Civil Ceremony vs Religious

Lil2010 · December 2009

Can anyone tell me the difference between a civil and religious ceremony? I am not a religious person nor do I go to church but I consider myself spiritual and do have beliefs.

jenncoyle05 · December 2009

Hi Lil2010!

I was in the same boat as you and was a little confused on teh difference. I myself grew up in the catholic church and went to catholic school growing up but havent been active my adult life and my FI isnt active in church at all. We dont practice catholicism regularly in our lives together.. plus his family is half jewish so we wanted something non-denom for our ceremony. We had a hard time finding someone b/c most ministers req'd classes which we didnt want to do and/or you had to be a member of thier church etc.
I found Rev. Bermudez on the knot in my local area section and contacted him. He is a minister himself at a Christian Church but he does provide non-denom and civil ceremonies. We met him to see if we would like him and hes terrific. He explained to us the difference. A civial ceremony he explained is where THERE IS NO MENTION OF GOD what so ever- but a non-denom ceremony is where you pick and customize your ceremony and can have it as christian as you want or as contemporary as you want. We chose him and he gave us a packet of choices to customize or ceremony- we have some things with prayer in it and some things that are very contemporary and we are doing our own vows. Its really neat and hes really really helpful. my g/f also had the same thing but her minister apparently was an alchoholic so thats a negative- but call around mayn do the same thign!
best of luck! if you want his contact info let me know
email me at jenn_coyle@hotmail.com

2dBride · December 2009

Technically, a civil ceremony is one done by a judge, justice of the peace, or other person who is appointed by law as one to perform weddings. A religious ceremony is one in which the officiant derives his or her status to perform weddings by reason of religious affiliation (minister, rabbi, imam, etc.).

However, in the US, there is often a wide variation. A lot of states allow someone to be appointed as an officiant for a day, and that person may incorporate one religious tradition, a variety of religious traditions, or none at all. Many states allow people to get ordained by mail, so although the person's status as an officiant derives from a "religion," the ceremony may not be religious at all.

Ultimately, the question is not whether the ceremony is civil or religious, but whether it incorporates the degree of religion/spirituality (if any) that you and your FI are comfortable with.

Civil Ceremony vs Religious

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