Civil Ceremony

tattykitty

Hi there, my fiance and I will be going for a civil ceremony in a registry office when we marry, as neither of us are religious. I was just wondering - is anything said by the registrar? "I now pronounce you husband and wife" - that kind of thing? Can you provide vows for them to read for you? Or do you just go in and sign a bit of paper in silence? What have been other people's experiences? Thanks

ankles

It's a service of sorts. YOu do vows if you want, there play a bit of (piped) background music. If in Dublin there's space for say 30 or so visitors. I was at a wedding there and I thought it was fine. The people are very nice

tattykitty

Thanks for your fast reply, ankles! Hmmm...piped music? Wonder if they let you have your own? Has anyone else here tailored their own civil ceremony?

mikeanywhere

I have photographed two civil ceromonies and each one was different.

First one they had their own vows (but still conducted as a service by the registrar) and the 2nd one was done all by the registrar. Best thing to do is ring the registrar where you are going to get hitched and ask them.

Keeping in mind that some dont allow photography too so make sure you ask before hand.

noChurch09

Hey, we're getting married in a Registry office as well, but I was just wondering do we still have to book a hotel for our wedding reception? What are you doing? My friend got married in a reg. office in Galway and she brought her own little stereo with the music she liked on a CD. after she walked "down the aisle" they left the music on so there was nice (not loud) music during the ceremony. It was very beautifull!

BroomBurner

Heya,
We're getting married in the registry office in Dublin, it'll seat about 70 people (we're having 6!). It's a kind of round audotorium style room, like a small theatre or something. You'll have 30 minutes max to say what you want (vows-wise) but they won't allow anything religious. There is time aswell to do the exchange of the rings, but that's optional too. As for music, they have a cd player (which doesn't like playing burnt cd's apparantly) so you can have what you want playing during it.

Timewise, the shortest it can be is about 10-12 minutes, longest is 30.

If you want to do the whole after-party thing, then definitely book a hotel/other venue to do it in.

bored and tired

You can always look into getting married by a registrar but not in the registrars building/office,

tattykitty

This all sounds promising - thanks for your replies. Ours will be a very quick ceremony I think, just the basics and a few nice words, sign the register (or whatever it is!) and then off to a venue (which we haven't chosen yet). I originally thought the place was going to be tiny, but if there's room for 70, we could probably fit everyone in with room to spare. I like the idea of bringing our own music, though that's probably a minefield I've yet to contemplate...perhaps some Nick Drake...Rammstein is probably a no-no...

sickpuppy32

there is plenty of room in the dublin registry office and i know for certain that you can play ur own music, that place can be difficult to get parking though so arrive early - the cafe across the road is pretty decent

jenjen

Hi, we are getting married in 5 weeks in Dublin reg office. The room is nice, the registrars are lovely. As said there is room for 70 people. we are having 10 ish

You can have your own music and vows if you want. We are going for just the standard ceremony though.

We were told that it is 13-15 mins if you don't add anything else in.

We are having a party later that night in a local GAA club.

nicfd

Hey, i'm having a 'registry office' marriage in 3 wks time. Except we're having the registrar come out to the hotel where we're having the ceremony. I've asked her to send on a copy of the ceremony as we want to add poems. The ceremony is lovely - bit bout rings, do you take this person to be your husband/wife, etc and a candle lighting ceremony. You really can make it about anything you want so long as there's no religious mentions.

Also, because we're having it in the hotel, we can invite the same amount of people as to the reception (ie bout 120 or so) so it's big like a church wedding but without being hypocrites!

hope this helps!

ash_18x

nicfd wrote: »

Hey, i'm having a 'registry office' marriage in 3 wks time. Except we're having the registrar come out to the hotel where we're having the ceremony. I've asked her to send on a copy of the ceremony as we want to add poems. The ceremony is lovely - bit bout rings, do you take this person to be your husband/wife, etc and a candle lighting ceremony. You really can make it about anything you want so long as there's no religious mentions.

Also, because we're having it in the hotel, we can invite the same amount of people as to the reception (ie bout 120 or so) so it's big like a church wedding but without being hypocrites!

hope this helps!

we are doing the exact same as you in three weeks time this friday! though i think i will get her to send out a copy of the ceremony, we know we are going with the ring bit and candles and poems, just dont know what way it will be arranged! should be good though, we are doing it because we dont want to be hypocrits too!

nicfd

hey ash 18x.

ya it really is the best way to do it. no doubt ur kinda nervous (like me!) about the whole ceremony thing. actually seeing it down on paper was a big help since you've an idea on the order of events. It was also good to find out where the natural breaks are so you can pick appropriate poems. I'm getting married through the Sligo registry office. Margaret heffernan is brilliant there - she's so lovely and assuring!

the countdown is on!

Emerald Lass

oh you are all so lucky - i'm marrying in turkey where all official weddings are civil (if you want a religious one it has to be seperate and is not recognised as legal!) but it is SO quick and clinical. its basically 'do you agree to marry him?' yes (evet in turkish) 'do you agree to marry her?' yes and thats it! sign the paper, done! How awful! I am currently in the process of asking others who have married over here for the name of some registrars who speak english - I want vows, and I want it in english and turkish. I just don't feel like i will be 'married' if all it consists of is 4 sentences and us saying 'yes'! I have to say 'I do' or I think I'm being hard done by! there has to be some sense of ceremony!

this is the only part of marrying abroad that I am unhappy about - if receptions, dresses, flowers blah blah weren't so expensive at home, I'd be doing it in Dublin!