Civil Ceremony on a Saturday?

ionapaul

I'm very recently engaged and we're thinking about getting married in September 2013. Does anyone know if it is possible to arrange a civil marriage ceremony on a Saturday? I've heard that it isn't possible through the HSE, but does anyone know of solemnisers who would work on a Saturday?

janeo80

It's definitely possible, I can't say who the solemnisers are but I know for sure civil ceremonies can happen on a SAturday! And I know there's another poster here who's having a civil ceremony on a Saturday so they might spot this post and let you know what's what - where are you planning on marrying?

tatli_lokma

another route a lot of people go down is to have the legal bit done say on the Friday, just pop into the registrars office with your witnesses and do the legal declarations and proclamations and sign the paperwork. Think of it as no different to the previous visits to the registrar - just a formality. Then have the more personal ceremony part on the weekend.

Senna

You can contact this group Spiritualist Union of Ireland, they can do the full legal side and the ceremony on any day you wish. I've had no dealing with them, but i do thinks its expensive compared to the HSE.

Gatica

I've never heard of civil ceremonies on a Saturday. The HSE works Mon-Fri and are pretty strict on that. Their ceremony service times are also limited if it's outside the office.
There's just some religious organisations that are willing to do ceremonies for non-believers, which includes the Spiritualist Union and the Unitarian Church.

Bannasidhe

Senna wrote: »

You can contact this group Spiritualist Union of Ireland, they can do the full legal side and the ceremony on any day you wish. I've had no dealing with them, but i do thinks its expensive compared to the HSE.

My nephew got married in a Civil Ceremony just over 2 weeks ago on a Saturday and used a this lot. I have to say it was a really lovely ceremony and great care was taken to involve both families. Nephew and his (now) wife had a huge input in what actually happened and it was great fun. I have never been at a wedding where there was so much genuine laughter during the ceremony.

Sleepy

I believe the HSE will do a Saturday in a bride / groom / one of their parents being at death's door scenario but aside from that it's a non-goer.

By September the necessary legislation to allow Humanists conduct legal marriages should have passed but otherwise, Tom Colton and the Spiritualist Union of Ireland are your only options for a civil ceremony. The Unitarian Church are also happy to carry out weddings on Saturdays in their place on Stephens Green but I'm not sure how theistic the ceremony needs to be?

Gatica

I think people are getting confused as to what a "Civil Ceremony" actually is. It's a ceremony conducted by a member of the HSE staff, they're the only ones who can perform a Civil Ceremony. Such a ceremony is completely devoid of religion and does not allow at all any reference to such.

Ceremonies performed by other organisations, while maybe being non-religious in content, such as by Spiritualist Union, are not in fact civil. Though technically as far as the couple are concerned, since they're not getting the traditional catholic or other religious ceremony, they may feel that it's secular enough for their needs.

Sleepy

I think most people use the words Civil, Non-Religious and Legal interchangeably here tbh Gatica.

While the Spiritualists are technically a "religious" organisation, the service they provide leaves the content of the ceremony entirely down to the couple involved. It's sickening that they can make such a good business out of the HSE's incompetence / laziness imo but there seems to be no desire to fix things.

One would think that the management of a health-service that's over-spending it's budgets would be only too happy to introduce a fee for weekend wedding services that could give their staff some overtime, contribute something towards the spending gap and offer the public a better service than they currently do but seemingly that's just too much like common sense in this banana republic!

angeldelight

Sleepy wrote: »

I believe the HSE will do a Saturday in a bride / groom / one of their parents being at death's door scenario but aside from that it's a non-goer.

By September the necessary legislation to allow Humanists conduct legal marriages should have passed but otherwise, Tom Colton and the Spiritualist Union of Ireland are your only options for a civil ceremony. The Unitarian Church are also happy to carry out weddings on Saturdays in their place on Stephens Green but I'm not sure how theistic the ceremony needs to be?

We got married in the Unitarian Church and "not very" is the answer, but it depends on the couples wishes. We had one prayer, which they usually start with referencing God - my husband is an atheist and did not want any reference to God in the service so instead it was changed to starting with "let us pray for..." So it was our guests keeping us in our thoughts. It's definitely an option as its a spiritual service but not a religious one

Sleepy

Actually: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1210/1224327682841.html

It appears the legislation has been passed and the Humanists will be able to perform weddings by the timeframe you're looking at ionapaul.

angeldelight

Sleepy wrote: »

Actually: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1210/1224327682841.html

It appears the legislation has been passed and the Humanists will be able to perform weddings by the timeframe you're looking at ionapaul.

That is excellent news

Sleepy

Emailed them about possibly switching to them from the Spiritualist Union. They think February might be a bit early which doesn't surprise me.

What I did find disappointing is that they plan on charging the same rip-off €450 that Tom Colton and his crowd are charging. We're paying it because we feel we've no choice (not being prepared to ask our guests to take time off work etc. for a mid-week wedding) but it's not something I'm particularly happy about. Had hoped the Humanists might be inclined to charge something more reasonable.

tatli_lokma

In the grand scheme of things that you pay for at a wedding, the ceremony is the most important part, so I don't think that €450 is a rip off. If you go with the HSE outside of the registry office you need to pay mileage costs. If you get married in a church it can cost about the same and if you add in pre-marriage courses etc many church weddings cost much more than €500.

If money was an issue I would rather cut out or cut back on something else, and have the ceremony I want. At least with a humanist ceremony you can have what you want, not worry about being told what time you must have it at (as is the case with the HSE - ours was at 3.30 and I would have prefered if it were around 2.00).

Sleepy

It'd have to be some trip to bring civil service mileage rates up to €450! Never mind that regardless of who marries you, €150 still has to be paid to the HSE.

There's no justification for the service provided being €450. Musicians, Photographers, MUA's etc. all have the justification of having to pay for their instruments and equipment etc. on top of having a specialised skill. That's simply not true of celebrants who might have to provide a couple of candles at most. The price can only be justified by a legal system that severely restricts the right to carry out legal marriages and market demand caused by an incompetent public body.

The fact that a church rips off it's followers is none of my concern (as I'm sure the religious might say of me complaining about the cost of this). I suppose I just expected better from the Humanist Society.

Gatica

I agree with Sleepy, it's very steep for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, it's not about common sense or fairness, but as in any business, supply and demand. There's lots of demand and there's technically 2-3 suppliers outside the HSE.
I don't think comparing a Catholic ceremony to a "civil" one is comparing like for like. The reason it costs so much in a Catholic ceremony is because you're getting a venue in addition to the priest. The other celebrants only provide the "marriage service" part, not the venue (I don't know, maybe the Unitarian Church throws their church into the bargain.). If your hotel is not providing complimentary setup or room hire, then you've to probably pay for that in addition to your solemniser. Also, the pre-marriage course is an additional requirement of the church, I don't see how this is anything to do with the cost of a "civil" service, or with justifying the high prices they charge.

Gatica

Sleepy wrote: »

That's simply not true of celebrants who might have to provide a couple of candles at most.

Actually, they charge extra for particular "kits" that you want to use as part of your ceremony...

lazygal

I made some inquiries about the Unitarian Church when we got engaged. I was quoted 800 quid for the use of the church and then there were celebrant fees, organist fees and a couple of other bits. We had a humanist ceremony in our venue. It was worth the fee (ceremony room cost nothing, and we decorated it very cheaply ourselves) because we were able to have free reign on readings, poems, length and structure which made for a lovely personal ceremony. It was the best money we spent and if we had our time over again we'd spend it again.


Anyone I know who had a church wedding didn't see much change out of a grand, when church donations, payments to sacristans, priests, organists etc, flowers, church singer, premarriage course, prenuptial inquiries are factored in.


The bottom line is that it costs 150 to marry in Ireland and everything and anything a couple does on top of that is entirely their choice.

Senna

€450 isn't that bad, I thought it was closer to €800.
Its the usual "wedding tax". Phone up a band and get a price for them to do 2 hours in a function room for a birthday party, then phone them and ask for a price for 2 hours in a function room for a wedding, watch as the price doubles.

ionapaul

So the legislation that makes a Humanist-conducted ceremony of full legal status has passed the Senate and is expected to pass the Dail this month? Therefore for August / September next year, if we try to book with the Humanists now and get our date, we won't have to worry about any other ceremonies other than the one on the Saturday we're also having the reception? That will be a weight off our minds, we were expecting to have to go to the registry office on the Thursday before or something.