Civil marriage question

Realtine

Am I reading it wrong, but it seems that if we give notice/registration to marry we have to marry within a year of the date of appointment?
I mean we are planning to get married in August 2014 so does that mean that I cannot apply or make an appointment with a registar until August this year at the very earliest?
It's only been a day or so since we decided to get married and I already have a headache....

From HSE website on marriages.

All ceremony bookings are provisional until the legal requirements prior to the ceremony have been completed (known as giving notice). Bookings are held for 8 weeks from the date of the booking, and in that time you must have arranged to give notice. Notice can only be given 12 months in advance, so if you book your ceremony more than 12 months in advance, your booking will be held until one month after the first day on which you can give notice.

Toots

Yes, once you give notice at the registry office, you get a marriage registration form, which is valid for 12 months. So the marriage must be held within 12 months of you going to register.

There's no problem booking the actual appointment now, the booking can be made at any stage, it's just the appointment that has to be less than 12 months out. I think that bit you quoted seems to be if you're having the ceremony in the registry office and book your date to secure it as your 'venue', they'll only consider the venue provisionally booked until you've come in and filled in all your paperwork.

tatli_lokma

Yeah, exactly! So ring them, find out what dates are available, then liaise with venues to see which ones match up. Then let them know and they will 'pencil' in your booking. Then 12 months before that date, you need to ring and make an appointment to formally register the intention to marry. Until you have had your appointment they will not write your booking in pen!

And the thing about holding the date 1 mth, basically means, you can make your appointment from August 13. So they will only hold the 'penciled' date for you until September 13. If you have not made an appointment at that stage, they will get the big rubber out and your pencil booking will be no more!

loveisdivine

Hi,

Just so you know, when I rang to make the appointment for the actual ceremony it was no problem. However when I tried to make the appointment for the "notification to marry" thing, they kept putting me off saying they hadnt got the calendar set up yet for that far ahead/2013. It wasnt just me either, I read on a few forums that people were having the same issue.

In fact it wasnt until late December that they finally rang me back and said that they now had the calendar for 2013. I'm getting married in September.

Hope that makes sense

King Krib

We're getting married in 6 weeks and I rang the registrar this time last year to see what the situation was. We were told to leave it until December / January to give our 3 months notice for April . At that stage our venue was booked almost 7 months. I think they will pencil in your intended date so you may be able to prebook a registrar prior to giving your 3 months notice.

Jellyjelly

Hey Realtine

That is a little misleading and some what confusing. You can book your appointment today for next month and get married in two years if you want. The licence doesn't start to expire until the date of the actual marriage and it is valid for six months from that date if you we're to postpone for example if you we're to get married on the 1st July 2014 and you had to postpone our date you would have to be married by the 1st January 2015 otherwise you have to do your paperwork again.

Ring them and get your dates booked as they go fast

Best of luck

J

tatli_lokma

I don't think that is correct Jellyjelly....when you do your interview you sign a declaration. AFAIK there is an expiry date on this. The reasoning being that if you were to leave it 2 years then you could be married to someone else in that time! My experience of it is that you can make an appointment up to a year ahead. But your appointment must be 3 mths before the wedding minimum. Luckily we didn't have any of these logistical headaches as we got married 20 weeks after getting engaged!

Realtine

Thanks folks I rang the Joyce House about an appointment today and it was grand, they know what the're on about - they sourced a register that will be available on the date I want even though it's 18 months away and then they gave me an appointment in October to go in and meet them or whatever they call it and for us to bring in all the paperwork and the fee.

They have just emailed me with all the details and forms and details of this appointment (plus a little message about quitting smoking attached to message):eek: - anyhow that's not applicable in our case.

So one thing done - one disappointment tho - which we will sort out in time -
I had been in touch with the Anglers Rest re our wedding meal and I would like to have had the ceremony there but the HSE office tell me it's not approved as it does not have wheelchair access... so back to the drawing board on that one for now.

thanks for all help - glad I did it today.:D