Civil ceremony 2013 arrrrrgh

chuck eastwood

We are finding the registry office a total joke. Countless unanswered call's over months. Having spoken to someone in the kildare off months ago they told us a few months notice would be grand. Thankfully we made some more calls and were told that it must be done three months in advance min. They also told us that the times were 12.30 and 3.30 ,It seems this now no longer applies if you want the registrar to do it in the hotel where your getting married. we planned our wedding around the 12.30 slot only to be told they have now changed it and 3.30 is the only time they now do on site. Nightmare . Is there any other way we can be legally married with out using the HSE registrar who cant seem to get there act together through lack of interest or poor management. I am not religous but my partner is. we are not to bothered either way once we can do it onsite. This is becoming a huge hassle for us so any help would be fantastic

tinkerbell

The wedding times are set in stone by the HSE - they have certain times for having it in the registry office and certain times when it is offsite, it's the way it is - if you don't like it, there's not much you can do.

If you don't want to go down the HSE route, get someone like Tom Colton, a spiritualist who can legally marry you any time of the day and on any day, anywhere you wish!

And yes, you have to give the state a minimum of 3 months notice to get married, otherwise you can't get your marriage license in which case you can't get married. That applies regardless of if you get married in a church, in a civil ceremony or by a spiritualiser.

liliq

there's humanist regs as well if you don't like the idea of someone like tom coulton...

chuck eastwood

Thanks, I'll check both of those out

Peregrinus

liliq wrote: »

there's humanist regs as well if you don't like the idea of someone like tom coulton...

I don't think this is correct. The Humanist Association of Ireland will help you design, organise and host a marriage ceremony of your choice, but their officials are not registered to solemnise marriages for legal purposes (because they can't be, under current Irish law). So if you have a humanist wedding, you either have to bring the HSE registrar along, or have a separate (and presumably low-key) ceremony in the registry office to keep it legal.

Gatica

yes, I believe you're right. I think the other option to the Spiritualist Union is the Unitarian Church, who also do weddings...
The HSE is ridiculous when it comes to civil non-site weddings. Their times may be set in stone, but usually it's even more restrictive than that and depends on the county you're getting married in and who they have available on the day. Some places they've restricted the days they will perform ceremonies as well.

Peregrinus

Gatica wrote: »

yes, I believe you're right. I think the other option to the Spiritualist Union is the Unitarian Church, who also do weddings...
The HSE is ridiculous when it comes to civil non-site weddings. Their times may be set in stone, but usually it's even more restrictive than that and depends on the county you're getting married in and who they have available on the day. Some places they've restricted the days they will perform ceremonies as well.

Look, they have their bureaucratic priorities and their budgets and their staffing limits and so forth, and they have to work within them. I can understand that that imposed restrictions in terms of what can be done to facilitate what couples want.

I think there is a real need for the licensing of non-religious, but non-public-servant, solemnisers. I accept that there is a public interest in the fitting and dignified celebration of marriages, but it's not beyond the bounds of the practical to devise a set of standards for celebrations and for celebrants and then let people work within those standards to find what suits them best. An organisation like the Humanist Association should be able to have some of its officers trained and licensed to act as civil marriage celebrants. Other countries manage this.

Gatica

absolutely, and in many countries it is also possible to "ordain" someone to perform a marriage who's not in some kind of organisation. Our Canadian friends were married by a friend of their who got licence to perform the ceremony for them...

Sleepy

Yep, we're going with a colleague of Tom Colton's since the humanists can't perform a legally binding wedding. I wouldn't hold any truck with the Spiritualists beliefs but they're seem happy for us to devise our own ceremony and have had some nice suggestions to be honest (from talking to them it seems like we'll be going with a sand ceremony rather than the traditional candle-lighting ).

I'd like to say I find it astounding that the HSE are so useless in this regard but honestly I can't: the organisation is known for being over-paid, work-shy and utterly incompetent at almost every level. Given the cost of bringing in the Spiritualist's to do our wedding I've been getting very tempted to see if I can get the First Church of Pastafarianism recognised as a legal religion to carry out weddings and make a career out of it!