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Irish Couples Marrying Abroad

Legal and Formal Requirements

The civil requirements for marriage abroad are not those of Irish law, but those of the country where the marriage takes place. Contact the relevant Embassy here in Dublin. [For embassies click here.] You may be asked for a Certificate of Nulla Osta, aka Certificate de Coutume issued by the Consular Section, Dept of Foreign Affairs / Phone [+353-1] 478-0822. Also see the website of the General Registry Office under the section "Getting Married".

The legal validity of your marriage is governed by the laws of the country where you marry. For civil purposes later, a marriage certificate issued in a foreign jurisdiction will be accepted in Ireland providing you also provide an official translation from a recognised agency. Having gotten married abroad, if you later need a copy of your marriage certificate, you can get one by contacting that country's Embassy.

In Ireland a marriage in church is also valid in civil law, but a religious wedding in a church abroad may not constitute a legal marriage in that country . If the religious ceremony has no civil, legal effect in the country where it occurs, neither will it have legal standing, back in Ireland.

 

Religious ceremony in one country,
and civil wedding in another?

For good reason, a couple might opt for a quiet civil ceremony here at home, with a more festive church wedding abroad, later. (If an Irish priest is travelling out to officiate at your wedding, as a guideline we suggest an honorarium of about Euro 500.00 for him, which will more than cover all his travel and accommodation costs. This is more gracious than asking him to submit a list of expenses later.) For a catholic wedding in another country, marriage documents must be sent from your home diocese to the bishop of the foreign diocese. Most foreign dioceses will require the documents to be sent at least two months before the wedding date. As soon as you have settled upon a church and date, find out what are the documentary requirements of the foreign parish priest, and set about fulfilling them!

Alternatively your civil marriage may take place abroad (in Spain, France, Italy or wherever), followed by a religious, sacramental wedding back in Ireland, if your local parish-priest gives consent for this in advance.

Bilingual wedding booklet ?

If the mother-tongues of bride and groom are different, a bilingual wedding booklet may be desirable, and can be prepared from texts elsewhere on this site.
If you should need a bilingual priest to help celebrate your wedding, you can enquire from 087-820-4156, or on the day of your course; we may be able to help you to find one.

What use is a wedding planner?

The service may not come cheap, but many couples planning their wedding abroad find it worthwhile to engage a wedding planner to deal with many of the details, to liaise with the local priest (if he does not speak English), hotel, florist, photographer, musicians etc. These services can be found on the internet, by a simple search that conjoins the phrase " wedding-planner " with the name of the area : Tuscany, Catalonia, Prague, Dubrovnik, Krakow, etc.

Entrust some aspects of the ceremony to your wedding planners - as well as arranging for the reception. For instance:

  1. . Getting to the church by car : the wedding planner should ensure that (for the bride's arrival at least) the church is reachable by car; and tell the driver the exact route to be taken (this can avoid the need for her to walk the final ten minutes, possibly in the rain, because of one-way or No-Entry regulations!)
  2. Contacting the local parish-priest : The wedding planner should find out whether there are any local rules or prohibitions to be observed concerning the ceremony, which might be different from the modern practice back in Ireland.
  3. Contacting the celebrant : If the celebrant is coming from abroad, the wedding planner should phone him in advance, to discuss any details he may want arranged with the local church.
  4. Wedding booklets : The wedding planner should be entrusted with ensuring that your wedding booklets are brought to the church in good time for the ceremony, to be given to your guests as they arrive.
  5. Being there for the church ceremony : The wedding planner should be present in the church at least ten minutes before the ceremony, to liaise between the visiting priest and the sacristan and organist, about any last-minute details to be agreed. He/she should also be there at the end, to ensure that the guests know the way to the reception, if this is other than the hotel where they have been staying.

If your wedding planner clearly takes these points on board, it will minimise the danger of your ceremony being marred by confusion and red-tape!