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Ask for help > Weddings in UK, USA
Weddings in UK, USA
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monder78
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Weddings in UK, USA
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Hi there
I am wondering if there are civil marriages ( only in a registry office) in the UK and USA ? Can we say take civil marriage ? The phrase seems to me akward. I �ve come across such a sentence :
The priest officiated Mary and Tom last Sunday. Is is correct ? Is it formal ?
Can we say give sb a wedding ( the idea here is that a priest pronounces 2 people a husband and a wife))
Thanks in advance for your kind help. H&K
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18 Jul 2013
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douglas
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a priest "weds" somebody or "does the ceremony"
here is something on "civil weddings":
I also remember calling them a "Justice of the Peace wedding" in the USA back in the 60s-70s (don �t know how current that term is now).
edit: when I think about it we do also say the priest "marrys" somebody (thanks Alex)
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18 Jul 2013
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alexcure
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Look at the Oxford Dictionary of Collocations entries for �marriage�, �wedding�, �ceremony�:
PS. I�ve heard my friend from the UK saying: "I was not sure if the priest could marry us as we ... blablabla...."
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18 Jul 2013
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yanogator
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Here are my US answers:
No, you don �t "take" marriage.
They were married by a Justice of the Peace.
They were married in a civil ceremony.
They had a civil ceremony.
You can say "They were civilly married" or "They were married civilly", but that isn �t common.
No, the priest didn �t "officiate Mary and Tom". The priest officiated at Mary and Tom �s wedding, or, as Alex said and Douglas agreed, The priest married Mary and Tom. This is talking about the priest more than about the wedding.
No, to "give somebody a wedding" would be to pay for it and make all the arrangements, just like to "give somebody a birthday party".
Bruce |
18 Jul 2013
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FrauSue
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The verb "marry" can be a cause of confusion: The priest married his daughter today can mean either that he officiated at her wedding, or that some sort of illegal ceremony took place! Quite a few jokes and riddles are based around this.
In the UK, people often talk about having a registry office wedding or getting married in a/the registry office. This suggests a civil as opposed to a religious ceremony.
A civil partnership ceremony is currently the option available to homosexual couples in the UK, but legally it is not the same as a registry office wedding. |
19 Jul 2013
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monder78
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Many thanks to all of you |
19 Jul 2013
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monder78
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Many thanks to all of you for your helpful answers |
19 Jul 2013
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