Wedding in our Garden

Hi All,

My fiancee and I are planning on getting married next summer in the garden of her parents house.
We had hoped to get the register to come to us to perform the civil ceremony, however when I rang the Registar in Cork they had no news about this and were unable to say when this proposed change to the legislation will take place.

Would anybody have any idea of when this is likely to happen, or have any information about possible alternatives ( I remember reading something in the Irish Times weekend supplement about weddings ' off - site ' during the past year. )
Thanks,
Boots

I thought that the legislation allowing couples to marry in locations other than a registry office had been brought in a year or more ago but I can't find anything authoritative on this on the or GRO websites.

AFAIK the legilation has not been changed to allow you marry anywhere but a church or the registry office, as of yet. However, why don't you get married in the registry office with two witnesses maybe a day or two before you have your event in your garden. Then have a ceremony in the garden and maybe get someone to perfom some kind of good luck ceremony or something of that nature (ie. a blessing, if that suits you!) Have a great day either way!

Could you start your own religion and declare your garden a place of worship?

The law hasn't been changed yet and afaik it has been in the pipeline for some time now. If you log on to the dicussion forums at www.weddingsonline.ie you'll get some advise/suggestions for your ceremony from the posters there.

I stand corrected so. I thought that it had come in soon after myself and the missus got hitched a few years ago.

The confusion arose, because a committe who were asked to look at the law reported a number of conclusions a few years ago, including a recommendation
that the locations for weddings be loosened. The government accepted the principle of the recommendation, but the lawhas not yet been changed,
The number of registrars has to increase a lot as well, as it currently takes
15 minutes to get married, if the registrar has to go to an outside location,
it will take a few hours.