Restrictions on music for civil ceremony

You really need to ask the registrars for their advice as the guidelines are very vague and open to (mis)interpretation.

We are using "Baby I'm a want you" by Bread as one of our bits of music, which has the word "praying" in it, and we thought we'd have problems, but apparently as in context it is referring to a concept, rather than an instruction to worship any specific deity, it's acceptable.

The whole 'no religious content' thing is a bit of a joke really becase we are allowed, if we wanted, to use the song "Turn turn turn" by The Byrds because although to most people it's known as a 60s chart song, the lyrics are almost word for word Ecclesiastes 3 in the Bible. I dare say we'd also be able to use Boney M's "Rivers of Babylon" even though that's also straight out of Psalm 137.

It's a funny ol' business eh? I think I might give them a call this afternoon and see what they say then. Here's hoping my OH can have the song he adores!

It's very strange. Particularly when you think that anyone with no religious interest whatsoever can get married in a church simply because they live nearby, and have a full-on Christian service with hymns, readings and prayers even though it's completely meaningless to them, yet someone who is a Christian but for whatever reason wants a ceremony in a licensed venue is discriminated against from having any reference to their beliefs - or, in your case, something completely non-religious at all yet happens to use a word typically associated with religion, has the risk of being banned.

A friend of mine was told she couldn't have Ave Maria at her wedding as it's a piece of religious music, but Pié Jésu was perfectly acceptable.

Well the registrar told me to send a copy of the lyrics to them and they will let me know but from my description of the song (Has the word Angel in but not in a religious context) she said it sounds fine and they're not overly strict anyway. I might tell OH that they wont allow it and have him believe that until the day when he gets a nice surprise as they play his adored song. What a lovely surprise that will be! Whether or not it will work is another matter I guess!

Definitely speak to the registrar - ours said we could have anything as long as it wasn't "written for the church" - for examples Robbie Williams Angels would be fine, but a hymn wouldn't be.

I think when the guidelines first came out everyone went into "panic mode" and erred very much the wrong side of cautious, but as time has gone on and people have begun to understand the practical applications - and the problems - of the guidelines, they've come to a more sensible understanding overall of what is and isn't actually religious.

Unfortunately a lot of the time the people enforcing these guidelines don't actually know what religious actually is therefore it's hard for them to know what might and might not be covered.

I might have thought that someone whose job it was to protect and maintain the secularity of a civil ceremony would have a remarkably good grasp of what "religious actually is".

that's just daft! Did the registrar know what Pie Jesu means? Crazy x

Maybe the registrar thought the bride or groom worked in a bakery or something... ?

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To the OP I think you will be fine with your song choice. We wanted to have 'Jesus to a Child' at our Ceremony and were worried about it because it has 'Jesus' in the words and title but we were told it was fine because it's not a religious song which of course it isn't. Always worth checking though. I agree with what others have said though that some places will allow 'Ave Maria' and 'Pie Jesu' which ARE religious songs! Bonkers!