craic

Well, my former boyfriend (South America) and I (USC) have finally tied the knot here in the States and so, happy part over, we are about to embark upon the same horrendous process most of the rest of you have already been through. Dreading it!

This is a different kind of a question though. Want to make the family happy and have another ceremony in Ireland. Anyone out there know if it's actually ILLEGAL to go through two civil marriages to the same person? I hope not, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

What I am very surprised about is that apparently a new religious wedding is out of the question because we are already married (says the local priest). Strange - I thought we were talking about two very different ceremonies... before the law and before God.

Any opinions?

Thanks!

mrsstrickland

you could have a blessing, all the service without the official bit, becasue you have already enterred into a legal marriage so you are not able to repeat that service twice, but blessings are just the same, you can do the service and the 'party thing' afterwards, hope this helps.

craic

Thanks, Mrs. Strick - presumably there's no such thing as a civil blessing is there?!

mrsstrickland

Im not sure, i just know that is what i will have to do, cos we wed without my children present and we wanted to have a bigger wedding when it was more convenient to us, and the blessing is the only thing we could do.

beershake

I had the same question. But I was told that you cannot have two official wedding dates- that would cause all kinds of confusion and problems for you in the future. So what we did was, have a civil ceremony in the U.S., then go to my home country and have someone make us repeat our vows (nothing official, just a respected family member did this) and had a big celebration.

craic

Hello, beershake - thanks for that.

Now why couldn't a priest do that instead of a respected family member? It'd make the mammy so happy.

I know that in a lot of Continental Europe you HAVE to have a civil ceremony if you also have a religious one, although admittedly it's always done on the same day....

Mrtravel

craic wrote:
    > Well, my former boyfriend (South America) and I (USC) have finally tied
    > the knot here in the States and so, happy part over, we are about to
    > embark upon the same horrendous process most of the rest of you have
    > already been through. Dreading it!

The legally of it would depend on the jurisdictions involved.
As far as INS cares, the first one recognized by the government in the
location where it was performed. The legally of that marriage or
subsequent marriages would depend on the laws of a) where it happeneed
and b) the laws of the countries of citizenship.

That said, I don't understand the purpose of having two civil weddings.
You can have a religious "blessing" ceremony similar to a wedding, if
you are already married. I have heard of priest doing this. (Pardon the
preconceived notion that you may be Catholic).

Chris Parker

    > This is a different kind of a question though. Want to make the family
    > happy and have another ceremony in Ireland. Anyone out there know if
    > it's actually ILLEGAL to go through two civil marriages to the same
    > person? I hope not, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
    > What I am very surprised about is that apparently a new religious
    > wedding is out of the question because we are already married (says the
    > local priest). Strange - I thought we were talking about two very
    > different ceremonies... before the law and before God.

You'd have to give a false affidavit to get a marriage license while
already married.

A civil wedding is not an impediment to a religious wedding.
Likewise, a religious wedding without a marriage license is not an
impediment to a civil wedding.

I hope this answers your question.
CP

craic

Thanks folks.

I can certainly understand about not having two civil ceremonies. But what about the religious element - can it only be a blessing, as according to MrTravel, or can we repeat our vows (think that's what you're saying Chris).

Bearing in mind that in Ireland you don't have to have a civil wedding in addition to the religious one. That might point towards just the blessing. Priest says that's going to take all of 5 minutes and will be a bit of a non-event though....!

Glenn Wiltse

Assuming you are both in the USA now, you are aware that he can not
leave the usa untill he has either received his permenent residency,
or has had an advanced parole aproved???

It may be awhile before you can go and have even a symbolic wedding
in anohter country.

Glenn

craic wrote:
    > Well, my former boyfriend (South America) and I (USC) have finally tied
    > the knot here in the States and so, happy part over, we are about to
    > embark upon the same horrendous process most of the rest of you have
    > already been through. Dreading it!
    > This is a different kind of a question though. Want to make the family
    > happy and have another ceremony in Ireland. Anyone out there know if
    > it's actually ILLEGAL to go through two civil marriages to the same
    > person? I hope not, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
    > What I am very surprised about is that apparently a new religious
    > wedding is out of the question because we are already married (says the
    > local priest). Strange - I thought we were talking about two very
    > different ceremonies... before the law and before God.
    > Any opinions?
    > Thanks!
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Glenn Wiltse

Opps... should have been more clear... he can leave the USA, but it
wouldn't be good without the PR or AP... You'd essentialy be
abandoning your AOS application...

Glenn Wiltse wrote:
    > Assuming you are both in the USA now, you are aware that he can not
    > leave the usa untill he has either received his permenent residency,
    > or has had an advanced parole aproved???
    > It may be awhile before you can go and have even a symbolic wedding
    > in anohter country.
    > Glenn
    > craic wrote:
    > >
    > > Well, my former boyfriend (South America) and I (USC) have finally tied
    > > the knot here in the States and so, happy part over, we are about to
    > > embark upon the same horrendous process most of the rest of you have
    > > already been through. Dreading it!
    > >
    > > This is a different kind of a question though. Want to make the family
    > > happy and have another ceremony in Ireland. Anyone out there know if
    > > it's actually ILLEGAL to go through two civil marriages to the same
    > > person? I hope not, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
    > >
    > > What I am very surprised about is that apparently a new religious
    > > wedding is out of the question because we are already married (says the
    > > local priest). Strange - I thought we were talking about two very
    > > different ceremonies... before the law and before God.
    > >
    > > Any opinions?
    > >
    > > Thanks!
    > >
    > > --
    > > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

craic

You're right, Glen, mad business that this is. Luckily my local center seems to be processing Advance Paroles pretty quickly - at least that's what we're betting on.

THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE ANSWERS.....

Caroline & Matt

If you are catholic, I do not understand why the priest would not
allow you to have a regular catholic wedding (if you have never been
married in the catholic church before). Usually the catholic church
does not recognize the civil marriage, and on top of that the catholic
marriage is a sacrament. Since you did not receive the sacrament of
marriage during your civil ceremony in the US, the priest should be
able to arrange a normal wedding in the church during which you will
receive the sacrament of marriage. The only way I can see him refuse
is if at any time you were married in the catholic church, even if it
is to the same person. As long as there is no record of your marriage
on your baptism certificate, then I don't see what the problem is.

The two weddings is exactly what we did. The catholic church has no
choice because I am from a country where you can not get married
religiously if you are not married civily first.

By the way, there is an entire preparation for the catholic wedding,
and we did ours in the US. We just showed up in my home country three
days before the wedding!!! There is some paperwork to do for that, but
it wasn't that bad.

Hope that helps,
Caroline