not recognized outside of England.

If you have a specific church in mind, you can go through the vicar of that church instead of your parish. But in that case, it all depends on the willingness of the vicar (your parish vicar is actually obliged to marry people within his own cachement area).

You cannot choose a random spot to be married in the UK, like out of doors, or in Hyde Park. Weddings are only allowed to in specifically licensed venues, which are most often churches or hotels, and some country homes that have been redeveloped as inns/event centers (you can google english wedding venues online and find some beautiful spots - and they might be able to help you with the vicar/licensing stuff too).

While you are working on your venue and vicar, you must apply for a special visa from a British Embassy in the States "to visit for the purpose of marriage". It costs around 500 US dollars, and takes 4-6 weeks (mine finally came the day I was supposed to leave for London!). So start early! As with all visa applications, the process is complicated and involved. You'll need to prove your relationship with your fiance with photos of you together, letters, emails, etc...

You could try to simply enter the UK as a tourist, and skip the special visa, but I wouldn't recommend it. If somehow you are stopped at the border, you will be sent home. And then all your wedding plans are for nothing.

Best of luck!