Steps required to get married in a church in Ireland
I’m getting married this day 6 weeks and having gone through all the legal and church requirements, there’s quite a lot and not a definitive list anywhere, so here goes:
1) Attend a pre-marriage course (We did ours in All Hallows College fee is €150), you will receive a certificate.
2) Register the marriage with the births, deaths and marriages department in the HSE (HSE fee €150). You will need copies of your birth certificates, details of bridal party and bring your passports with you. You will receive a legal document to be signed on the wedding day
2a) If your priest is from abroad or not a regular parish priest, you will have to ensure that he is a registered solemniser
3) Got to the church where you were christened and get a new copy of your baptismal cert
4) Go to the church where you were confirmed and get a new copy of your cinfirmation certificate
5) Go to EACH parish that you have lived in since you were 18 and get a “letter of freedom to marry”
6) Go to your local parish priest, presenting the letter and certificates above, as well as a photocopy of the certificate you got form the pre-marriage course
7) Your local parish priest will then complete a “Pre-Nuptial Enquiry” document with you and (if necessary) send all the documents to the church in which you are actually getting married in.
More details are here
on April 28th, 2010 at 6:12 am
Wow. What a pita. They insist you have to get married inside a church for a catholic marriage, but we wanted outside, so we decided not to do the whole church thing. 15 minutes in the county offices and a $60 marriage license fee is all that we had to spend and we can get married