A celebration date is not yet a marriage.
Registration involves proving matters such as civil status and, where relevant, the dissolution of an earlier marriage. The documents required in an individual case depend on the personal circumstances. The registry office is therefore the appropriate place to prepare this step.
Registration normally belongs to a registry office in the district where one of the two people lives or habitually resides. The later ceremony can take place elsewhere. The legally effective marriage occurs through the relevant declarations before a registrar.
The other three answers
The offices’ names refer to different functions.
to the residents' registration office
The residents’ registration office handles residence registration. This is not the registration of an intended marriage.
to the public order office
The public order office is not the body sought for marriage. That function belongs to the registry office.
to the employment agency
The employment agency deals with work and career matters. It does not register intended marriages.
“Go first” identifies the competent office.
The short exam question does not determine whether initial contact in every municipality must be in person, in writing or through a digital service. Competence, appointments and documents are clarified with the relevant registry office. Special situations, such as having no residence in Germany, require separate assessment.
A religious or independent celebration may take place in addition. For the marriage in Germany described here, it does not replace the civil marriage. Registration alone also does not make the couple married.
Section 12 · Marriage registration · Civil Status Act ↗Register an address: residents’ office. Register a marriage: registry office.
The procedure is what matters. Offices in the same building can still have different functions.
Three words for this question
- das Standesamtregistry office
- An authority handling marriages and civil-status matters, among other functions.
- die Eheschließungmarriage ceremony or legal formation of marriage
- The legal act through which a marriage is formed.
- die Urkundeofficial document
- A document evidencing a legally relevant fact.