Registry Office suggesting waiting for Home Office before booking ceremony

Now that I am back in the UK, my fiancee and I went to give notice and the staff at the Registry Office are suggesting that we wait to book our ceremony until after we receive approval from the Home Office.  With the new rules, in addition to the 28 day waiting period the Home Office can extend that to 70 days.

I know anything is possible, but I figured since I have gone through the visa process and have a visa that it is unlikely that our waiting period would be extended to 70 days.  Don't know if anyone will have experience with this so soon, but any advice on whether we should wait to book our ceremony or go ahead and hope that our waiting period isn't extended?

Just to update... on our second notice appointment (yeah... we failed the first one because of the 7 clear days policy and my fiance had not updated the address on his DL) the staff member told us she thought it would be unlikely that our waiting period would be extended to 70 days because we had the marriage visa.  She mentioned that the extended waiting period was more for those that did not have the marriage visa, but were in country trying to marry on a visitor visa.

She also told us that if we chose to book our ceremony and our waiting period was extended, we would lose the fee paid for the ceremony.  We decided £50 wasn't a huge loss considering how quickly the available dates for ceremonies fills up. 

They were also a bit vague on the type of contact that Home Office would provide regarding whether or not we were approved or would have to wait a further 70 days.  I will update with that information if/when it is received.

Not sure if anyone is interested in the last update on this, but just in case... As I mentioned, we were not sure what kind of contact we would receive from the Home Office regarding clearance to marry.  I happened to remember the date that the Register's Office said we would be clear to marry and contacted the email address that was provided by the office:  MarriageReferralTeamGeneral@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

The Register's Office said that they cannot provide status updates so we should contact the Home Office.  There was an automated response, similar to the ones for visas essentially saying don't contact us, we'll contact you.  A few minutes later I received this email:

"As you have the correct marriage visa the registry office do not need to refer you and your partner to the Home Office. Therefore we will not be investigating and you can proceed with your marriage arrangements."

This is very much what we (and one of the Assistant Registrars) thought would be the case, however, I guess I thought they would notify us (or even the Registry Office) to say 'yay' or 'nay'.  Maybe it will be different once the process is in place for a bit longer.

Thanks for this. I have a couple of friends who just gave notice so yes, I'm interested in the new referral scheme. She does not have the correct visa, so their case will certainly be referred to the Home Office. No one is really sure what will happen next.

Best of luck to you and congratulations on your marriage.

Thanks for this. I have a couple of friends who just gave notice so yes, I'm interested in the new referral scheme. She does not have the correct visa, so their case will certainly be referred to the Home Office. No one is really sure what will happen next.

Best of luck to you and congratulations on your marriage.

They told us that if our case were referred it would be an additional 70 days before we could marry.  I am assuming they will contact them to let them know, but if they don't hear anything in 20 days (that was the date in the automated email they quoted), I would contact the Home Office for confirmation.

Best of luck to your friends and thank you