Your Legal Marriage Ceremony in Ireland
How to Get Legally Married in Ireland
A legal wedding ceremony is a real wedding with a Registered Solemniser of Marriages as your Celebrant. A non-legal wedding ceremony is a symbolic, simulated wedding which doesn’t include the legal parts to make it a legal marriage. Usually the reason for this is because the Celebrant isn’t reigstered to conduct legal marriages, or the couple may live overseas and already got married in their country of residence.
This practice of symbolic, non-legal wedding ceremonies is still common in parts of Europe where a legal marriage can only ever be conducted at a government registry office. Ireland has well and truly moved on from this practice now.
A Legal Marriage in Ireland can only ever be conducted by a Celebrant who is registered to solemnise a marriage and is therefore duly authorised by the State to conduct legal marriage ceremonies.
There are 4 types of Celebrants in Ireland who are registered to solemnise legal marriages. There are thousands of Registered Marriage Solemnisers in Ireland, there is definitely no shortage. Their name, address and contact details can be found on the officlal Register of Solemnisers, published online monthly by the government.
If you wish to be legally married in Ireland you must first decide what type of Officiant/Celebrant you want, based on your own beliefs and wishes.
The 4 types of Officiants/Celebrants in Ireland who are registered to Solemnise a Legal Marriage are:
Church Ceremony
- By a Priest or Clergy at their own Church
Non-Church Ceremony
There are 3 types of non-church legal marriage ceremonies possible in Ireland:
- A marriage by a HSE Registrar employed by the Registry Office/Civil Registration Office
- A marriage by a Secular celebrant without any belief in God. For example Humanists fall into this category, and their ceremonies include information about the Humanist organisation and their beliefs as part of the ceremony introduction.
- A Spiritual Celebrant to conduct any style of ceremony according to your wishes. This is the type of celebrant which has the most flexibility with your ceremony options, where the ceremony can be conducted in any venue of your choice. The ceremony is designed to be all about you and your beliefs no matter what they are, without any mention of the beliefs of an organisation..
Enchanted Ceremonies falls in category 3 which is the best choice for couples wishing to have a unique personalised ceremony created and conducted to their own wishes and beliefs, where your ceremony is all about you.
With an Enchanted Ceremonies Celebrant or Minister to officiate your marriage, you will always book directly with your Celebrant, which always gives you the most flexibility with your ceremony options.
You will find all the contact details for our expert Celebrants & Ministers on Our Team page.
What is a Civil Ceremony?
A Civil Ceremony here in Ireland is another name for a Registry Office marriage, because the official name for the Registry Office is the Civil Registration Office, and the full job title of the HSE staff member who conducts a Registry Office marriage, is “HSE Civil Registrar”.
There is a lot of confusion about this as there are so many unregistered Celebrants in Ireland who are deceiving the public in order to get bookings, calling themselves Civil Celebrants and claiming to conduct Civil Ceremonies, when actually they aren’t, and they don’t. The only person legally permitted to conduct a Civil Marriage Ceremony in Ireland is a HSE Civil Registrar.
I have some great news, Enchanted Ceremonies is that organisation, you have found the right place!
Who Can Marry You in Ireland ?
Here in Ireland the Marriage Act requires that for a marriage to be considered a legal marriage, the ceremony must be Solemnised (Officiated & Witnessed) by an authorised individual known as a Registered Solemniser of Marriages.
Solemnisers are Registered by the government, at the request of the registered organisations which they belong to. Typically in days of old, these organisations have been Churches, and up until not too long ago when members of the Humanist Association of Ireland became Registered to conduct Secular marriages, couples had two choices for marriage, a Church or the Registry Office.
The great thing for modern couples getting married in Ireland is there is now a mix of Secular, Interfaith and Mixed Faith organisations and Solemnisers which gives couples a great choice of the type of marriage ceremony they can have.
Only a Celebrant who is duly authorised by the HSE and listed on the government “Register of Solemnisers” can conduct a legal marriage ceremony in Ireland.
All of our Celebrants &. Ministers are Registered Solemnisers and duly authorised to conduct legal marriage in the Republic of Ireland and many are also Registered to conduct legal marriages in Northern Ireland.
According to the Marriage Act of Ireland, there are 3 types of Marriages:
- Civil
- Religious – a Church or other organisation with Spirtual beliefs, including a belief in a Supreme being, or Highest God.
- Secular – a non-Church organisation without a belief in a Supreme being.
Enchanted Ceremonies Celebrants & Solemnisers conduct non-Religious ceremonies but have the freedom to include the couples beliefs what ever that may be. This means you can also have a Humanist style ceremony without any spirituality. Or a Spiritual Ceremony incorporating elements from any faith, or you can have a Spiritual Ceremony with a Religious feel and mention God, Holy Spirit, The Divine in your ceremony as you wish.
Our ceremonies are conducted in the Earth Spiritualist tradition which means there are no restrictions on the wording or style of your ceremony, your ceremony is not bound by the rules of any Religion. Which means your ceremony is always created to suit your own wishes and style, whatever that may be.
Where Can You Be Married in Ireland ?
You can be married on land at any place which is generally open to the public “without hindrance” and has an identifiable address, which means it must have a habitable building which is also open to the public and a postal address.
The building must also have a separate room, where the ceremony can be conducted away from the public in a dignified manner, except in the case where the venue is hired out for the purpose of the wedding without any public access for the duration.
Which means there are certain places which are not permitted, for example you are not permitted to be legally married on a private property, on the water while on a boat, or in the water or underwater, while in the sky either in an aircraft including a hot air balloon, or while parachuting, you must be on dry land.
Does a Wedding Venue Need to be HSE Approved?
There is a great deal of confusion regarding the HSE approval process for a wedding venue, including wedding venues misleading the public by advertising as “HSE Approved” which is incorrect.
For Religious/Secular marriages such as those conducted by our Celebrants & Ministers, it is not necessary for a wedding venue to have HSE approval. It is the responsiblity of the Marriage Solemniser to determine if the venue meets the requirements of the Marriage Act so that the marriage will be a valid marriage.
The HSE marriage venue approval process exists purely for the requirements of a Civil Ceremony, ie. where the marriage ceremony will be conducted by a Civil Registrar employed by the HSE, who must inspect the venue prior to each marriage ceremony conducted.
The purpose of inspection is firstly to ensure that the venue satisfies the requirements of the Marriage Act (for that ceremony only), and also that the venue satisfies the requirements for workplace safety and public amenity. This inspection is carried out for each marriage ceremony requested, and does not give any official “HSE approval” status to a wedding venue.
What is the Legal Process to be Married in Ireland ?
You must lodge a “Notification of Intention to Marry” with the HSE at least 3 months before your wedding date and no more than 12 months before. This must be done by booking an appointment with your choice of HSE office.
You must print and take with you the Capture of Data Form. You will find the link to this form at the top right of this page.
