These are the details for a close friend of mine:
NCS or Postal: Postal to UK Border Agency in Liverpool
Date of submission or posting: Mid December 2008
CRITERIA: EU citizen - 6 yr residence(5 + 1 yr ILR)
Date of debit of debit/credit card: Late December 2008
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: Early January 2009
Date of receipt of approval: Early February 2009
Date of Ceremony: Early March 2009 (group ceremony)
She also wrote the following hints:
"On my application form I had chosen a different council to the one I lived in to have my ceremony, but they sent my certificate to my own council. When I spoke to the UK Border Agency call centre staff, (the only time I managed to even get through to someone was at 8:30pm in the evening !!!:? - their call centre is "open" till 9pm by the way...) they said there was no availibility with the council I had chosen.
A quick call to the council I wanted to have the ceremony in, confirmed that what the UK Border Agency said was utter rubbish.
I then asked my local council to transfer my certificate to the other council which they did in only a few days. The council of my choice gave me a group ceremony date within less than 3 weeks of the transfer of the certificate.
Bottom line - once you've been approved disregard anything the UK Border Agency tell you about availiabilty at other councils for your ceremony."
Another helpful hint -
If after your ceremony you lose your certificate or it gets torn or destroyed (for example by a fire, a flood, theft or simply your mad ex, your kid or even your dog tears it to shreds) you can get another from the UK Border Agency in Liverpool for £20. Don't ask to have a "back-up" copy for a "just in case basis" - they only want you to have one in circulation at a time - even though it doesn't say this anywhere on their website or on the request form for the duplicate certificate.
hope this is helpful for others