Getting married in Poland (documentation, church)

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The suggestion was,

1. Civil wedding in your local registry office ( UK). Which means you will be married by UK law.
2. Sacraments in a Catholic Church in Poland.
3 Wedding reception at local fire station for 3 days.

Babcha is happy.

We're getting married in just under 2 months now in Poland, however we opted for a civil ceremony rather than a church one....believe me however that doesn't make it simple!

We went to the registrar in Poland and they told us we needed a certificate of no impediment that must be dated no more than 6 months before the day of the wedding, they also told us it would not be a problem booking a registrar for the ceremony...

In the UK we got the certificate of no impediment displayed in the town hall of the borough I was born in...that had to stay up for 21 days, upon which it was signed and we collected it.

We flew back to Poland the next day (i.e. 6 months less 1 day) and virtually all the slots had gone already!!! Luckily we managed to persuade them to do an extra slot, but we had to wait quite a while and a lot of phone calls were made!

In short...its massively bureaucratic and from what people told me, more work than doing the religious route!

That said it does mean you can pick from a different set of venues, so it really depends on what you like...also it means you don't have to take religious vows if you don't believe in them (of course if you do it makes sense to have a church wedding anyway).

Hopefully that helps you a bit!

Depending on how much you want to spend... You can spend around PLN 300-400 per person and have your wedding reception at a 5-Star hotel in central Warsaw (the number are highly variable).

A friend of mine had his wedding in Częstochowa and paid PLN 150 per person for a restaurant that he hired for the occasion, plus he bought his own alcohol. All in all, he ended up spending approximately PLN 250 per person for a 2 day party. The bride's parents insisted on paying for at least half the cost. The same thing happened with me, my wife's parents paid a huge part of the cost.

not following. you didn't address the conversation, or my statement, whatsoever.


once again, i don't know where you're going with this.


yeah....the truth stings a little sometimes.


.......and to remember that ultimately the Catholic way is the better way.

Do pay attention bethanyxx, for it is YOU that needs to explain all this to your children, and your family.

FUZZY, you da the man!

It's a completly different story. The godparents have to be Catholic, because they swear during the ceremony that they will help to bring the child up in the Catholic faith. So they have to be Catholic, go to confession and be confirmed.

The wedding witnesses don't swear anything such, they just have to be 18 or over and sane. They don't have to provide any certificates of baptism or go to confession. I believe you that the preiest demended it, however, he was simply wrong.


Yes, in villages. Is your partner from a village?


You have to have the paperwork for the registry office if you get married in a church just as well - the office sorts out the "official" part, you take the paper from the office to the church, the priest fills the rest in, you and your witnesses sign it and it's sent back to the registry office. Then you can pick up your certificate from the office - not from the church! Without the paperwork from the office you'd only be married in the eyes of the Church, not legally - for example, you wouldn't be seen as a married couple for the tax purposes. It would have as much legal meaning as saying your vows in front of your friend in the forest. Anyway, the Church only agrees to do that in very rare cases - usually it has to have the legal meaning too.

I don't know if this will help you, but maybe it will give you some information: /blog/marry-polish-citizen/

Unfortunately, that blog is quite wrong for many people. It may apply to American citizens (I don't know) - but for many Europeans, the process is different due to the need for the Certificate of No Impediment.

Sorry to bump an old thread but I plan on getting married to my Polish gf here in the US. We plan to do a civil ceremony and then a year later have the whole big ceremony and church marriage in Poland. We are both Catholic, and have been Baptised, received Communion, and been Confirmed. I have the documents to prove it and the church we would get married in would be the one she grew up in before she moved to the US. She has been here for some time so we cant assume a personal relationship with the priest that may make him more lenient. Its just that she received the sacraments in that church. My question is basically, does an already married catholic couple with a valid marriage license have to jump through all of these same hoops that are being described? If not, what would we need to do?

thanks

It very much depends on the priest. Some priests are very accommodating. Others are plain a$$holes. You will almost certainly have to provide proof that both of you have completed a pre-Cana course, and you might need a letter from your pastor in the States that you are both regularly practicing Catholics in good standing. You'll also need proof of baptism, first communion and confirmation from your respective parish priests. The wait can be up to a year, and sometime longer, if you want to get married on a popular date (weekends and holidays, especially during the spring and summer), and especially in a popular church. Or much shorter if you want to get married on a non-holiday weekday, especially in the middle of the week. If all your papers, as described above, are in order and the priest has nothing better to do, you can even theoretically get married the same day in a simple ceremony (no mass and a few guests and the witnesses), or the next day immediately after the daily morning mass (with as many guests as you want).

A lot depends on the good will of the priest involved, or lack thereof. Sadly, some priests take advantage of the situation to demonstrate their "power". If you come up against that sort of situation you could try throwing money at the priest, but it doesn't always work. My advice would be to find another parish. What's the point of having a priest with a pi$$y attitude officiate at your wedding, and perhaps spoil the day for everyone?

Another thing you can do is get married in a no-frills, no guests Catholic ceremony in the States, and then have it blessed with renewal of vows in a big church ceremony in Poland. Very few priests would refuse to bless an already concluded Catholic marriage.

I marry a Polish man, we are both catholic ,our marriage was done in Roman Catholic Church here in Philippines. My question is where i can register our marriage in Poland , since my husband has no time to document our marriage. Thanks, Rose

If it was only church marriage I don't think you can register it.

In Poland official marriage is in registry office. If you are Catholic you can combine both. If you have some registry confirmation from Philippines I think it would need to be translated into Polish language and submitted to relevant office in Poland. I ma not sure if it can be done by post or your husband will have to do it by himself.