SUNDAYS and Civil Partnership

marcus2000

Planning my civil partnership on a sunday - took ages to find a venue and date that suited....rang "Tom Coulton" as I heard he is one of the few people that can legally hold a civil partnership on a weekend, and him and his small team are booked up that date

Is there anyone else who can perform legal civil partnerships on a sunday??

Sleepy

Think you're out of luck tbh. Can't imagine any of the religious institutions helping you out.

What date are you planning for? The humanists may be certified in time if it's late next year.

The HSE Celebrants can, I'm told by a family member in the HSE, perform ceremonies at the weekend subject to an over-time payment but I'm told it's only really for special circumstances where someone is at death's door etc. Perhaps the rules can be bent for friends / family though?

marcus2000

Thanks for that. It's in early summer, but when we are confirming the venue, id like to have a registrar booked already...just incase, so probably wouldnt risk waiting to see if the humanists are certified in time !!!

I suppose I could just go down the generic blessing route and not tell anyone and just do it officially beforehand on the sly!!! Shame!

why are there not more certified celebrants?? its a bit of a joke!!!?

Janey_Mac

marcus2000 wrote: »

Thanks for that. It's in early summer, but when we are confirming the venue, id like to have a registrar booked already...just incase, so probably wouldnt risk waiting to see if the humanists are certified in time !!!

I suppose I could just go down the generic blessing route and not tell anyone and just do it officially beforehand on the sly!!! Shame!

why are there not more certified celebrants?? its a bit of a joke!!!?

It's cos at the moment apart from the HSE (Mon-Fri only mostly) only religious leaders (priests, pastors, whathaveyou) can be certified, and apart from a tiny minority, these religious leaders are (understandably, but frustratingly) only willing to perform their own religion's ceremonies.

Am looking forward to the new legislation coming through and the Humanist Society being allowed to perform secular ceremonies.

Sleepy

It's mainly down to our archaic laws being so interlinked with the Catholic Church combined with the laziness of the HSE workers / their unions greed. Only religious organisations or the HSE can nominate registrars.

Obviously, any rational business person would have hired registrars on contracts that allowed for weekend work since weddings are primarily a weekend orientated industry. Presumably, whoever drew that contract up in the HSE was either a moron or told by the unions that such positions would require triple time for weekend work :rolleyes:

Even the new legislation won't go far enough imho as it's being drafted so as to allow the humanists conduct legal marriages more than to open the field for any other groups that a couple may wish to be married by (e.g. non religious people who might consider the humanists to be too militant or those who are remarrying outside of their faith i.e. Catholics who've been divorced).

marcus2000

Cool. Thanks for all the feedback. I actually hadnt really understood the concept of who could perform what and why.....Its all making sense to me now. I also just downloaded the list of of celebrants and there are more than 5k...but as you say, all religious leaders etc.

thanks for ur help anyway.maybe one of the couples using Tom Coulton next june will break up and ill be sorted :-o

Jellyjelly

Hey Marcus

An official/legal civil partnership ceremony can only be performed by a HSE member of staff, they work Monday to Friday so you'll probably have to have a ceremony in the reg office first and then get a blessing on the weekend.

Regards

J

marcus2000

Jellyjelly wrote: »

An official/legal civil partnership ceremony can only be performed by a HSE member of staff, they work Monday to Friday so you'll probably have to have a ceremony in the reg office first and then get a blessing on the weekend.

Thanks jelly, but the HSE are just one of the organisations permitted to carry out civil partnerships, and they indeed only work on week days. There are other organisations/orders/churches such as the "Spiritualist Union of Ireland" who can legally perform civil partnerships, unfortunately the vast majority dont recognise same sex relationships, and so my options are limited.

John Mason

can you change the time of your service to suit Tom Colton?

He married us and we were the 3rd wedding he had preformed that day. We didnt get married until 5.30pm and i think he was heading off to perform another after us.

marcus2000

yeah he did suggest we could have someone for 6pm but I was then trying to figure out the whole setup of the day. can you do a food/drinks reception before the ceremony - that kinda would disrupt the traditional protocols of a day - , then jump to dinner after the ceremony??? all just seems too squished and random....i dont know!!!

Sleepy

In other circumstances (i.e. had I no children) I think I'd quite like an evening ceremony. Have the ceremony at 6, dinner at 8 and make sure you've booked somewhere that'll serve late into the morning.

Some possible advantages would be that an evening event allows you to do black/white tie and, depending on your perspective, having a "no children" reception would be far simpler as by the time the meal was over it'd be past most kids' bedtimes.

John Mason

I know i am baised but it was the best wedding i was at we had decided we were having an evening wedding anyway because i flipping hate all that hanging around in between the service and the food.

It also had the added bonus, that we didn’t have to get out of bed until 12pm!! Myself on my friend went for a fry-up around 2pm, hair was done at 3.30pm. Which let loads of time for a few drinks before we left.

My husband and everyone else arrived at the pub around 4.30pm onwards. I was there around 5.30pm'ish. The service etc was over by 5.45pm.

Dinner was at 6.30/7pm. We had 45mins for a drinks/photos and chatting.

Everyone who was there said it was the best wedding for that reason (well, they aren’t going to say otherwise but……………)

It really worked for us because we were having a very non-traditional wedding, I know its not for everyone but it meant there was not down time and the day flowed much easier than a lot of weddings I have been to.

Some of my friends complained of being shattered the night of their weddings due to being up at 7am and having loads of running around etc.


EDIT: it was also a lot cheaper, now finger food or entertained required for 3 hours before dinner. everyone had time to check into their hotels and have lunch before hand.

Another reason we choose an evening service was the fact that we got married on Friday and it meant no-one had to take a day off work if they didnt want to. (i am so sick of using my annual leave for weddings).

Jellyjelly

Hey Marcus

As per the Civil Partnership and co-habition Act 2010, a civil partnership (same sex) ceremony is only legally recognised when conducted by a HSE member of staff.

While many other organization will perform a blessing of some description you would have to a ceremony in the Reg office in order for it to be recognized.

Regards

J.

marcus2000

Hi jelly

That's not correct. The HSE perform civil ceremonies. For religious civil partnership ceremonies, " The solemniser must be a registered solemniser, nominated by his or her church or religious body, and it is the responsibility of the couple to ensure that the person they wish to solemnise their marriage is on the Register of Solemnisers"

http://www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm#section2

The ceremony can be held in any HSE approved venue!!!

Jellyjelly

Hi Marcus

The link that you have posted to the GRO is in connection to "getting married" and not "civil partnership" i suggest that you contact the GRO to to clarify this matter, as it is not clear from the web site to whom can conduct a Civil Partnership.

I've a lot of experience in the area, if you know otherwise can you please let me know. Its important that other people know for future reference.

All the best

Jellyjelly

Jellyjelly

Hey Marcus

Please the link link below

http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Find_a_Service/bdm/civilpartnership/

Civil Partnerships registered by Civil Registrars of can only take place on assigned appointment times from Monday – Friday (excluding public/bank holidays and weekends).

Civil partnerships may be registered only by civil registrars; marriages may be registered by registered religious solemnisers.Click here for a full list of Civil Registrars

Regards

Jelly

smelltheglove

Hi Marcus, I wanted to give you a little input here.

I covered a civil partnership last year, I will say one of the more memorable days of the year for me. The reason being that the couple decided to do the 'first look'. We are very traditional here in our ways with regards to weddings and this couple did want to do things their own way and enjoy the whole day together breaking away from the norm. They were married in Tankardstown house and their suite allowed them both to get ready in adjacent rooms, when both were dressed I was able to photograph the big reveal as they came together in the centre room, possibly one of the most intimate moments I have had the privelge to witness, a true joy. From their they went to mingle with guests before the ceremony.

If you were prepared to go ahead with a late ceremony an option such as this could allow you to have your meal etc before your ceremony. This is your day and just because 99% of the country believe you cannot see each other before the vows does not mean you have to follow that belief. The ceremony on the day mentioned above was performed by a humanist solemniser however I could not say 100% if the union was registered beforehand to make it legally binding.