Weddings

What you need to know and do

The priests of the parish wish you every blessing and happiness on the occasion of your forthcoming marriage. A wedding day is a very special celebration and we hope that the following information will be helpful to you.

What Needs To Be Done?

When making preparations there seems to be so much to do. Yet, with regard to the Church, things are usually pretty straightforward

Book The Church

It is advisable to book the Church as early as possible. You should telephone Marion at the Parish Office as soon as you have chosen the date of your wedding..

Preparation and Requirements

The Family Law Act 1995 requires couples to give a minimum of three months notice to the State of their intention to marry. Marion will advise you of the details at the time of booking the Church.. Without this notification it will not be possible to register your marriage in the State.. The required notification form for the Dublin area can be obtained by contacting:

Registrar of Marriages,
Room 1,
Joyce House,
8-11 Lombard Street East,
Dublin 2.
Phone: 6711863

Please note that the Church also requires requires a minimum of three months notice.

The next step is to book a pre-marriage course. Because of the numbers applying it is advisable not to leave this to the last minute. 'Accord' (The Catholic Dublin Diocesan Agency for Marriage) runs courses in a number of centres throughout the diocese. In the Dublin area, phone 4784400 (email: marriagepreparation@dublin.accord.ie) to book a course in the nearest centre to you. There is an Accord Centre in the Square Shopping Centre, Tallaght (Phone 4590337 during Office Hours).

There are also other pre-marriage courses e.g. 'Naomi' (16 North Great Georges Street : Phone 8786156) and one run by Fr. Pat Rogers in Mount argus. The courses take place either on a weekend (Friday night and all day Saturday) or spread out over a few weeks (One night a week).

Within six months of the wedding, it is time to gather the required Church documents. These include:

• A current Certificate of Baptism (not a state birth cert and not an old baptism cert). It is evidence both of your baptism and of your freedom to marry in the Catholic Church.. This is why it must be dated within six months of the wedding. This Certificate may be issued only by the Church in which you were baptised.
  
• A confirmation cert available from the Church in which you were confirmed.
  
• A Letter of Freedom: from every place in which you were domiciled for more than six months from the age of sixteen. If you lived abroad for a number of years, it may be necessary to get a sworn affividavit or a letter from your parents to vouch for the fact that you have never previously been married. The Letter of Freedom to Marry can be obtained from the priest of the parish in question.

When you have all these documents, arrange to meet your local priest who will fill out a Pre-Nuptial Enquiry Form which you must sign. All of these documents are then sent to the Church where the wedding is to take place.

The above applies to a marriage between two Catholics. For other circumstances, e.g. a mixed religion marriage, there are other requirements. Your local priest will be happy to guide you through these. If you live outside of Ireland but wish to be married in Ireland, you must give the State the same three months notice before the wedding can take place. Your Church papers will be sent by your local priest to his bishop's office from where they will be forwarded to the office of the bishop within whose diocese the wedding is to take place. He in turn will forward them to the priest of the parish where the wedding is to take place.

As regards planning the liturgy for the wedding, I recommend that you buy a book called 'A Wedding of your Own' by Padraig Mc Carthy which is published by Veritas. This book contains all the readings, wedding rites and prayers. There is even a checklist at the back to make sure that you have remembered everything from the readers to the flowers.

Flor Mc Carthy's Book 'Wedding Liturgies' (Dominican Press) contains just the readings and prayer of the Faithful but it does so under various themes. Another excellent preparation booklet is 'Your Wedding' published by the Dublin Repemptorist Publications in January 1998. It is advisable to read and plan the day.

A 'Papal Blessing', should you require one, may be ordered through Veritas Bookshop who have a number of outlets in Dublin and around the country. This would need to be done a few months prior to the wedding.

For information on getting married in Rome see the website for the Irish College in Rome www.irishcollege.org.

We do hope that you find this information useful and we wish you both every happiness and success in the future.

You will find more detailed information on getting married at the Jesuit website 'Getting Married' www.gettingmarried.ie.