registry office wedding??

RuasMum

Hi,

So myself and my partner are hoping to get married early next year, what we need to know is can it be done?

We want only ourselves and our little boy present, we want it very personal and intimate, and we aren't opposed to a registry office wedding so does anyone know what the registry office is like, is it grand and pretty enough for a wedding and where is it in Dublin??

Any ideas on a lovely private lunch/dinner near the registry office would be welcome too...

andreac

I could be wrong but I think you need 2 witnesses so you will prob need 2 adults as well as your little boy.

Stheno

andreac wrote: »

I could be wrong but I think you need 2 witnesses so you will prob need 2 adults as well as your little boy.

Yeah you need two witnesses

pooch90

You will need two witnesses and to give your notice of intent at least three months in advance. You will only be able to get married Mon-Fri during office hours. Not sure about the set up in Dublin registry offices but they may already be booked out.

RuasMum

Yes we will need two witnesses, we weren't worrying about that for now as some hotels said they could sort that out for us, but we're exploring all options and wanted advice about the registary office and if it is an actual office as I am hoping for a little room at least??

Anyone any first hand experience with registry offices either a bride/groom or guest??

PhoenixParker

The registry office in Dublin is quite nice. Not amazing but they've made some effort. It's a little like a fancy lecture theatre with big comfy chairs in rows, a desk at the bottom and a few nice paintings on the wall. It's in Patrick dunns hospital, nearish grand canal dock.

If you google image search "Dublin registry office" you'll see a few pics.

RuasMum

Thanks Pheonixparker that gives me the vote of confidence I needed :-)

Would anyone else agree with him??

strandroad

I was there as a guest and I found it to be quite grim... but it was raining and darkish! You can just walk in and have a peek inside, there's a waiting area outside the hall.

RuasMum

Oh! It will probably be grim the day we get married as we are going for early 2016 hopefully no later than March, so chances are the weather won't behave :-(

Do you know can you have music that might soften the blow!!

strandroad

RuasMum wrote: »

Oh! It will probably be grim the day we get married as we are going for early 2016 hopefully no later than March, so chances are the weather won't behave :-(

Do you know can you have music that might soften the blow!!

Yes you can! And the registrar was very nice herself.
It's probably better with a smaller party, ours was quite large as was the one before us so the lobby was packed...

lazygal

We got married there. It's okay nothing that "pretty" about it. It's very lecture theatre style but I wasn't too worried as we got married with just our parents. Ten minutes, job done.

RuasMum

lazygal wrote: »

We got married there. It's okay nothing that "pretty" about it. It's very lecture theatre style but I wasn't too worried as we got married with just our parents. Ten minutes, job done.

wow ten minutes seems a bit unfair doesn't it it

RuasMum

lazygal wrote: »

We got married there. It's okay nothing that "pretty" about it. It's very lecture theatre style but I wasn't too worried as we got married with just our parents. Ten minutes, job done.

wow ten minutes seems a bit unfair doesn't it, I'd love a half hour at least but I suppose what needs to be done and said can be done in 10 mins!!

to be honest I didn't even think about how long it would take, just the artifical decor for photos etc... Could you get p photos taken there??

eviltwin

RuasMum wrote: »

wow ten minutes seems a bit unfair doesn't it it

It's great, no boring readings or lectures about marriage...we stretched ours out to about 15mins, in and out and onto the party

lazygal

RuasMum wrote: »

wow ten minutes seems a bit unfair doesn't it, I'd love a half hour at least but I suppose what needs to be done and said can be done in 10 mins!!

to be honest I didn't even think about how long it would take, just the artifical decor for photos etc... Could you get p photos taken there??

Of course! The civil partnership before ours was really full on. We didn't bother with any fancy stuff as we just wanted the legal stuff done. Tbh after it I was half regretting having organised the big day the following week.

MistyCheese

I can show you a pic of the room where we got married. I don't know how much help it'll be to you though, it's the registry office in Tullamore

RuasMum

Thank you MistyCheese that's great it gives me a visual now before I really didn't know what to think, I like the way that room is very intimate and they've got flowers too!!

MistyCheese

Happy to help, enjoy your planning.

lainey316

There was a nice show on RTE a while back about the registry office, they all seemed lovely people and very caring about their jobs.

There are other places you could look into if you wanted something a bit fancier, the National Gallery does weddings for example.

PhoenixParker

On the music front there's a CD player you can use to play music and the registrar tells you when you can. Make sure whoever you nominate to play the music spends ten minutes working out how it works first. There should be time while yourself and hubby to be meet with the registrar prior to the actual ceremony. My sister got confused, then the registrar jumped up to help her out, as a result our video is hilarious but it did feel a little too informal at the time.

On the photos front, you can get some nice photos during the ceremony but for anything else I would go elsewhere. We used Merrion Square (you get a permit for free from the council) and down by the canal. We were delighted with how they came out.

On the ceremony length front. Ours was 10 minutes too, but there is scope to extend it a bit. Each slot is half an hour I think and you can add your own vows, readings and a bit of music. We're not really the type to declare our undying love to each other without bursting out laughing so we just went with the pre-written ones. There are a few bits to it, so it doesn't feel that short anyway.

MeAuldSegotia

We had a small family wedding - about 20 of us in the registry office.
It's not plush or intimate but it's fine white walls so a bit stark, a few rows of blue seat- as a few others have said like a small lecture theatre with a few pictures on the walls etc.
The registrar was really lovely and took a group photo for us little things like that.
You can play your own music on the day.
We went to Dobbins for lunch afterwards they have a private room upstairs and it was lovely. There a lots of places - we chose there as the room size was good and they could cater for my mad families various dietary requirements:-)
Other places we looked at were one pico, le'ecrivan.
In terms of photos we kinda forgot to get some once we left reg office but I would second getting some outdoors somewhere nice.
You can have the ceremony in another venue and arrange for the registrar to go to you but we were going for a stress and hassle free affair and it was great.
Best of luck and enjoy.

Stheno

RuasMum wrote: »

Thank you MistyCheese that's great it gives me a visual now before I really didn't know what to think, I like the way that room is very intimate and they've got flowers too!!

Dublin registry office is much bigger than that I'd say it seats about sixty

I was there recently at a wedding with about twenty guests and it felt a bit empty

ElleEm

lazygal wrote: »

We got married there. It's okay nothing that "pretty" about it. It's very lecture theatre style but I wasn't too worried as we got married with just our parents. Ten minutes, job done.

Myself and my partner are doing that too, legal bit with just our parents and a personal ceremoney and reception the following day.

Ruby31

We got married at Grand Canal Registry Office. We're together YEARS and have two kids, so we wanted a straightforward fuss-free day.

As others have said, the staff there are great from the lady we met in the Lombard Street office to register intent to marry, to the guy at the desk in Grand Canal to the Registrar herself. All lovely and helpful.

Your ceremony can be basic and by the book, or you can flesh it out as we did by having our children play a bit of music and two relations reading poems. We also had music for signing the register & another for our exit!

There's lots of restaurants with private dining rooms. Our private room was in a hotel near where we live and the hire of the room as only €100 and that was to cover decorating and they had it SO beautiful!

My friend had their wedding meal in Chapter One and she was raving about it.

Best of luck with it all!

RuasMum

I'm so glad I came to this post because I didn't realise there were more posts that I didn't see so thank you for taking the time to give me advice all of you!!

And I know this is an old post but just incase others are stuck in the same boat, we went to have a look at the registry office yesterday and it is so perfect, for the small intimate weddings it ticks all the boxes!!!

I can't wait for my small big day!!