domeet webmaster

The screen was swiped some time before the “divorce cooling off period”.

Some netizens expressed their doubts: Since there is a cooling-off period for divorce, does it also need a cooling-off period for marriage? Some netizens said: No, with the divorce cooling-off period, the marriage cooling-off period will naturally be forced out, spontaneously.

In fact, the so-called “marriage cooling-off period” has existed for a long time in some countries. In one country, the length of the marriage cooling-off period has been increasing in recent years, and it has now reached 29 days.

This country is the United Kingdom.

A marriage in the UK, even if you just want to get a certificate, is not something that can be decided with a single shot. My marriage process was long and cumbersome, and there was one time that almost fell through. Passing by the Civil Affairs Bureau, there was a sudden whim, and the impulsive romance of getting two little red books for free with the registered permanent residence was impossible in Britain.

The impulsive marriage came to the UK, and even died in the first step of making appointments.

First Step: Make an appointment

To get married in the UK, the first step is to apply for an appointment with the registration department designated by the government in your area. And before that, you need to determine the location of the wedding ceremony, so that you are eligible to make an appointment with the registration department.

After the appointment is successful, there is still a thousand miles away from the step of receiving the marriage certificate.

Step 2: Submit marriage application and accept “review”

The appointment is to submit a marriage application (give notice) to the city hall.

To submit a marriage application, both parties need to fill out a detailed application form and provide documents such as passport, birth certificate, address proof and other documents.

So before going to the city hall, you must prepare all the above materials. The process of filling in the forms and preparing the materials is enough to calm people down and weigh the marriage: this is not a random joke , But a real legal contract.

Many documents required when submitting marriage application, picture: www.gov.uk

At this point, I realized that I still want to get married, and I was moved to tears. After completing the form and preparing the materials, the appointment day was soon reached.

We made an appointment in the morning, when there were not many people in the city hall registration office-including me and my fiancé.

A kind-hearted aunt ushered us into the office, checked the forms and documents, made a few polite words, and asked us to have a separate questioning. This is a normal procedure, but it is inexplicably nervous.

When I was sitting in an office full of documents, facing my aunt’s question alone across a large walnut table, the matter of “marriage” that two people were talking about in an instant became very Serious, even—a little sacred?

All the questions asked were standardized: the names, birthdays, occupations of two people. Through this step, it is possible to effectively screen out liars who can’t even remember the birthday of the boy/girlfriend, but keep saying that they want to spend the rest of their lives with others.

Next is to ask about my father’s name and occupation. This is to trace the kinship of the two applicants through paternal blood.

The last one is to ask about the marriage history, the status quo of the marriage, and whether there is a relationship between the two. In these respects, lying and covering up are of no avail, because the next month is the time to find out these problems.

Step 3: One-month marriage “repentance period”-I mean the publicity period

In the year we got married, the public notice period after submitting the marriage application was still 28 days instead of 29 days.

During these 28 days, IThe full names of the two of you and your fiancé, as well as the news that we are about to get married, will be published on the public notice. Before the smooth end of this month, we have not obtained the qualifications for legal marriage.

The current publicity period has been changed to 29 days, picture: www.gov.uk

In romantic movies, before the heroine’s wedding ceremony officially begins, the priest officiating the wedding will ask as usual: “Is anyone opposed to the combination of these two people?” At this time, there will also be a man standing in the crowd. Come out and shout: “I object!” We all call this man the actor.

The 28-day publicity period is the time left for the hero. I have imagined countless times in these 28 days that Dou Sen would rush into the city hall for me and shout “I object!” (However, no. In the absence of hard evidence It is a crime to object to a wedding during the publicity period.)

Strictly speaking, During the publicity period, there is sufficient evidence to prove that the applicants are not legally eligible for marriage(such as bigamy, underage, etc.) can object to this impending marriage.

People who are more traditional will also report on their own. For example, Juan Fu and his wife published a low-key piece of tofu in the “Birth, Marriage, and Death” column of The Times that year, announcing that they were about to marry.

The marriage announcement of Juan Fu and his wife

Step 4: What? You said there is actually a year of marriage “repentance period”?

That’s actually a bit of a “headline party”. However, each marriage application is valid for only one year, which means the parties must be married within one year.

We passed the review within 28 days and got married. We now have 11 months to get married. After these 11 months, the qualification for marriage will be cancelled and marriage is not allowed. If you still want to get married, you must re-submit the marriage application and publicize it for another month. It is tiring to go back and forth like this.

At that time, I was a little confused, why we held hands, stole the hukou, and went to the city hall, but it was not considered married. Perhaps it was premarital phobia. I unilaterally had a little quarrel with my fiance, and I didn’t want to get married again. Hmph, have been to the city hall, filled out the form, handed in the materials, and got married, what about? It’s not really married.

Actually, I’m just making a fuss, not really wanting to get married. But for those who want to get married but immediately want to regret it, it is better not to get married after a year after passing the marriage application, than to get the marriage certificate easily and then get the divorce certificate a year later. At least there is no legal involvement.

Step 5: fancy certificate collection

In the UK, marriage is a highly ritualistic thing.

Even if you just want to get a certificate, the marriage ceremony is an indispensable legal procedure. The matter of obtaining the certificate is extremely complicated and integrated with the wedding ceremony, which can be complicated or simple, and it will take a cutscene.

Back then, I just wanted to get a marriage certificate smartly, without taking away a cloud, but in the end I had to bow my head to the iron fist of the law, swear oaths, exchange rings, and kiss the bride.

At least five people must be present at the wedding scene in the UK. They are: a couple and two witnesses, And a married person who has the qualification for marriage registration. If the officiating person does not have the legal qualifications to register the marriage for another person, a qualified registrant is also required to be present.

Just to get a certificate, five or six people are needed at the scene. However, this is not over yet.

We chose to complete the registration ceremony directly in the city hall for the sake of a quick fight. The official gave three versions of the marriage vows to choose from. We both had “love phobia”, so we chose the simplest version.

On the day of the official wedding, the officiating person distributed by the city hall appeared with a smile on his face and whispered softly, making people feel like a spring breeze. He came up as a professional greeting, comparable to a master of ceremonies. When it came to the famous scene of “whether anyone opposes the union of the two”, Dou Sen did not appear.

Similar to this, the witness must be present, photo: Wikimedia Commons

I thought this was about to get to the point. But this city hall distributed, the witness who met us for the first time obviously has more to say about our union. The next part is his series of rainbow farts about our love. The descriptions are very abstract, but they are moving.

After raising everyone’s emotions, it is the part of reading the vows. Under the guidance of the witnesses, we read the oath face to face and hand in hand. I wonder if this form of oath is also prescribed by law. Next, exchange rings, kiss the bride, and everyone applauds.

Finally, we enter the signing process. After the couple has signed, the two witnesses also need to sign their names on the marriage certificate.

The marriage certificate in the UK is a veritable “one-paper certificate” because it is a piece of paper, which is longer than ordinary A4 printing paper. It is filled with the identity information of the issuing authority, the issuing location, the husband and wife, and both parties. Father’s identity information. The above information is all handwritten with a pen, which is more traditional than the small red notebook in China.

This version of the marriage certificate has been used in the UK for at least a hundred years.

The picture above is the envelope used when issuing the marriage certificate, and the picture below is the marriage certificate. Picture: Lengyuechu.

Step Six: Purse Bleeding

Compared with the domestic one step, free certificate issuance, registration of marriage in the UK will cost at least dozens of pounds in registration fees. If there are a lot of friends and relatives who come to help out, and you need to rent a small venue in the town hall to complete the registration, the registration ceremony for ten minutes will cost hundreds of pounds. Just at this price, you have to weigh before impulsively getting the certificate.

These fees are determined by local governments, and there is no national uniform price. Not only that, but many places will increase their fees from time to time with inflation.

However, different regions will also compete with each other to keep their marriage registration fees and venue rental fees lower, and to demonstrate price advantages between neighboring towns to attract more consumers to come to get married. After all, marriage registration is also one of the ways of municipal income generation.

In fact, One of the main purposes of the existence and extension of the “cooling-off period” for marriage in the UK is to screen out a small group of people who have faked marriages for immigration purposes. It is not true that we really want to calm down the marriage partners. But regardless of the original intention, the British are increasingly reluctant to get married year after yearThe heart is obvious to all, after all, data can’t deceive people.

The marriage trend of British people in the past 100 years, photo: theweddingsecret.co.uk

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom, as of the end of 2017, the age of marriage for heterosexual couples across the UK reached 38 years for men and 35.7 years for women. Among same-sex couples, the marriage age is higher. In comparison, the so-called “older leftover women” who are unmarried at 30 in China are all just babies.

The trend of living together before marriage is also fully reflected in the statistics. Among the heterosexual couples who finally chose to marry, the premarital cohabitation rate reached 88%.

Longitudinal comparison, the British people who choose to marry this way of life have been on a downward trend in recent decades.

Among Britons born in the 1930s, 81% of men and 89% of women married before the age of 30. This data showed a cliff-like decline among people born in the 1960s, with 49% and 63% respectively.

In the post-80s generation, the marriage rate before the age of 30 is directly cut in half, as low as 23% for men and 32% for women. In other words, less than one out of three British women born in the 1980s chose to marry before the age of 30.

From 1967 to 1993, the proportion of married men and women aged 25 and 30 in England and Wales has been declining. Picture: ons.gov.uk

The first batch of post-90s is now 30 years old. I don’t know what the statistics will show in ten years from the statistics of the post-90s in the UK getting married before 30.

I don’t know how much the “cooling-off period” that has been increased year by year actually has had on the decline in the rate of marriage in the UK, I can only say one thing: those who have to get married in such trouble are all true love.