Kenya Weddings

Legal Issues You Need To Consider

Kenya weddings legal requirements are almost the same as anywhere else. Firstly, you and your partner need to be over 18 years old. Documents that you need to bring with you include

• Passport with at least 6 monts validity
• Visa
• Health Vaccination Certificates
• Divorce Certificates (where applicable)
• Change of Name Certificates (where applicable)
• Translation of Documents (where not in English)

You can do a religious or civil type wedding.

For both however, you will require to give Notice. This can either be 'Banns' or an ordinary notice at the registrars office.

The notice lasts upto 3 weeks after which you can proceed to get married if there was no legal objection.

If you don't want to wait for 3 weeks (it may be a long time if you need to return abroad), you can apply for a special license at the registrars stating reasons why you can not wait that long together with an affidavit of your marriage status.

You then need to pay a small amount of about $USD 10 at the registrars office - for civil type weddings. You can book the marriage date at the registrars office on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday.

In most cases, you may prefer to have your wedding at a special non-authorised venue, like at the beach or savanna grasslands. In this case, you will require a special license which costs Ksh 10,250 just about $USD

For those that perform Kenya weddings at the Civil Registrar’s Office, they incur a fee of Kshs.6,250. The breakdown is as follows:

• Special License - Kshs.5,000

• Ceremony - Kshs.1,000

• Marriage Certificate - Kshs. 200

• Swearing - Kshs. 50

Registrar's Contacts
The Registrar General’s Office
Room 209, Sheria House
Harambee Avenue
P. O. Box 30031, Harambee Avenue, Nairobi
Telephone number:00254 2227461.

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