Beautifully restored to its original architectural splendour, City Hall is one of the most stylish wedding venues in Dublin. It is an ideal place to gather together, to create memories and celebrate perfect moments.
Dublin City Hall, with its elegant eighteenth century architecture, is one of the most unique wedding venues in Ireland. Offering couples a glorious and historic location to celebrate their journey together. The team of dedicated and experienced staff at Dublin City Hall, provide couples with expert guidance in each step of the preparations for their big day.
As a wedding venue, Dublin City Hall is bound by the Civil Registration Service’s regulations relating to the Approval of Venues for the Solemnisation of Civil Marriage, which means onlylegal marriage ceremoniesare permitted at Dublin City Hall.
(Source: Dublin City Hall website)
It’s official – you can “Tie the Knot” at Dublin City hall with me as your non-denominational Holistic Minister & Celebrant. I am authorised and HSE registered to solemnise marriage at Dublin City Hall.
Ceremonies Created with Kindness
As a respected member of the non-denominational Earth Spiritualist Foundation, with a philosophy based on kindness, your unique & personalised marriage ceremony will be created & conducted in the “Earth Spiritualist Tradition” – the culture and ancient tradition of Ireland, based on kindness to others and all living things.
This means that aside from specific requirements (and wording) of the Marriage Act, there will only be one rule to follow regarding the design of your legal marriage ceremony at Dublin City Hall – and that rule is Kindness. This means first and foremost – kindness to you as my No.1 VIP. Your unique & special marriage ceremony will be all about you – a beautiful ceremony designed and personalised to your own beliefs and wishes, what ever that may be.
Your Own Unique Ceremony Style
Just like no two couples getting married are the same, no two enchanted ceremonies I create are ever the same. Your enchanted ceremony at Dublin City Hall will be as unique & special as you are, designed & created to suit your own beliefs and wishes. With me as your Celebrant & Solemniser, I will work with you to discover your own ceremony style to create a unique & special one of a kind marriage ceremony, especially for you.
Your unique ceremony style can be any style or combination including:
Non-Religious & non-Spiritual – if you choose this style there will be no mention of anything spiritual or unseen during your ceremony, and no mention of any ideas or beliefs that come from somebody else unless you have specifically requested this.
Spiritual ceremony – if you are spiritual, you can include spiritual wording of your choice during your ceremony such as welcomin departed loved ones in the ceremony introduction where everyone is being welcomed, so they can be with you watching down with great love and pride for you both
Spiritual with Religious Feel – if you are very Spiritual and also Religious in your faith, you can go one step further and include prayers and/or mention our Highest God in one or two appropriate places, to make your ceremony more Spiritual for you both.
Mixed Faith – if you are both from different countries and different cultural backgrounds and traditions, you may wish to include ideas and traditions from your own culture to create a ceremony uniquely yours. You may wish to ask your choice of Holy person or Spiritual Elder from your own faith and culture to say some special words as part of your ceremony, or if they are not able to attend your ceremony for any reason, you may wish to ask them to write some special words for you both which can be read out on their behalf as part of your legal marriage ceremony at Dublin City Hall.
Unique & Special Marriage Ceremony
When you choose me as your Solemniser & Celebrant for your legal marriage ceremony at Dublin City Hall you can be assured that I will be kind and courteous with the utmost respect to your wishes at all times. This includes that I am required to follow a professional Code of Conduct regarding my dignified standard of dress.
Not only will I dress in a professional manner appropriate to my official role, I will also ask what colors your bridal party will be wearing, so I can avoid wearing the same color. As your Solemniser I will also ask your permission to wear my chosen color(s) to ensure there is no dreadful surprise on your big day with the colors I wear. There will be no bright colors such as a hot pink jacket (or outfit) worn by me disrespectfully without your permission or request. I won’t ever wear bright colors unless you request it, except for adding a splash of color with a neck scarf with your permission, and it most certainly will not be hot pink.
As a Solemniser from Enchanted Ceremonies and Earth Spiritualist Foundation, I will always have your wishes as my No.1 priority all times – you are my VIP which means I will do my utmost to ensure your ceremony is everything you wish it to be. As unique & special as you are, a beautiful ceremony designed and created with kindness, to suit your own beliefs and wishes perfectly – because I know you deserve the best for your special day!
The cost of a Celebrant in Ireland varies greatly for many reasons. Factors which may affect the cost of a Celebrant in Ireland include:
the type and style of ceremony you choose
travel distance to the ceremony venue
what is included as standard, and what can be added for extra cost
how competent, experienced (and in demand) the Celebrant is
how much the Celebrant must charge in order to pay their bills
If Celebrancy is a sideline or hobby to a regular paying job – their fee may be less
If Celebrancy is a sideline to a much higher paying career role – their fee may be more
For me, Celebrancy isn’t a career, it’s a vocation,. My role as your Celebrant isn’t a performance, I’m never acting or pretending. The beautiful unique & personalised ceremonies I create & conduct are real weddings, and yes you can include the legal parts if you wish, without any need to attend a HSE Civil Registration Office on a different day with your witnesses for a Registry Office marriage.
I am an expert in the art of ceremony & celebration. No matter what style of ceremony I am requested to create & conduct, I am always honoured to be part of such a special day in people’s lives.
With over 25+ years experience in the art of ceremony & celebration, I know what an important decision it is to choose your Celebrant. I also know how everyone has different needs for their ceremony. So I have developed a range of VIP Packages to assist you in choosing a package which best suits your needs.
With every ceremony I create & conduct, you are my VIP.
Special days are made by special people .. and you are one of them Sharon.Thank-you so much for helping to create a wonderful day that we’ll never forget..how you told our story was romantic, funny and just magical. Thank-you. GN (the groom) Legal Marriage Maryborough Woods Hotel Cork City
In my homeland Australia it’s not unusual for Civil Marriage Celebrants to conduct 2, 3 or even 4 or more personalised and unique ceremonies in the same day, especially on weekends. When I get to conduct more than 1 ceremony in the same day here in Ireland, I am absolutely thrilled with the extra excitement it brings to the day!
Others claim to have a 1 ceremony per day policy for all ceremonies they “perform” – so they can “ensure your ceremony has their full attention”. This implies that others (like myself) who won’t hesitate to conduct more than 1 ceremony a day, won’t be capable of providing their full attention.
This claim is false and misleading on so many levels.
Here’s a couple of good questions to ask yourself about a Celebrant who makes such claims:
Would you ever trust a hairdresser who won’t book more than one client per day because if they did, they wouldn’t be able to give each client the full attention they deserve ? Or book your car into a motor mechanic who will only ever book one car per day because if they book more than one car per day, they won’t be able to give each car the attention it deserves? Does that sound like a suitably experienced professional who is able to stay focused enough to deal confidently and competently with the unexpected should it arise on your big day? I didn’t think so.
The mostexperienced and capable Celebrants (like myself and many others) won’t hesitate to conduct more than 1 ceremony a day if requested. Of course I do have certain criteria like they must be within 15 minutes drive and at least 3 hours apart. I have conduct ceremonies at 11am and 2pm, 12 noon and 3pm, 1pm and 4pm and so forth on the same day, each with my utmost attention and focus.
If you prefer that I don’t book any other ceremonies on your special day for any reason at all – that’s not a problem. You can choose my Exclusive VIP option – which guarantees that I won’t conduct any other ceremonies on your big day, guaranteed!
Many ceremonies I conduct will naturally fall into this category anyway due to their country location, or being on a weekend day, ie. when there is more traffic on the roads making it not at all ideal for more than one ceremony per day.
I don’t “perform” ceremonies, I conduct them. To me your ceremony is never a performance, to me it’s never about acting on a stage. To me your ceremony is real and authentic, a role which is so fundamentally missing from modern society, who have so drastically turned away from Religion and spirituality on such a vast scale.
Despite the many reasons this cultural shift is happening, what Religion did for ceremony is that it preserved a certain level of authenticity and dignity by turning a ceremony into a spectacular community and cultural event. When Religious ceremony is done well and with true honour and dignity held by a wonderful facilitator (and there are/were plenty of good ones!) Religion kept the Spirit and magic and the true art of ceremony alive!
For a ceremony without the Spirit and magic of celebration, is nothing more than a speech.
Now society is going full circle with the return of the art of ceremony to its native roots – where the ceremony was never defined by doctrines of a Religion, but was instead defined by the wishes and beliefs of the couple to give them good luck and a wonderful start and help to ensure their successful future together.
Celebrancy remains an essential community skill which is all about capturing the true Spirit and character of the couple and creating the special magic of the moment for them and their guests in the celebration of their new lives together.
No matter what kind of ceremony I create & conduct, the smiles at the conclusion of the ceremony is what makes all my efforts worthwhile,
With over 30 years experience in the art of ceremony – I have the expertise and experience you need to ensure your ceremony exceeds your expectations.
This is one of those questions which can have a different answer depending on which expert you ask. As a former College Lecturer I am confident I can explain the answer in a generic kind of way, I’ll do my best to keep it as short and simple as possible!
If you don’t agree with my explanations – that’s wonderful too, as it shows you are a free-thinker proudly exercising your own free will to decide what you believe for yourself based on your own life experience and what you believe is right, rather than taking any advice and information provided to you by others.
At the very least you will have some more food for thought, and further understanding about what a Spiritual Ceremony means for the majority of people here in Ireland who have some form of Spiritual belief but who would not necessarily classify themselves as being Religious.
If we are to go back to basics and define ceremony into it’s most basic form, you would have two ceremony types:
Spiritual or
non-Spiritual
The reason I placed Spiritual first at No.1 is not that it is any more important than a non-Spiritual ceremony but that a Spiritual ceremony is believed to be the first and oldest form of ceremony which has existed since the oldest original of ancient times. Ancient times when the world was at peace and everyone lived in harmony with nature and the land with their creation stories, which became the blueprint for modern Spirituality as we know it.
The original reason for holding ceremony in such ancient times, was to create a Spiritual connection to the Divine Creator and bring about a Divine blessing for a certain intention and/or outcome to occur.
For example in ancient Ireland there were annual ceremonies on the Celtic Calendar celebrate the seasons and invoke a Divine blessing from the Creator for example for an abundant harvest of crops along with various blessings on the people and their lives at certain times of the year.
Many people around the world have revived those ancient traditions and they are celebrated to this day. Here in Ireland for many families and communities, those spiritual ceremonies of the Celtic Calendar never stopped and have continued since time began.
In the case of a marriage ceremony, the Spiritual intention of the original ancient marriage ceremony was to create a connection to the Divine Creator (or Great Spirit) in order to invoke a Divine blessing of good wishes for the couple and good luck for their marriage.
Whereas others here in Ireland and around the world, who don’t believe anything unseen or magical is possible will refer to ceremonial traditions simply as “superstitions” – and that’s OK too because in modern times we are all encouraged to have our own free will.
The abolition and hijacking of indigenous Spirituality which occurred during the Middle Ages when Religions were introduced, meant that indigenous Spirituality including ceremonies became an essential part of Religious doctrines, which required that ceremonies had to be conducted a certain way.
In the modern times we are in now going back full circle – people living in Ireland are no longer required to follow a Religion in order to exist in society. Instead people are encouraged to have their own free will and beliefs about what Spirituality and the meaning of life is for them.
Because of this we now see the wonderful introduction of the non-denominational and non-Religious legal marriage ceremonies, along with completely non-Spiritual ceremonies for those who don’t have any Religious beliefs or any belief in Spirituality of any kind. Along with mixed faith and unique personalised ceremonies to suit the couples own wishes.
So in a nutshell – a Spiritual ceremony is any non-Religious ceremony created to suit the free will and Spirituality of the couple, rather than the Spiritual beliefs and rules of a Religion.
In its most basic form – a Spiritual marriage ceremony is a non-Religious ceremony with Spiritual elements included to suit the beliefs and wishes of the couple. Most often departed loved ones are welcomed to the sacred space of the ceremony along with the wedding guests and made to feel very much part of the celebrations.
There may also be a memorial candle lit and placed either on the ceremony table itself or on a nearby smaller table placed to the side of the ceremony table. Any such memorial candle may also be accompanied by cherished photograph of the departed.
Depending on the wishes of the couple, a Spiritual ceremony can also be designed with a Religious feel. This can be done by including Religious elements of the couples choosing, which can also include mentioning God where appropriate – which can be really wonderful for a Religious family, where their adult children don’t wish to be married in a Church.
As a non-denominational Holistic Minster, I am not required to wear vestments or robes or be addressed with a Religious Title during a ceremony unless the couple request it. Every marriage ceremony I create and conduct is designed to be unique and special to suit the beliefs and wishes of the couple every time.
Not all Celebrants in Ireland are authorised to conduct legal marriages, and here’s why.
Here in Ireland there is an abundance of Celebrants who are HSE registered Marriage Solemnisers like myself and therefore duly authorised to conduct legal marriage ceremonies. However there is also a growing number of Celebrants who are not authorised to Solemnise legal marriages.
It’s very disturbing that some of the unauthorised Celebrants are using manipulative trickery in order to get their bookings from unsuspecting couples, like:
Using a misleading job title of “Registered Celebrant” to entice you to make contact with them.
Once you have contacted them, they will use more manipulative trickery like telling you that there is a shortage of Solemnisers so you won’t find one available on your wedding date because they are booked up for at least two years. (not true)
Or that if you choose a Registered Solemniser as your Celebrant your ceremony design will be restricted by the rules of the organisation the Solemniser belongs to. (partly true but very much depends which Solemniser you choose)
Some may tell you that to be legally married in Ireland with a unique & personalised non-Church ceremony, you must book them as your Celebrant for a non-legal wedding with your family & friends,, and “do the legals” with your witnesses in the Registry Office on a different day. (not true)
Every couple who wishes to get married in Ireland, must know the truth about their options for legal marriage in Ireland – only a Registered Solemniser can conduct a legal marriage.
There are 3 types of Celebrants who can legally marry you in Ireland:
Priest or Religious Clergy from a Religion or Religious Order, with or without a belief in God
HSE Civil Registrar from the Registry Office
Non-denominational Religious or Secular Solemnisers who don’t belong to a designated Religion or Religious Order.
I am in the number 3 type. I am a non-denominational Minister and I am duly authorised by the State to Solemnise legal marriage of any style to suit your wishes.
The best personnel to provide information to the public regarding getting legally married in Ireland are Registered Solemnisers, who have a full working knowledge of the Marriage Act.
If you wish to be legally married with personalised and meaningful ceremony created to your own wishes, without any need to attend the Registry Office on a separate day with your witnesses for a Registry Office marriage, you must choose a Registered Solemniser like myself as your Celebrant.
Some important facts are:
There is absolutely no shortage of Marriage Solemnisers in Ireland.
If you wish to be legally married in Ireland with a personalised ceremony of your own style, your celebrant must be duly authorised and recognised by the HSE as a Registered Solemniser of Marriages. (like myself)
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch for an obligation-free quick chat to answer any questions you might have. I would be honoured to work with you.
I am often asked this question by couples when they first book me, after which I carefully explain that in modern Ireland the Marriage License is known as the “Marriage Registration Form” or “MRF” for short. But many people still prefer to refer to this printed document as their Marriage License.
After all it does make a lot of sense, as their Marriage License/MRF is that “sacred” piece of paper which allows them to be legally married on their chosen wedding day!
What is the Marriage License/MRF For ?
In order for a marriage to be legally recognised the marriage must registered with the HSE Civil Registration Office, as for births and deaths. The Marriage License/MRF is the printed document signed during your marriage ceremony by the 5 people who are signatories to the marriage as evidence of the legal marriage.
Those five signatories to your marriage are:
Your authorised and registered Solemniser/Celebrant
The couple who are getting married
and their two witnesses, who are both over the age of 18 years old.
Once signed during the marriage ceremony, the Marriage License/MRF becomes the legal evidence that your marriage was conducted in accordance with the Marriage Act, by a Celebrant who is correctly registered with the Government and duly authorised to Solemnise marriages.
Once your ceremony has concluded, your signed Marriage License/MRF must be returned to the HSE in order to finalise the proper registration of your legal marriage. My general advice is to return this signed Marriage License/MRF to the HSE immediately or as soon as possible within 30 days.
How Do We Obtain A Marriage License/MRF ?
The process of registering your marriage with the HSE commences firstly by booking an appointment to attend any HSE Civil Registration Office of your choice to “Notify your Intention to Marry”, also known as your “HSE Notification Appointment”.
The non-refundable fee for this is currently €200, and this must be completed at least 3 months before your intended wedding day and no more than 12 months before.
For urgent and unforeseen circumstances there is a procedure to waive the 3 month minimum notice period. Although I am an expert in this area, I will never provide specific advice on how that is done without first chatting to the couple, because each case is so different and in most cases the waiver of the 3 month minimum notice period just may not be possible.
If all required information has been provided at your HSE appointment, including your required ID documents, your Marriage License/MRF will be provided to you in a Green Folder at the conclusion your “Notification of Intention to Marry” appointment with the HSE.
Can the “Notification of Intention to Marry” Appointment be Booked Online?
In most cases your “Notification Appointment” can be booked online. The HSE have provided the following handy link on their website for doing just that: https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/getting-married/book-appointment/
For couples residing overseas – the HSE does have an online/email/remote procedure for notifying your intention to marry, which requires an in-person meeting at some point much closer to your wedding date, The HSE are always best to advise on this procedure, as ID documentation requirements can vary from one country to another and many couple’s circumstances are different.
Where Does the Term “Marriage License” Come From?
The term “Marriage License” is generally used in the USA to describe the piece of paper signed by the licensed Officiant, the couple and their witnesses during the marriage ceremony. So it’s no suprise that American couples getting married in Ireland will always ask questions about to to get their Marriage License.
But did you know, the term “Marriage Licence” can be traced all the way back to the Irish Marriage and Registration Act 1856 ! Something I discovered myself while conducting detailed research of the Marriage Act and its origins.
So it’s no wonder the term “Marriage License” is still used here in Ireland when referring to the MRF or Marriage Registration Form, because it is essentially and historically the same thing.
For all questions relating to booking your “Notification Appointment” including what documentation you must provide at your Notification Appointment, please contact your chosen HSE Civil Registration Office.
The HSE have provided a handy contact details lookup tool here on their website: https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/find-a-civil-registration-service/
So there you go – have you got your Marriage License yet?
Rev Sharon Q.
Non-denominational Celebrant & Holistic Minister from Australia, now based in Cork City, Ireland since 2013
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