Ceremony - sample wording?

JKM

I really hope someone can help me out here before I have a mini melt down!

Basically I am looking for a sample civil marriage ceremony that I can amend to suit us. I am ok with the layout of the ceremony and the order of things. I also know what the requirements are to make it legal i.e. No legal impediment and the I do's. What i'm struggling with is the actual wording of this part and also how to introduce this part of the ceremony. I don't want to just launch in to "I _____, know of no impediment..."

I was thinking our best option would be to take a standard HSE ceremony and go from there. At least that way we will make sure we cover all the legalities. I think our best option is to say the legal stuff then add in our own vows.

Does anyone happen to have a link to an actual civil ceremony (a complete one preferably) that I could use as a template?

Hope I can get this sorted soon.. 21 days and counting!! :eek:

Peregrinus

Talk to your celebrant. Under the Civil Registration Act s. 51, not only does the ceremony have to include the "no impediment" and "I do" elements, but it must also be a form of ceremony approved by the Registrar General.

I've no idea what forms of ceremony have been approved and how much leeway they give you to tailor them to your own tastes, but your celebrant will know. Your celebrant may also have ideas to offer you.

tatli_lokma

As Peregrinus says - you have to follow the order of the HSE ceremony and say certain things in a certain order, but other than that you can then add in bits as you wish to personalise it. The registrar will want a copy of your proposed ceremony and will then advise you if it is ok - they have to approve it. The main things are no religious elements.

We even had part of our ceremony in a different language, we just had to provide the registrar with the translation.

I'll PM you a copy of ours

Best of luck with the big day!

JKM

Thanks for your replies.

Our officiant is Tom Colton of The Spiritualist Union of Ireland so we are able to write our ceremony totally our own way, which means zero mention of spirits or gods of any kind, but we obviously have to make sure to have the legal bits in.

Ted, I have PM'd you my email address. Thanks so much.. having an actual ceremony will make it so much easier.

childsplay

As with the original poster, I am also looking for a copy or guide to the wording of the civil ceremony. Thanks

schemingbohemia

Your celebrant should really be providing you with this, unless it's their first one!