Congratulations on your decision to get married. The priests of Longford Parish will be happy to facilitate you as you prepare for your wedding day and married life together. Weddings can take place in three churches in our parish: St. Mel’s College Chapel; St. Anne’s Church, Curry; and St. Michael’s Church, Shroid. As the Cathedral will be unavailable for the coming years couples may choose to book their wedding at churches in surrounding parishes whilst still asking a priest from Longford Parish to celebrate their marriage. There are a number of requirements of both the Church and the State that must be satisfied when proposing to get married in church. The guidelines in this page are offered only by way of assistance – if you have any queries please contact your local parish and / or Civil Registration Office directly.

Firstly, you must contact a priest of the parish / Parish Office to discuss the date of your wedding in a particular church in Longford Parish and make sure that it is available. You must also arrange to meet the priest you are inviting to be the celebrant of your marriage and ensure his availability on the day. Every couple marrying in the Catholic Church is required to give the Church a minimum of three months notice of their intention to marry. However, the Civil Registration Act (2004) requires that all couples must also give three months notice of their intention to marry to a Civil Registrar in person. In order to do this couples must contact a Registrar at a Civil Registration Office beforehand to make an appointment. While only three months’ notice is required by law, couples are advised to contact the Registrar well over three months before their intended date of marriage to ensure they can get a timely appointment. The contact details of the local Civil Registration Office are:

Civil Registration Office,

Health Centre,
Dublin Road,
Longford

Opening Hours : Mon - Fri 9:30 - 12:30 & 2:00 - 4:15

Contact : 043 33 32226 / 043 33 32227

At the meeting with the Registrar couples seeking to be married in a Catholic ceremony, in addition to their personal particulars, will be requested to provide details in relation to their proposed marriage such as the intended date of marriage, the names and dates of birth of their witnesses, the details of the priest (known as the ‘solemniser’ in civil marriage law) you have asked to do your wedding and the church that you have booked for your wedding. The priest must be on the Register of Solemnisers maintained by the Registrar General. Most Irish priests are included in this Register by their diocese or religious order. However, priests returning from abroad may not be on this Register and will have to approach the local diocese to have their name forwarded to the General Register Office. The Register of Solemnisers and civil requirements for marriage can be found on the website of the General Register Office:

www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm

The civil registrar will issue you with your Marriage Registration Form at the close of your meeting in person. You will be advised to bring this to the priest conducting your marriage to ensure that all details on the Marriage Registration Form are correct. It is the responsibility of the couple to keep this form safe, to notify the Civil Registrar immediately of any proposed changes that may arise, to bring it to the church on the day of the wedding and give it to the priest prior to the ceremony. At the conclusion of the wedding it is signed by the couple, the two witnesses and the priest; the couple will be given the completed Marriage Registration Form by the priest on the day and must return it to any registrar within 1 month of the ceremony, so that the marriage can be civilly registered. Only then can the couple obtain a civil marriage certificate.

The Church has its own requirements to ensure that a Catholic Marriage can take place. The bride and groom should each make contact with a priest of their own local parish. Each must meet with their own priest to complete a Pre-Nuptial Enquiry Form. You will be required to present a recently-issued (within the last 6 months) Baptism certificate, a recently-issued confirmation certificate and a Letter of Freedom from each parish you lived in since you were 18. If you have lived in a lot of parishes, as an alternative to the Letters of Freedom, another possibility is to swear an affidavit before a Commissioner of Oaths attesting that you have never been married religiously or civilly in any jurisdiction. The priest will advise you further on all these matters. You will also be asked before the wedding to produce a certificate from an approved pre-marriage course. Longford Parish strongly recommends that couples participate in a pre-marriage course run by ACCORD. The contact details of the local ACCORD office are:

ACCORD – Longford Centre
“Teallach Iosa”
St Mel’s Road
Longford
Tel : 043 3347222
www.accord.ie

The priest of the parish of the groom will forward the completed Church papers to the priest of the parish of the bride. Catholic marriage normally takes place in the bride’s parish. If the wedding is to take place elsewhere the priest of the bride’s parish will forward all Church paperwork to do with the wedding to a priest of the parish in which the wedding is to take place.
Weddings which take place between a Catholic and a non-Catholic involve further requirements and dispensations. A Catholic marriage taking place abroad also involves additional procedures. The priests of Longford Parish will advise you on these matters, though it is important to provide sufficient notice to facilitate these further measures.

The priests and staff of the parish and the priest celebrating your marriage will assist you as you prepare for the wedding ceremony itself and be happy to explain the customs observed at weddings in Longford Parish.