Registry Office vs Church Marriage

wigginsmum

We married in the local (pretty) registry office as neither of us were Christians at the time, and having a church wedding would've been as meaningless as having a Sikh wedding, for example. I wasn't prepared to be a hypocrite and, having been raised Anglo-Catholic, I wanted nothing to do with their rituals.

pboae

To you perhaps, but for an atheist they are practical and rational reasons for marrying. It would be a nonsense for an athiest to marry because the bible says you should.

MissSunshine

There are plenty of venues now that offer civil ceremonies which is another option to consider.

When we started planning our wedding we both said straight away that we couldn't get married in church, it would feel too hypocritical when we only went to church for weddings, christenings & funeral. Our local registry office was knocked off the list as it's very sixties style, we really didn't fancy getting married in a pink room, so out of quite a lot of venues in the area we chose Shrewsbury Castle.

It's not a big grand castle, but built of sandstone and a gorgeous setting with fantastically kept garden. The room where we married was quite small, only licensed to hold 40 people, but ideal as meant we didn't have to ask every tom, !!!!!! & harry along that we hadn't seen for years. Then we went onto a hotel for the reception and after wedding.

Didn't even think of this at the time, but looking back now I'm even more pleased with our choice as I'm able to take our boys any day of the week except sunday to show them where we got married and they can play in the grounds totally free, haven't dared take them inside to the museum :eek: , another few years maybe. The problem with hotels in our area, they keep knocking them down to build houses as they're just doing now with our reception hotel and we've only been married 6 years :rolleyes:

MonkeySaving?

pboae wrote:

To you perhaps, but for an atheist they are practical and rational reasons for marrying. It would be a nonsense for an athiest to marry because the bible says you should.

No, a civil partnership is much more suited to an atheist.. Marriage is a christian ritual, how is that suited to an atheist?!

wigginsmum

Marriage is not just a Christian ritual - many cultures practice marriage.

If you look at 1 Corinthians 7, it talks about marriages where one person has subsequently become a Christian - the marriage is not invalidated for not having been done by Christians. It's still a marriage.

kitten_jo

i get married next year
i have been divorced and i am C of E
i did not think i could get married in a church so looked around for places
i did not want to get married in a registry office really as i was married in one the first time and i had a very unhappy marriage.
i looked at local venues but as i wanted to keep it small did not feel they were right for us
i was at a coffee morning at my local baptist church and was talking about it and was told did i no i could get married there.
so last week i booked my wedding for 07/07/07 :j
i was told i can have the wedding as big or as small as i like

MonkeySaving?

wigginsmum wrote:

Marriage is not just a Christian ritual - many cultures practice marriage.

If you look at 1 Corinthians 7, it talks about marriages where one person has subsequently become a Christian - the marriage is not invalidated for not having been done by Christians. It's still a marriage.

I was aware of that however i was responding to the other poster regarding marriage as a Christian. So we're all established that marriage is a religious ceremony...the question still stands..why is it suitable for an athiest?

MissSunshine

Emms wrote:

I really dont agree with it at all and we did have a bit of a heated discussion one day when I asked her why they were getting married in chapel when neither of them was religous but before we had a proper falling out we just agreed to disagree.

I totally agree with you Emms, it's all about the big fancy do, nothing to do with religion.

Mr Sunshine's relative got married same year as us in a church, been planned for 18 months. She fell pregnant 5 months before they married (which I don't have a problem with before anyone slates me) and decided not to tell the vicar even though tbh it was v obvious and found out later that niece hadn't even been christened, which to me smacks of hyprocrisy (sp?) :rolleyes:

MonkeySaving?

MissSunshine wrote:

I totally agree with you Emms, it's all about the big fancy do, nothing to do with religion.

Mr Sunshine's relative got married same year as us in a church, been planned for 18 months. She fell pregnant 5 months before they married (which I don't have a problem with before anyone slates me) and decided not to tell the vicar even though tbh it was v obvious and found out later that niece hadn't even been christened, which to me smacks of hyprocrisy (sp?) :rolleyes:

lol an extremely costly "fancy do" IIRC. Can't see the point to be honest you have almost as many rights as a co-habiting couple, without the cost :T

MonkeySaving?

MissSunshine wrote:

There are plenty of venues now that offer civil ceremonies which is another option to consider.

When we started planning our wedding we both said straight away that we couldn't get married in church, it would feel too hypocritical when we only went to church for weddings, christenings & funeral. Our local registry office was knocked off the list as it's very sixties style, we really didn't fancy getting married in a pink room, so out of quite a lot of venues in the area we chose Shrewsbury Castle.

It's not a big grand castle, but built of sandstone and a gorgeous setting with fantastically kept garden. The room where we married was quite small, only licensed to hold 40 people, but ideal as meant we didn't have to ask every tom, !!!!!! & harry along that we hadn't seen for years. Then we went onto a hotel for the reception and after wedding.

Didn't even think of this at the time, but looking back now I'm even more pleased with our choice as I'm able to take our boys any day of the week except sunday to show them where we got married and they can play in the grounds totally free, haven't dared take them inside to the museum :eek: , another few years maybe. The problem with hotels in our area, they keep knocking them down to build houses as they're just doing now with our reception hotel and we've only been married 6 years :rolleyes:

Now, if you're going to get married...THAT is how you do it