Church Wedding vs Civil Ceremony

Why would it start a war?

civil ceremony- due to the fact we are atheists. Pretty much a no brainer.

This. I can't conceive of making promises to a god I don't believe exists. It's the spiritual equivalent of a massive 'fingers crossed'

We have chosen church . I have faith but i wouldn't say overly religious. I enjoy going to church now though, and i must admit i do pray alot lol. My little girl is very interested in the church and god and believes

My sister is very religious and runs a sunday school It just felt right for me x

Church, because I believe in God. The church also means a lot to me as my parents married there.

Civil Partnership- because i'm gay! and its not like there is an alternative at present, that said even when the gay marriage bill does go through I would not get married in a church because I'm not religious.

You're gay?! I had no idea ?

Talk of many things on here gets people's backs up. Wearing black, chair covers, balloons. You name it, there's probably been a debate about it. Followed by a dramatic flounce normally.

We're having a civil ceremony. I'm a believer but I would feel too much of a hypocrite walking down a church aisle with 3 children in tow and a groom who is atheist waiting at the end of it for me.

Church for us. I'm religious, OH is more lapsed but it was important to me to have a religious ceremony.

Civil ceremony for us - we didn't even need to think about it. Neither of us go to church and we both loved the idea of being able to do the whole day in the same venue.

Civil followed by a church blessing. I really wanted to get married in church, but H is an atheist and wasn't happy making promises to someone he doesn't believe in, so this was our compromise.

We are having a service in a non-denominational chapel which is licensed for either and we can design our service as we like, which is really rare. Our families are a mixture of religious and non-religious but we don't go to church and so felt wrong marrying in one. We were just going to have a civil ceremony but then we found this place where we can have mainly civil wording in the vows but they can also incorporate prayers for those who are of faith.

Pretty much the same situation as you, except OH wanted to get married in his local church as that's where his parents, grandparents and brother have all got married (my OH isn't religious himself) - but I really couldn't bring myself to do it when I don't believe in God - I'd feel so uncomfortable! We've gone for a civil ceremony too and OH loves our venue luckily ?

*snort*

We're having a civil ceremony in a train station

Neither of us are religious so I would never have married in a church.

We are having a Handfasting, I guess this is classed as a religious ceremony but doesnt come with a god or a church. It comes with elementals and a lawn! lol

x

Civil ceremony for us, though I am considering doing the legal bit first and having a Humanistic ceremony. I've been looking at Buddhist ceremony wording. I'm not sure if I'd get away with it in a civil ceremony or not - Buddhists don't have a set ceremony but the wording matches what we want and it isn't exactly religious, just talking about living in the "now" rather than the past or future.

I LOVE the sound of handfasting ceremonies. Think I've always been a bit of a dippy Druid at heart- love nature and all that junk (spent 20 mins last night looking out the window at a tree trying to imagine what it would feel like to 'be' a tree...). But OH won't have one bit of it, sadly. He's very pragmatic and scientific about these things.

Think we plumped for a civil ceremony cos it's the quickest option. In and out. Then the celebration can start!

I would do a handfasting but my partner wont go for it before i even bring it up. He'd see it as being weird for the sake of being weird (he's 27 going on 70). Were doing a civil ceremony purely on cost. I'm not religious and neither is my so-called catholic partner (he's says he is, but he's not. too naughty) were more agnostic. If I could of, I would of loved to of got the church my Nan's and family have all been married in but its too far away from the venue plus I'd feel the hypocritic for doing the church wedding when i don't go to church normally!

Ha ha- are we marrying the same bloke?! ?

Wow, in a train station? I'm really intrigued. Sounds very interesting!

I think churches are beautiful, and the service is usually a lot longer, whereas it seems to be over very quick with a registry office. However, I'm not religious in any way at all, so I think I would be in the same situation as a lot of people in here and go for something else due to that fact (but perhaps something a bit out of the norm). A bride of mine who got married back in April got married in a church in her hometown, although she knew the vicar from when she was a child (he's actually retired now) but he came back to do her service, as it was where she went when she was younger with her parents on a Sunday. I don't think she's religious though, but obviously her hometown and the vicar who performed her service meant something special to her, which is always a nice idea.

For us it was church because we are both Christian. I don't think we would have got married at all if we hadn't been allowed a church wedding, it was that important to us to have God's blessing on our relationship.

Civil ceremony for us ? We are both atheist so it would have felt very disrespectful and rude to marry in a church. OH's mum didn't seem too happy about it though...

Funky - I love that emoticon!

Civil as we don't believe in god. I find it disrespctful when people get married in churches and they are not religious.

Civil for us. Neither of us are remotely religious so it wasn't a hard decision. (In fact it wasn't even a conscious decision as we never even considered a church wedding)

We're having a non-denominational wedding with tom aleterre, he is a registered minister so it's not a civil ceremony but all perfectly legal as he is a listed registrar.
It's in a Hotel & the set up will be similar to a civil ceremony. It's a big plus, allows for even more personalisation. You can have religious references if you like (some HSE registrars won't even allow the unity candle ceremony because it is so synonymous with church ceremonies), we're going to light candles in remembrance of our loved ones who have passed on as part of our ceremony. Best of all he will perform the ceremony any day of the week.

Civil ceremony for us! I was open to the idea of having it in a Catholic Church - both me and hubby-to-be were baptised Catholic and did communion, but I decided against confirmation when I was 12 because I wasn't a massive believer (and tbh, couldn't be bothered). However neither of us are religious, not atheist but open-minded, and when we saw the room where our ceremony would be (all in the same venue - bonus) it was so beautiful it decided it for us. I'm really happy with our decision now too, because it means we can personalise the ceremony, have non-religious readings etc.

Civil for us - there are some a-mazing churches in our area but neither of us believe.

Plus with a winter wedding i wanted it in one venue, never know what the weather will be like.

Civil for me too as I feel it would be hypocritical to get married in a church as we are not religious. My partner would have done but only because he thinks churches are pretty in photos!

This is the same for us, really. I'm a complete atheist, and he's agnostic. There are some gorgeous gothic churches in this country, though, but luckily there are also gorgeous medieval castles - which is what we've gone for ?

I definately believe its hypocritical for non believers and those who declare not to be religious to chose to be married in a church... I don't get why they would want to when Gosmis such a big part of the service.

Both myself and OH are Christian and regular church goers... Initially we decided to have everything in the same venue but restrictions to civil services led us to the decision to do the legal side in a registry office before the big day and then have a blessing at the venue.

however after much thought I hated the idea of being legally married before walking up the aisle and felt we had to compromise way too much on what we wanted so we've now opted to go to church! Dilemma now is the church we picked will be closed for building works... So we now have to find another :-(