Catholic Church Wedding Paperwork

by **runningsun** » Thu Apr 12, 2022 1:51 pm

Hi All,
I am meeting with the parish priest later this week to do the PRENUP enquiry part of the paperwork.
We are not gettig married in this church its just our parish where we live now.
When we meet with the priest - i heard there is another VOLUNTARY DONATION expected for the paperwork.
Can anybody help me as to how much this should be ?
Thanks in advance

corkiegirl · by **corkiegirl** » Thu Apr 12, 2022 2:09 pm

Hi Paula81,

We are living in England too and I have been sorting the paperwork recently. I have been told that the Pre-Nup Enquiry needs to be done with our local Priest here. He wants Baptism cert and Pre-Marriage Course cert. He doesn't want to see Letters of Freedom or Confirmation certs. But they are needed in Ireland so I have to get them anyway. He does the paperwork here and forwards it to our local Bishop here who sends it to my Bishop at home (Cork and Ross). Officiating Priest is OH's uncle so not from Cork either. We are making things very complicated!! O:|

So it's our local Priest here that is doing our paperwork. Will it be your officiating Priest that is definitely doing it for you?

The Letters of Freedom are letters from each Parish that you or OH (assuming he is Catholic) have lived in for more than 6 months. It is a letter to state that you were never married in that Parish. English Priests will be unfamilar with them so you may want to print one out and ask them to sign it for you, to make it easier for them. As previous posters, have said, you can get an Affadavit in place of Letters of Freedom (but I'm assuming you pay a solicitor for this but Letters of Freedom may be free from your Priest / donation similar to signing a Mass card (I normally pay £10 for this so might offer that!)).

by **lillipe1983** » Tue May 08, 2022 3:10 pm

Hi

Can someone help? The lady in the church was terrible at explaining what I need to do.

Currently living in London and have lived in several different parish's in Ireland. I could not understand who required the letter of freedom!!?? So please tell me if I am correct.

I need to see the local civil marriage office and register my intent to marry and we both need to be there and to do so I need the letters of freedom and bap cert etc ? If so can I go ahead and get a affadavit ? Does the church need the letters of freedom too or does the civil office give me something to give the priest ?

Really hope someone can help ??Thanks

highbeam · by **highbeam** » Tue May 08, 2022 3:20 pm

lillipe1983 wrote:Hi

Can someone help? The lady in the church was terrible at explaining what I need to do.

Currently living in London and have lived in several different parish's in Ireland. I could not understand who required the letter of freedom!!?? So please tell me if I am correct.

I need to see the local civil marriage office and register my intent to marry and we both need to be there and to do so I need the letters of freedom and bap cert etc ? If so can I go ahead and get a affadavit ? Does the church need the letters of freedom too or does the civil office give me something to give the priest ?

Really hope someone can help ??Thanks

If you are both living outside of the parish you will marry in for longer than 6 months you both need a letter of freedom. But it sounds like in your case the affadavit would be better as you are supposed to get one from each parish you have lived in since you turned 18.

You do not need your letter of freedom or any of the religious paperwork to register the marriage with the state. You need PPS numbers, birth certificates + colour copy, ID + colour copy, proof of address, ID for your witnesses. €150. If you are having a religious or civil ceremony.

When you fill out the form for the state registration they give you a (I think its called an MRF form) form and this is what you will sign the day of the wedding. People usually give it to the priest the day of the rehearsal.

Does that answer your questions? Did I leave anything out?

ETA For the priest you need to have your baptismal and confirmation certs dated within 6 months of the wedding, letter of freedom or most likely in your case an affadavit which ever you choose and the premarriage course certificate.

by **lillipe1983** » Tue May 08, 2022 3:40 pm

Thank for that but I think I am totally confused. We are getting married in a church but the parish secretary said we needed letters of freedom from all parishes we have lived in. I want to get affadavit instead becasue it saves me alot of time and she said a letter of freedom was what was required.( very unhelpful in general so I just want to try figure it out myself) What i dont know is by whom ? AND do they care whether they have the letter or the affadavit ?

I need to plan flights home and I want to plan where I need to go and what I need to get.

Thank you for your help

highbeam · by **highbeam** » Tue May 08, 2022 3:53 pm

I am pretty sure it is an either/or situation but the priest might have the final say on what he will accept. Letters of freedom are to prove you have not been married before. So you either need to gather letters of freedom from all the parishes you have lived in since the age of 18 for at least 6months. Have you lived in one place longer than others. If you only lived in a parish for a while I wouldn't go to the trouble. Like I lived in Dublin when I was in college but I'm not getting one from there as officially I still lived at home at the time.

You should ring the Parishes a week before and tell them what you need and they should have everything ready for you to collect. Or someone at home could collect them for you.

This is from the Accord website:

I have lived in a number of different countries since I was 18 years of age, do I have to get a letter of freedom from each parish I lived in ?
While the standard way of establishing freedom has been letters of freedom i.e. a letter from any parish you have lived in since you were 18 years old stating that there is no record of you having contracted marriage in their marriage registrar, it is usually acceptable if you have lived in a number of parishes or in different parts of the world to get a signed letter by a parent(s) or brother or sister stating that, to the best of their knowledge you have never been married before in either a religious or civil ceremony in any jurisdiction. 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.
It is always best to check with your local priest with regard to methods of establishing freedom for marriage as practices vary from place to place.

by **lillipe1983** » Tue May 08, 2022 4:12 pm

Thank you high beam. Really helpful.

winter2012bride · by **winter2012bride** » Thu May 10, 2022 7:08 pm

So helpful, thanks!

by **livvy1409** » Sat May 26, 2022 8:44 pm

Thank you so much for this info,it has really helped me a lot,I'm currently living in Sydney but marrying at home in Ireland,these websites gave me all the info i needed,my parish priest at home wasn't very helpful as he is new and slightly put out that i wanted our old parish priest to marry us so gave me very limited info regarding paperwork when i was home recently on holiday,thank you again sooo much! O:o)

happybride2012 · by **happybride2012** » Wed Jun 13, 2022 1:24 am

Hi ladies - another confused B2B here and hoping you can help! So here's my situation. We are living abroad at the moment but we are getting married back in Ireland in our home parish (we are both from the same parish so no letters of freedom needed). We did the marriage registration at HSE last time we were home and gave that to priest. We also did pre-marriage course and gave cert to priest. Do we need to do anything else? I'm reading about pre-nuptial enquires but our priest never mentioned this to us. We wont be home now till a week before the wedding so starting to freak out a little. Basically my question is, do we have to do pre-nup enquiry even if we're getting married in our parish? Thanks :thnk

corkiegirl · by **corkiegirl** » Wed Jun 13, 2022 5:43 am

Yes, you will still need a Pre-Nup... The paperwork goes to the Bishop. But ur current local Priest should be able to do it for you and then post it to Ireland. You'll need Baptism Certs, Confirmation Certs and prob letters of freedom for the time you've been away. Speak to your local Priest to ask will he do it for you or check with the secretary of your Parish.

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