Civil Registrar notification

johnc24

Hi all

I have the paper work for the pre marraige course and it asks if the civil registrar has been notified.

I rang the civil registrar office to ask as we are getting married in Spain, and she asked was it a civil wedding or just a blessing. I said we were getting married by the church, but apparently thats not a definitive answer, how do I know?

Sorry if this is a very simple thing its just not obvious to me!

Zamboni

They want to know of the church you are getting married in Spain performs the legal ceremony of the marriage.

Not all churches have the legal entitlement to perform legal marriages.
A lot only perform the religious aspect of the ceremony depending on which country you are in.

seamus

There is a difference between a legal marriage and a church marriage. Being married by a church does not necessarily mean that your marriage is legal and recognised by the State.

If you are getting married in Ireland, regardless of whether or not you are getting married in a church, you need to contact the registrar in advance of date and you need to meet with them. They give you a licence to get married and then after the ceremony you and your partner, your witnesses and the celebrant all sign the documents confirming that the marriage has taken place and they are sent back to the registrar to make the marriage legal.

Not all churches are licenced to carry out weddings and not all priests are registered celebrants. Many people do a "blessing" in the church of their choice and then get a legal marriage in the civil registry office.

If you're getting married overseas, you need to ensure that the marriage will be legally recognised in that country. You don't have to notify the Irish registrar of your intention to marry, though you do have to speak to them when you get back and jump through a whole pile of hoops in order to get your foreign marriage legally recognised here.

Many people doing an overseas wedding simply go for a civil marriage here in Ireland and then a religious marriage overseas, which makes things a million times easier.

johnc24

Thanks folks for the info its all clear now. I spoke to my partner and the church in spain is fine for us and legal.

Emerald Lass

Just another thing John - not sure if Spain is one of them, but many countries will require you to get a certificate of non-impetiment/credt of freedom to marry to conduct a legal ceremony. This is obtained from the registry services here - basically it certifies that you are not already married and are legally able to marry. This takes 4 mths to be issued, so you must apply at least 4 mths before the wedding date, but no more than 6 mths before as the cert is only valid for 3 mths ( so if you apply 7 mths ahead, and it is issued 4 mths later, it may be out of date by the time of the wedding!)

As I said not sure if Spain requires this cert, but you should check just in case.

Have a wonderful day!