Civil ceremony in a church?

clio_16v

Is it possible to have a civil ceremony in a church? I dont want a religious wedding but like the idea of getting married somewhere like Gougane Barra or somewhere like that

ResearchWill

http://www.groireland.ie/guidelines_for_venues.htm

"The venue must have no recent or continuing connection with any religion, religious practice or religious persuasion which would be incompatible with the use of the venue for the solemnization of civil marriages."

Your out of luck.

Looks like you will have to pick one or the other, church with ceremony or no church civil ceremony. The other option is to get hitched earlier in the day in the Registrars Office and have a kinda blessing in the church.

Peregrinus

No, it isn't. If not celebrated in the registrar's office, a civil ceremony has to be celebrated in a place approved by the registrar, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Minister. The ministerial guidelines include a requirement that the place "must have no recent or continuing connection with any religion, religious practice or religious persuasion", so a church building will not be approved.

The reasoning, presumably, is to avoid any suggestion that the state is conducting a religious ceremony. For the same reason, the use of religious music or imagery in civil wedding celebration is forbidden.

Dolbert

How about a deconsecrated chapel OP? Off the top of my head there's Brooklodge in South Dublin, the Clarion Sligo and Gleno Abbey, Galway. All are approved for civil ceremonies.

lowly26

if your willing to compromise a little bit you can get married in a church with out having mass. you will still have to have the marriage sacrament tho but no readings, prayers of the faithfull, comunion etc.

our priest told us that it is possible to do it this way as i am not big on the organised religon thing but my partner wanted to have a church wedding. it didnt bother me either way so i went with him on this, but told the priest that i wouldnt take comunion on the alter and he told us about the fact tha marriage and mass are to different things and you can have one with out the other.

it might not be appealing to you but if you have your heart set on the idea og a church it might be worth a little compromise.

good luck finding a venue!!!:)

eyescreamcone

Macreddin Chapel, on the grounds of Brooklodge Hotel, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow.

Chapel built recently by the hotel for weddings.

We had ours there in 2011 - ticked all the boxes.

Gatica

Markree castle has a chapel as part of its building. It's been de-consecrated by the church and now they use it for approved civil services.
If you find an old "church"-like building that is not registered with a religious organisation, you may be able to get the HSE to approve a wedding there.

Rachiee

Not sure but i think the unitarian church at stephens green might be o.k. Since its no religion in particular i know humanists will happily do ceremonies there and i believe there is a motion in the senate to register some humanists as solemisers but dont think its gone through

Apogee

Not quite Gougane Barra, but not that far away, St Peter's in Cork city.
http://www.corkvisioncentre.com/corkvision2/main/CivilWeddings.htm

eyescreamcone

Rachiee wrote: »

Not sure but i think the unitarian church at stephens green might be o.k. Since its no religion in particular i know humanists will happily do ceremonies there and i believe there is a motion in the senate to register some humanists as solemisers but dont think its gone through

I'd check to see if the Unitarians would allow anyone else perform a marriage ceremony in their churches.

The Unitarians would be worth talking to though as they will perform a super ceremony. I know because they did mine.

tinkerbell

lowly26 wrote: »

if your willing to compromise a little bit you can get married in a church with out having mass. you will still have to have the marriage sacrament tho but no readings, prayers of the faithfull, comunion etc.

The "mass part" is the Liturgy of the Eucharist section but you still have the rest - not sure where you got that info from but it's not correct. For a catholic ceremony without communion it goes as follows:

- readings (first, 2nd, gloria, gospel)
- marriage vows
- prayers of faithful
- nuptial blessing
- reflection

eyescreamcone

lowly26 wrote: »

if your willing to compromise a little bit you can get married in a church with out having mass. you will still have to have the marriage sacrament tho but no readings, prayers of the faithfull, comunion etc.

our priest told us that it is possible to do it this way as i am not big on the organised religon thing but my partner wanted to have a church wedding. it didnt bother me either way so i went with him on this, but told the priest that i wouldnt take comunion on the alter and he told us about the fact tha marriage and mass are to different things and you can have one with out the other.

it might not be appealing to you but if you have your heart set on the idea og a church it might be worth a little compromise.

good luck finding a venue!!!:)

In my opinion it's a very big compromise to promise that you'll bring up any children as Catholics just because you like a building.
But each to their own!

lowly26

tinkerbell wrote: »

The "mass part" is the Liturgy of the Eucharist section but you still have the rest - not sure where you got that info from but it's not correct. For a catholic ceremony without communion it goes as follows:

- readings (first, 2nd, gloria, gospel)
- marriage vows
- prayers of faithful
- nuptial blessing
- reflection

thats how the priest explained it. if thats not correct then im sorry but thats the understanding that he left us with. i didnt mean to upset or offend

lowly26

eyescreamcone wrote: »

In my opinion it's a very big compromise to promise that you'll bring up any children as Catholics just because you like a building.
But each to their own!

yes it is a compromise, big or small depends on each persons different attitude toward religion. if you are totally against a religous ceromony then of course it is a big compromise but then if your like me and personally dont have much to do with church but maybe partner or children will be catholic or brought up in that religion in the future then is only a small compromise if you get me.

as you say each to their own i just thought i would suggest it in case it was an option to the op, and its is only that , just a suggestion.

tinkerbell

lowly26 wrote: »

thats how the priest explained it. if thats not correct then im sorry but thats the understanding that he left us with. i didnt mean to upset or offend

Ah no you didn't offend! that's strange that the priest said that, I'm not sure how that would work then coz the priest has to say the gospel, etc? Unless your priest allows the ceremony to just consist of the marriage vows bit? Strange

lazygal

Any non full mass wedding I've been to has been similar to what tinkerbell outlined. Usually lasted about 45 mins.

lowly26

tinkerbell wrote: »

Ah no you didn't offend! that's strange that the priest said that, I'm not sure how that would work then coz the priest has to say the gospel, etc? Unless your priest allows the ceremony to just consist of the marriage vows bit? Strange

yea i think we may have to pay him another visit and quick!!

lowly26

lazygal wrote: »

Any non full mass wedding I've been to has been similar to what tinkerbell outlined. Usually lasted about 45 mins.

well then he must not be including the readings and such because he told us it would last 15 min tops with out music

Stheno

lowly26 wrote: »

well then he must not be including the readings and such because he told us it would last 15 min tops with out music

This is where you can get the priest to do the legal stuff, and then have a church blessing, it is an option, but it's very rarely done. I was going to do this and after checking with the priest it was entirely possible, do the vows, have a blessing, and no readings or any such stuff.

lowly26

Stheno wrote: »

This is where you can get the priest to do the legal stuff, and then have a church blessing, it is an option, but it's very rarely done. I was going to do this and after checking with the priest it was entirely possible, do the vows, have a blessing, and no readings or any such stuff.

that must be it so! i may get the htb to ring him tomorrow and we may go see him over the weekend

pwurple

tinkerbell wrote: »

Ah no you didn't offend! that's strange that the priest said that, I'm not sure how that would work then coz the priest has to say the gospel, etc? Unless your priest allows the ceremony to just consist of the marriage vows bit? Strange

Not strange, or even particularly unusual. They are two seperate sacraments, eucharist and marriage. They don't have to happen at the same time. We didn't at ours.

ck83

I've been to a wedding that had no mass bit. Just the legal stuff. I don't remember how long it was, but it was quick!

tinkerbell

pwurple wrote: »

Not strange, or even particularly unusual. They are two seperate sacraments, eucharist and marriage. They don't have to happen at the same time. We didn't at ours.

You seem have misread my post! the Eucharist is the Mass part (even though people call the whole thing Mass). If you do not want the Eucharist included in your wedding, then you skip the whole Eucharist section. I said it was strange that the OP's priest said that they could have a ceremony with just the sacrament bit by itself with no first reading, gospel, etc. I don't think it works like that. If you want a ceremony with just the marriage vows then you need to get a civil ceremony done.

Corkbah

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Macreddin Chapel, on the grounds of Brooklodge Hotel, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow.

Chapel built recently by the hotel for weddings.

We had ours there in 2011 - ticked all the boxes.

OP just so you know its ...€125 per person plus extras (chair covers etc) ... we said we'd love to but ...no thanks !! (cant afford it)....

pwurple

tinkerbell wrote: »

You seem have misread my post! the Eucharist is the Mass part (even though people call the whole thing Mass). If you do not want the Eucharist included in your wedding, then you skip the whole Eucharist section. I said it was strange that the OP's priest said that they could have a ceremony with just the sacrament bit by itself with no first reading, gospel, etc. I don't think it works like that. If you want a ceremony with just the marriage vows then you need to get a civil ceremony done.

Sorry, but you are still wrong there. Our priest just did the marriage rites. No religious readings, no gospel etc.... You are misinforming the OP. They do not need a civil ceremony done as well as marriage vows. My goodness.

If the priest performs a marriage ceremony (and completes the forms) then they are married both in the eyes of the church, and legally. Their priest has told confirmed this, and there are a few of here who had been to weddings like this. There does not need to be any envelope of readings, or gospel, or communion, or anything at all. There can just be the marriage part. All are seperate and optional. You can add them in of course, and plenty of people do to make the ceremony longer. You can have extra readings, music, poems.. Anything really.

tinkerbell

pwurple wrote: »

Sorry, but you are still wrong there. Our priest just did the marriage rites. No religious readings, no gospel etc.... You are misinforming the OP. They do not need a civil ceremony done as well as marriage vows. My goodness.

If the priest performs a marriage ceremony (and completes the forms) then they are married both in the eyes of the church, and legally. Their priest has told confirmed this, and there are a few of here who had been to weddings like this. There does not need to be any envelope of readings, or gospel, or communion, or anything at all. There can just be the marriage part. All are seperate and optional. You can add them in of course, and plenty of people do to make the ceremony longer. You can have extra readings, music, poems.. Anything really.

My apologies, I didn't actually know that it was an option to just have the marriage rites, I thought it was either no mass (with readings etc) or with mass (communion etc).

I didn't say they needed to have a civil ceremony done as well as marriage vows. Because I did not know it was an option to just have the marriage rites done in a catholic wedding ceremony, my post said that if the OP just wanted a ceremony with vows only then a civil ceremony might suit them better than going the church route which included readings, etc.

If it is an option though to just do the marriage rites, then OP can do that.

ABajaninCork

It is the norm in the UK to just have the marriage service, and not a full Nuptial Mass. When my friends came over for our wedding, they found it odd that we had a Nuptial Mass.

Peregrinus

In the Catholic church, the rite for celebrating marriage without a mass, and the rite for celebrating marriage between a Catholic and an unbaptised person, both include scripture readings - Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, Gospel. Nevertheless, with reasonable dispatch, the whole thing can be got through in about 20 minutes. But it can take a lot longer if you include music, an address by the priest, or additional prayers or other elements devised by the couple. For comparison, Anglican and Presbyterian wedding services, which typically also include scripture readings, usually run for 15 to 20 minutes.

There may be Catholic priests who are willing to dispense with the scripture readings, but I don't think that's usual.

Cailleachdubh

I think you can do your civil ceremony in the Unitarian Church in Cork City (North Main St?). It was on Don't Tell the Bride last year (the couple that had their ceremony on Sherkin Island). Also, the fabulous Christ Church & Triskel Arts Centre is now a venue for civil ceremonies, which would be amazing I think.

I presume you're Cork-based from the Guagán Barra reference!

sallysaucer101

Corkbah wrote: »

OP just so you know its ...€125 per person plus extras (chair covers etc) ... we said we'd love to but ...no thanks !! (cant afford it)....

The highest priced package in Brooklodge is €125 per person but the includes every thing. They do have other packages that can start from €88 per person but they will do up special tailor made packages too. Chair covers are included in the price! Have a look at the brochure any way... No harm!

eyescreamcone

Cailleachdubh wrote: »

I think you can do your civil ceremony in the Unitarian Church in Cork City (North Main St?). It was on Don't Tell the Bride last year (the couple that had their ceremony on Sherkin Island). Also, the fabulous Christ Church & Triskel Arts Centre is now a venue for civil ceremonies, which would be amazing I think.

I presume you're Cork-based from the Guagán Barra reference!

The Unitarian Church in Cork is on Princes Street.
It's the oldest surviving building in the city I believe.

The church on North Main Street is the Cork Vision Centre @ St. Peters.

Lazarus Malrax

clio_16v wrote: »

Is it possible to have a civil ceremony in a church? I dont want a religious wedding but like the idea of getting married somewhere like Gougane Barra or somewhere like that

Somebody mentioned the Triskel already - it looks like it could fit your needs.
http://triskelartscentre.ie/weddings-at-christchurch/