Tying the knot - Respect for the meaning of marriage

CIVIL marriages can be conducted at a whole range of new venues because of the enactment of the Civil Registration Act 2007.

This has the potential to inspire a new level of absurdity in what has already become an outlandishly expensive and sometimes fraught and vulgar occasion.

Some couples might wish to mark the happy occasion on a golf course, a beach at sunrise, the snug in the bar where they first met or even the halfway line at the local GAA pitch.

It does not make anyone even vaguely po-faced if they are concerned that what should be a dignified and serious occasion, one requiring the full commitment and concentration of the central couple, should become just another element at a themed party.

Contemporary wedding day celebrations are frequently too loud and too frivolous, imposing expectations and embarrassments on friends and family alike. We all have been at wedding celebrations that owe more to soap-opera scriptwriters than to a celebration of love and a declaration of faithfulness.

The initiative is just another indication of how Ireland is becoming a more secular society, one less dependent on the Catholic Church to oversee the milestones in our lives.

In 1995 just one in 10 couples used a registry office to get married, today 22% of all weddings are held outside churches.

Ceremonies are to be restricted to public buildings which have been approved by the Health Services Executive and the Registrar office.

This is a welcome development and one we should use to establish a culture of respect for the central meaning of the event: That two people who love each other have decided to commit to a relationship that might last for the rest of their lives.

Then the party can begin.