Couple of points

1] certificates are no longer sent in A4 envelopes, from either local register offices or the GRO, since Royal Mail started charging by size.

2] you can’t use the GRO references to obtain certificates from local offices, they have their own index references.

Obvious really as the GRO index is a quarterly compilation of all local office register returns. If you try to use the GRO reference at a local office it will incur an extra cost as local staff have to look up the event in their index.

3] if you want to use a local office, then in the first instance try and find the event on the local BMD web site for the county [cross ref with GRO data if you have it]. To see if the county of interest has a BMD web site go to UKBMD at http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ then select a county to see all the presently available web sites that hold data for it.

4] many localBMD sites have online ordering, but it depends on the actual local office that hold the event register if they offer the service. Sites that use the CheshireBMD format have online forms that once you click on the reference you can print out/or order online. Or you can ring an place your order online for collection at the office or posting to you.

5] Elle has a point about obtaining certificates from the GRO. One other thing to note is local offices can only provide photocopies of marriage certificates. The arrangement and size of birth & death registers means they have to transcribe the details from the register. Unlike the GRO that have the facility [expensive equipment] to select the event entry, reduce it and print it onto an A4 certificate blank.

Hope this is of use.

Jeff