Witness at civil partnership ceremony

Casualcontrol1

My brother and his fiance have decided to have a civil ceremony in August with just immediate family,she is having her sister and he wants me (his sister) to be his witness. Obviously I will but is this allowed or going against tradition? I have no experience with weddings hence why im asking!Is it rare to have a female stand as a witness for a male?

Malari

No, not at all unusual! We both used our sisters as witnesses when we got married.

Speedwell

Oh, tradition is defined nowadays as "we did it that way last year too".

That said, twenty years ago when I married my second husband, my male best friend stood in as "honor guard" (as we called the male equivalent of "maid of honor"). I wouldn't have had anyone else. He looked sharp and took his role very seriously. I had plenty of bridesmaids to help me dress. He didn't have to walk up the aisle with anyone; we had all the attendants at the front of the church at the start. It's not difficult to arrange things if you take a little care.

Casualcontrol1

Thanks to you both, as I said I have only been to one wedding in my life so not sure of the norm! thanks

Malari

Casualcontrol1 wrote: »

Thanks to you both, as I said I have only been to one wedding in my life so not sure of the norm! thanks

Well, it's probably not the norm but you certainly won't be the first. ;-)

ElleEm

Thankfully, norms and traditions are fading. We had both our mothers as our witnesses.

Purple410

Goodness, I didn't even think what the tradition was. We're certainly not doing it the traditional way but the registrar signed orbit with no query. Go with what works for you.

Keane2baMused

Remember civil ceremonies are a relatively new phenomenon in this good aul Catholic Ireland. The majority went to the church and that was that.

There is no norm, just whatever suits

meeeeh

I'm not Irish so I've been to quite a few weddings where witnesses were the opposite gender. I was my brother's witness and his wife's brother was hers. They walked to the altar/registry together and we stood at the side.

lazygal

They need two witnesses. We had our mothers as ours.

SarahMollie

I don't think the gender of the witnesses matters at all, I really wouldnt worry.

They've obviously already decided against a big church wedding, so it seems to me like being a slave to tradition probably isnt their style.

stargazer 68

My future stepson is our best man but can't be a witness as he is under 18 so my daughter and my OH daughter are our witnesses!