Every Marriage Officer has been approved and designated by Home Affairs. They are issued what is called a “designation letter” which confirms their status. In this letter they are given a designation number. This number is usually starts with the letters “BD” and followed by a 5 or 6 digit number. In the case of Civil Union Marriage Officers the number is preceded with “CU” and a 3 digit number. If you want to be sure your Marriage Officer is legit, ask him for a copy of his Designation number. If you want to take it further than that you can call Home Affairs in Pretoria on 012 406 2685. Give them the BD number of the Marriage Officer’s full name and they can verify it for you.