registry office weddings??

philstar

Is there such a thing as registry office weddings in the republic??...cause i never seem to hear about them

DublinWriter

Yes there is.

The problem is that most people who tie the knot these days are pressurised by each other or their older, more conservative Catholic parents into sinking €50K into having a massive production of a day.

faceman

There is a registry office in dublin on grand canal st across from the treasury building. there is a 3 month waiting list and you will regularly see different types of weddings going in and out. i have seen some very extravagant weddings there on my travels

of course there are

damned if i'd be getting married in a church

Oryx

Yup, I had one. Not so glamorous as a church, but it did the job with a lot less fuss.

Dunno about a 3 month waiting list, you have to give 3 months notice to get married in Ireland no matter where your venue is.

Karoma

Moved from AH. Kindly look around at the available fora before posting.

CathyMoran

We were at a registry office wedding for my brother in law though they got "oficially" married in Portugal in a church. The service was way too short in my opinion (totally over in 5 minutes).

You can have a nice church wedding too - we did, it was tiny and very romantic.

Of the two weddings that I attended for my brother in law it was only the church wedding that had me in tears but that is just me.

Shabadu

DublinWriter wrote:

Yes there is.

The problem is that most people who tie the knot these days are pressurised by each other or their older, more conservative Catholic parents into sinking €50K into having a massive production of a day.

Ah now, you can have a church wedding without having to be 'convinced' into it, and without having to spend 50k. It's all down to personal choice.

OP- Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find somewhere beautiful to get married as there are a lot of stupid regulations about where you can and can't have the ceremony. Until very recently, you couldn't get married outside in Ireland. As a result, and because some registry offices are too small for people who want to have their whole family there, people can be cornered into having a church ceremony rather than a non-denomonational wedding.

philstar

faceman wrote:

There is a registry office in dublin on grand canal st across from the treasury building. there is a 3 month waiting list and you will regularly see different types of weddings going in and out. i have seen some very extravagant weddings there on my travels

3 month waiting list??....is it the only one in dublin??....and would every major town/city have one??

heyjude

DublinWriter wrote:

The problem is that most people who tie the knot these days are pressurised by each other or their older, more conservative Catholic parents into sinking €50K into having a massive production of a day.

Can personally vouch for that, my brother was getting married a few months ago and with a big mortgage, they were looking at ways to save money, and so considered getting married abroad, as the couple were paying for the wedding themselves. The brides' mother isn't keen on travel and said that if the wedding was held abroad, then she wouldn't go. The bride as the eldest girl, then had to agree to an irish wedding, but it didn't end there, everyone had to be invited, so the local parish church then wasn't big enough, so it had to be moved twenty miles down the road to the cathedral.


Bottom line, massive production and bill. Bad enough having some else dictate where the wedding is held, but when it ends up costing twice as much :mad:

Oryx

philstar wrote:

3 month waiting list??....is it the only one in dublin??....and would every major town/city have one??

What has you in such a hurry?:D Like I said, you have to give 3 months notice anyway!

CathyMoran

philstar wrote:

3 month waiting list??....is it the only one in dublin??....and would every major town/city have one??

As far as I am aware you have to give 3 months notice to the state that you are intending to marry - we had a church wedding at short notice (I was critically ill at the time and did not know if I would be alive for much longer) but we still had to wait the 3 months (though as far as I am aware they make exceptions in cases like mine).

I thought that the registry office that we attended in Navan was lovely but the lenght of the ceremony was shockingly short and they booted us out as they had another wedding 15 minutes later.

445279.ie

You can go to the Circuit Court and make an application to the Judge if you want to get married inside the 3 months notice.

Gingerspice99

Got married last September in Mullingar registry office - did the whole lot apart from the Church bit.

The only thing I didnt like was the limited numbers that you can get into the registry office, but you can make it your own, we had our own flowers and music and our own vows. The registra was very nice and really made us feel special.

In relation to the amount of money you spend on your wedding,I think it is a personal choice but as we had just bought a house (got the keys exactly a week before the wedding )
So we went with a small wedding
I had my dress made (it was cheaper than buying and it wasn't white):D
One bridesmaid dress also made
Bought suits, shirts, waistcoats and ties for the groom and the bestman ties and waistcoats made by the dressmaker
Flowers for myself and the bridesmaid and for the tables in the hotel
Wedding cake (God bless marks and spencers )
Favours for the tables
Limo
Reception for 38 in a hotel - we invited immediate family and a few close friends - no one was put out not being invited to the whole day and we handed out the evening invitations personally.
Finger food for the evening for 80

Luckily we had a hairdresser in the family and the whole family plays music so we didnt have a band
A family friend also played which was fantastic
And a good friend is a amateur photograher - nothing amateur about the photos they were all fab

Will all this and all the extras jewellery, shoes we spent €4500

We had a feckin great time and everyone we talk to said it was the best wedding they were every at

It can be done on a small budget and I would change the day for anything

philstar

and are registry marriages recognised by the catholic church, and other Christian religions??

Mick Shrimpton

Gingerspice99 wrote:

It can be done on a small budget and I would change the day for anything

Hil-arious!! Totally brightened up my day...

is_that_so

Yes there is this legal thing of "posting banns" as they call it. Used to make sure that neither of the pair is already spoken for or otherwise disqualified. A cousin of mine recently took the family off to Prague for the event - much cheaper all round. I also know of two couples, one who headed off to Bermuda and the other to Cancun, where they exchanged their vows on beach. That has got to beat an Irish summer wedding!:rolleyes:

CathyMoran

We did have a cheap Irish church wedding by cutting down on numbers and having our reception in a resteraunt at lunch. Several people commented on how lovely our wedding was.

I just felt that the civil ceremony was cold, our church wedding was all about two people being in love declaring it to the world.

I do not think that the churches recognise civil weddings. I do know that my brother in law had to get married here in a civil ceremony as the church wedding in Portugal was not recognised from a legal point of view over here.

Gingerspice99

Colinthedrummer wrote:

Hil-arious!! Totally brightened up my day...

ok ok that was a typo but at least it made you laugh

Should of been I wouldn't change the day for anything

Gnashers

From the General Registers website it looks like new legislation is coming into force in November that allows you to have a civil wedding outside of the registry office. http://www.groireland.ie/reform_of_marriage_law_2007.htm

I'll be interested to see how it works out in practice ie. how easy it is to find a solmeniser and what venues are available.

Pyjamarama

CathyMoran wrote:

We were at a registry office wedding for my brother in law though they got "oficially" married in Portugal in a church. The service was way too short in my opinion (totally over in 5 minutes).

My brother got married in the registry office in Dublin and I felt the same, it had just started and then it was over and they were shooing us outside, felt a bit anti-climatic and not very personal. Hopefully the options will open up more after November.

Roar

my mum remarried in the registry office in cork a few years back, and i thought it was lovely. they made us feel very much at ease, and took their time, we didnt feel rushed at all. friends of mine married there as well about two years back, and again i thought it was lovely..

Cameraman

Just a few quick points :

(1) The Dublin registry office has seats for about 60 and could hold more standing. The ceremony is short and sweet - under 10 minutes overall.

(2) Eventually, you will be able to get married in approved locations other than churches and registry offices, but this is not yet in force.

(3) If you want something more than just the registry office, but not a church wedding, you could try a 'Humanist Service'. However, you would still need the Registry Office bit for legal purposes.

See http://www.humanism.ie/cere.html for details.

penexpers

philstar wrote:

and are registry marriages recognised by the catholic church, and other Christian religions??

No they are not.