Is it possible to have church marriage and not civil marriage?

[Thrifty1]

I predict that in c.50 years time there will be a load of inheritance and probate cases involving spouses and children of Irish people who "married" abroad but were unaware that church weddings abroad have no legal standing and that they or their parents were not legally married.

Some do, i got married in church in Dubrovnik, we signed the registry at the civil offices there the day before and our marrige is valid here too.

 

[truthseeker]

I predict that in c.50 years time there will be a load of inheritance and probate cases involving spouses and children of Irish people who "married" abroad but were unaware that church weddings abroad have no legal standing and that they or their parents were not legally married.

Well it depends where you get married abroad, some predominantly catholic country will have the civil ceremony tied up with the religious ceremony, for countries that dont the couple usually do the registry office bit a couple of days before the church bit. Most people researching a wedding abroad would be aware of this.

 

[Paulone]

Agree with all the posters who ask why the OP wants to be able to describe herself as 'married' yet not do it legally.

Got married myself recently and the true nature of what it means is made quite clear - you contract a marriage and, totally aside from the romantic thing of being in a committed relationship (which I'm sure is the OP's situation), the marriage contract changes your legal status with regard to a variety of things - i.e. next of kin, inheritance, rights surrounding any children, all of which is an official recognition of the permanence you both intend to have about being together.

I didn't need a piece of paper to prove my emotional commitment to my partner and family, but we thought that it was better for all involved to change our status in a way we thought would better protect eachother and the children.

The GROIreland website explains all the new rules about the event called marriage in this country and, knowing the position of most churches in these things, I doubt they would entertain someone trying to describe what is essentially an unofficial commitment as a 'marriage'.

The OP probably has her own reasons why she doesn't want to change her legal status and it sounds like she wants to organise a religious commitment ceremony. Good luck finding a priest to do that, but there may be members of more obscure churches or individuals who would.