Northern Ireland: Executive statement on indoor weddings and baptisms

On 6 July, the Northern Ireland Executive announced indicative arrangements for the resumption of indoor weddings, civil partnerships and baptisms.

Ministers have agreed that places of worship will be able to resume baptisms and indoor marriage ceremonies from Friday, 10 July. Local government offices and other venues will be able to resume marriage and civil partnership ceremonies from the same date. It will be up to venues to determine their precise opening dates for ceremonies and whether or not they wish to provide post-ceremony celebrations.

Numbers attending indoor marriage and civil partnership ceremonies and post-ceremony celebrations will be determined by the venue on the basis of a risk assessment, “taking account of the individual circumstances of each and adhering to all relevant public health advice and industry guidance”.

The proposed changes to the coronavirus restrictions will be confirmed by the Executive on Thursday, 9 July. The press release notes that “couples contacting Registrars and officiants to rearrange their marriages should be aware that there is a backlog of couples waiting but every effort will be made to accommodate everyone as soon as possible”.

One thought on “Northern Ireland: Executive statement on indoor weddings and baptisms

  1. Pingback: COVID-19 Coronavirus: legislation and guidance | Law & Religion UK

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *