Booking Wedding This November, Steps to Proceed Please??

ShaShaBear

Okay, myself and OH are planning to book our wedding this November, to take place the following November. We have decided on our venue, which has been approved recently and regularly for civil weddings. We have a date decided that we would most prefer, but any date in November is acceptable, really.

We know we have to go to the HSE in our venue location to organise this, but where I am confused is who do I go to first, and what should I come out with after each meeting? I've a couple of questions for all you experienced lovebirds based on what I can understand from online:

When do I book an appointment to go to the Registrar's Office?
I heard that you should book quickly, because it can take weeks to hear from them. Is that area specific? I'm applying in Louth (presumably Dundalk as my venue is in Readypenny).

What exactly should I have before I book this appointment?
I know we both need a passport (and copy of each) as well as both of our birth certificates. I know we need to give the names of our witnesses and their date of birth (Do I need proof that they are both over 18?) and we need to give our chosen solemniser (we have absolutely no preference, so do we let them choose?). I also know we need the €200. Will I need anything else?

I have a British birth certificate - will I need an apostille stamp, and if so how do I go about getting it?
Some have told me that they are very lenient with British birth certificates, others have said they had to get it anyway. I want to be utterly prepared.

Will the above meeting with the Registrar's office be the only one we will need to make?
This is where I am lost. We are having a non-religious ceremony, and I can't tell from the site if this appointment where we supply the money and forms will be the only one we will need to make. After all, we need to book a date with both the venue and the Registrar's Office, and we presumably need to make them separately. Will I have to make a second appointment with the office to give them my venue date, should I have a date booked with the venue before this meeting in the office, or should I book a date with the office and then supply this to the venue and hope they have it available?

Is that everything done for the ceremony?
Will I have further dealings with the Registrar's Office/Solemniser before my date? Or will all further dealings be with my venue?


Thanks so much for reading, hopefully I've made my questions clear! We need to order passports in the next week or two, so I want to order any other forms we might need to proceed!

January

Ring the HSE and find which dates are available for November 2014 and then ring venue and find out if any of those dates are available. Provisionally book with venue and then ring HSE and get them to take note of date and make appointment to confirm date.

Other than that I can't offer much advice. HSE was booked for my date but I've managed to find a solmoniser to perform the ceremony.

ShaShaBear

January wrote: »

Ring the HSE and find which dates are available for November 2014 and then ring venue and find out if any of those dates are available. Provisionally book with venue and then ring HSE and get them to take note of date and make appointment to confirm date.

Other than that I can't offer much advice. HSE was booked for my date but I've managed to find a solmoniser to perform the ceremony.

Oh, I didn't know I could do that - that takes a lot of the pressure off! We're not fussy on the date and realistically can be flexible with the month, but I just could not figure out who to book with first!

How much does a venue normally charge for a provisional booking?

January

They don't usually... we provisionally booked with our hotel and payed the deposit a week later but they would have waited up to three weeks.

grainuaile

What I did was decide on the venue but didn't book it, then we knew which registrars office we needed to talk to (it was Sligo). So I called them and asked all the questions, they were so easy going. They gave me a list of dates they had available in the month I wanted (i'm sure you know this but just in case, they only do the solemnising themselves mon-fri 9-5, so if you want a wknd wedding you need to arrange a humanist or other solemniser) So I went back to the venue, checked their availability against the registrars, picked one and booked. They would have kept the date provisionally for 3wks for me if I hadn't had the deposit on me btw.
Anyway rang registrar to book the date, they took note of it and sent out an info pack and copy of all the forms we'll have to fill out. But they said there's no panic making the appt in the office as long as its more than three mths before the wedding. I haven't had to pay them anything at all yet, not till we go down to them. Bear in mind on top of the €200 they will charge an hourly rate for the registrar to perform the ceremony (they take the piss a small bit here, €50/hr and charging us for 3 hours, can't see it will take her that long) plus a small mileage charge - our venues not far from Sligo town so that's just working out less than €20.
The guy I spoke to in Sligo was so so helpful and explained everything clearly. In Sligo they have two registrars so its a bit easier to get a date, Louth may just have the one.

sanna

For the British Birth cert is has to have the anpostille stamp. Doesnt take long providing you have given right info and have the right birth cert think mine was back in space of 2wks and that was with issues works out about €40ish i didnt do the DHL return as I thought I would have to get mine back.to send overagain so.didnt fancy paying it twice

lazygal

I would strongly advise not booking anything or paying any deposits until you have written confirmation of the solemniser date and time of ceremony.


You can put anyone down as a witness, once they are over 18, and this can be changed on the day of the ceremony itself.


There may be only certain slots available for off site ceremonies, and certain days (e.g. 12.30pm or 3pm on Thursdays and Fridays) so be prepared to be flexible. Your ceremony room must be open to the public, a permanent structure, wheelchair accessible and able to seat everyone in attendance.



There will also be an additional charge for time and mileage for offsite ceremonies, in addition to the 200 euro registration fee.


We were never asked for Apostille Stamps or anything like that, even though one of us was born outside Ireland.

ShaShaBear

Thanks everyone, I'm a lot more clear on how to proceed now! We really want to book in November, but it looks like I will need to start things rolling in October (which means less waiting for me!)