In recent years, more and more newlyweds are abandoning the romance of the registry office in favor of practicality. Not everyone likes to order a wedding cortege and then stand in line with the guests for a long time in the lobby of the Wedding Palace. Some couple will definitely be late, someone will forget their passports, and all this time both the newlyweds themselves and their guests will be forced to wait. The speech of a registry office employee has long become a reason for jokes, and interiors (especially in the regions) are often not conducive to romantic photographs. The ceremonial registration of a marriage differs from the non-ceremonial one in its pomp, which is sometimes quite inappropriate and does not fit into the concept of the wedding.
Solemn registration of marriage and non-solemn registration - what are the differences?
You can come to the informal registration even in jeans or a tracksuit. It is held not in the Wedding Palace, but in the regional registry office. The main difference between solemn and non-solemn registration of marriage is that non-solemn is nothing more than a legal procedure, for which you do not need to set aside a whole day and gather guests.
There can be many reasons for a non-celebratory registration - from on-site registration, which usually follows in a few days or weeks, to a complete reluctance to hold any celebrations at all. Recently, instead of spending money on a lavish wedding, newlyweds are increasingly planning a trip with the money they save.
Rules for submitting documents
From a legal point of view, the solemn registration of marriage differs very little from the non-solemn registration. The bride and groom jointly submit an application to the registry office, in which they indicate their mutual desire to get married and confirm that both have reached the age of majority and are not in an undissolved marriage. The application is submitted together with the newlyweds’ passports and a receipt for payment of the state duty.
Through “Gosuslugi”
When submitting an application through the government services website, you can immediately make a choice between solemn and non-solemn marriage registration. A note about this is placed directly when filling out the application online.
To use the public services portal, the bride and groom must have registered accounts there, confirmed by an electronic signature. This is necessary so that the newlyweds can jointly sign the application.
The state duty can also be paid on the website using the online service.
Personal statement
To do this, you must submit the application to the registry office yourself. The state duty in this case will be slightly higher (there is a discount on the government services website). The set of documents for both ceremonial and non-ceremonial registration will be the same.
Deadlines for painting under quarantine conditions
The coronavirus pandemic has made significant changes to the work of many budget organizations, and registry offices are no exception. During the quarantine, some of them completely stopped registering most civil status acts, including marriages. But in some regions (for example, in Tyumen), registration has become available online.
This could be an ideal option for non-ceremonial registration, because you don’t even need to leave your home for it - just submit an application on the government services portal, after which the registrar will independently enter the data into the civil registry book and issue the spouses an electronic marriage certificate.
Fortunately, as of June 1, 2022, restrictions have been lifted in most regions, and registry offices are operating as standard—an application must be submitted a month before the desired registration date.
What days are they on?
The solemn registration of marriage differs from the non-solemn one in that it is usually held on weekends. Most often, Saturday becomes the busiest day in the work of registry offices. After all, when setting the date for the ceremonial registration, the desire of the newlyweds is not enough - you need to take into account that the guests must also be free on this day.
Non-ceremonial registration is carried out on weekdays according to the work schedule of a regular government agency - as a rule, district registry offices are open five days a week from 8:30 to 17:30.
In some regions, specific days may be set aside for non-ceremonial registration, such as odd or even numbers, or certain days of the week.
Price
The Tax Code contains information about how much a wedding ceremony costs. Since a non-ceremonial ceremony involves a minimum of pomp, the price is appropriate - 350 rubles per person. But the future husband and wife pay separately, so the total is 700 rubles. This price includes:
- The marriage certificate itself;
- Registration service.
And if you want to listen to Mendelssohn’s march and add a touch of pomp to the ceremony, then prepare to pay about two thousand rubles.
Differences between ceremonies for solemn and non-solemn registration of marriage
In this regard, the solemn registration of marriage differs from the non-solemn one in that the latter takes place faster and does not carry any festive atmosphere. It can be compared to a visit to the passport office to pick up a reissued document.
The bride and groom appear at the appointed time to sign in the civil registration book, listen to a short speech by the registrar and receive a certificate. There will be no music, no photographer, no queue of other weddings. The more solemn registration of marriage differs from the usual one in that the second one is carried out in a simple office of a civil servant.
How painting takes place in the registry office without a ceremony: all the pros and cons of such registration
By the way, painting without a solemn ceremony does not at all imply the absence of a feast. Some couples practice painting in the registry office, after which they arrange a beautiful outdoor ceremony with imitation painting on the weekend. You won't dig it. This option is due to the fact that civil registry office employees do not have the right to remove the registration book from the organization’s premises. Extreme lovers can even hold such a ceremony in a hot air balloon or on an airplane before a parachute jump.
What can we say about saving effort and nerves? As you know, ceremonial painting requires a lot of preparation, and the wedding day itself turns out to be very fussy. One of the advantages of such registration will be the absence of a question about what to wear for painting, since there are no rules in this regard. Wear what you like.
Non-solemn registration of marriage with a citizen of another state
If one of the newlyweds is a foreign citizen, then non-celebratory marriage registration is often chosen in order to truly celebrate the wedding in his homeland.
What documents are required
The procedure for marrying a foreigner is the same, regardless of whether we are talking about a citizen of a foreign country or the CIS.
The list of documents for a citizen of another state is as follows:
- identification document;
- certificate of divorce from a previous marriage, if there was one;
- a certificate of marital status issued in the country of which he is a citizen.
Documents must be valid in Russia, translated into Russian and certified by a Russian notary.
Features of the ceremony
A citizen of any state who wishes to get married in Russia is subject to the laws of the Russian Federation, and marriage is concluded only in the manner established by local legislation.
If the newlywed is already married, and the laws of his native country allow polygamy, he still will not be able to get married in Russia. The same applies to the minimum acceptable age. It is different in different countries, in most regions of Russia it is 18 and older (not counting individual cases).
A marriage with a citizen of the CIS can be concluded in any district registry office, with a citizen of the Baltic countries and foreign countries - only in some branches.
By default, a marriage entered into in the Russian Federation is also valid in other states, unless their legislation provides otherwise.
If the marriage is revealed to be fictitious (the spouses do not live together, do not maintain a joint household, do not communicate with each other and do not provide each other with material support), it will be annulled from the moment of its conclusion. Thus, if the marriage was concluded to accelerate the acquisition of citizenship, citizenship will be revoked.
In absentia
It is impossible to get married in absentia. This is illegal, therefore no institution will register a marriage in absentia. Although there are situations when absentee registration is possible. But the application must bear the signature of the absent person and it must be certified by a notary. And in any case, at least one of the future spouses must submit an application.
It is not possible to submit an application by mail or virtually. But as practice proves, absentee registration does not always work, so it is better to complete the application in person.
Average age of marriage in Russia and other countries
If we compare the average age of marriage in different countries, Russia in recent years will be closer to those who marry later. There is a tendency that the more stable a country’s economy, the higher the average age of newlyweds. Here's what the statistics say:
- The oldest newlyweds are in Europe. Residents of Great Britain, France, Holland, Norway and Italy enter into their first marriage at an average age of 32.
- Almost behind them are the USA and Spain - here first marriages usually take place at 28 and 29 years old, respectively.
- Also, 29 years is the approximate age of a newlywed in Japan. A little less - 27 years - in China.
- The average age of marriage in Russia is about 25 years.
- In different Latin American countries, this age varies from 19 to 23 years.
The earliest marriages take place in the countries of the Middle East - where the average age of newlyweds is about 17 years, despite the fact that girls are often married off before reaching 14 years of age.
What can you additionally order for your wedding ceremony?
Additional services of the Civil Registry Office include:
- introduction of a staff photographer and cameraman;
- provision of cars for the wedding procession;
- special tapes for witnesses;
- folders for the first joint document of the newlyweds;
- organization of a buffet in the registry office building;
- other services.
A complete list of them can be obtained from the specific department. Payment is made on the spot. In this case, the money is given directly to the people who provided the service.
The registry office itself does not provide these services. All of these are partner companies that specialize in providing certain services. That is why it is impossible to make payment along with the state duty.
Practice shows that their cost here is slightly higher than in agencies that work not through civil registry offices, but directly with newlyweds. Therefore, it is worth checking the possibility of ordering various goods and services in other places.
Difficult choice: where to submit documents and pay state fees
You can submit an application online through the mos.ru portal, as well as at any registry office or Wedding Palace.
In the first case, the couple needs to register on the site. The application is submitted simultaneously from two personal accounts. One person, the bride or groom, must be the initiator and fill out their part of the document in their profile, then the application is sent to a second personal account, where the second part is filled out. The state duty is 350 rubles. It can also be paid online, in which case a 30 percent discount is provided, so you will have to pay 245 rubles. You can track the status of application processing in your personal accounts: messages are sent there indicating when the document was received, accepted and sent to the registry office.
To submit an application, you must submit the following documents:
— application (can be filled out on the spot);
— passports;
- documents on the termination of a previous marriage (this may be a certificate of divorce or death of a spouse, depending on the situation, or a court decision on divorce if it was dissolved in the territory of a foreign state);
— if one or both future spouses are minors, permission from local authorities is required;
- receipt of payment of state duty.
If certificates of divorce or death of a spouse were issued by the Moscow registry office, they do not need to be presented.
The requirements for the package of documents at the registry office, the Wedding Palace or are identical.
Additionally, you may only need an invitation if you signed up to apply through the government services portal.
On what days is it held?
If we talk about specific days, then each institution has its own regulations related to registration. It often happens that both formal and simple registration take place on the same day. Therefore, it is enough to clarify this information.
Often, non-ceremonial registration is carried out by appointment. Perhaps the couple will be included in the same list that is used in the process of ceremonial painting.
The difference is that in the first case the procedure takes a much shorter period of time. Under certain circumstances, a wedding without a celebration is held on weekdays, and the day for a wedding with a celebration is set on a weekend.
It will be better to find out about the procedure for holding the ceremony in the registry office located in the territory of the corresponding locality.
Reasons for choosing a simple wedding
The simplified procedure goes quite quickly.
In most cases, it lasts from 10 to 30 minutes, since its format does not involve a long ceremonial part. Each couple has individual reasons why they want to formalize their relationship without unnecessary noise.
But there are several general factors that provoke the choice of a simple marriage:
- Most often, marriage without a ceremony is chosen by those couples who have been living together for a long time. Therefore, registering a marriage is just a formality for them in order to avoid problems with paternity in the future when they decide to have children. A magnificent celebration will not change anything in the lives of these people, since they have long been an established family. There is no need to confirm your status to others.
- Many people choose a non-ceremonial registration when the bride is pregnant. In this case, the ceremony can be very tiring for the bride. Therefore, marriage registration takes place quickly, so as not to tire the bride and settle all the formalities. The health of the child and the expectant mother is the most important.
- The most common reason for a ceremony without a celebration is to save money. A lavish wedding costs a hefty sum, which not everyone can afford. After all, such an event is held simply to celebrate the wedding and accept congratulations from the guests.
- The reason for refusing ceremonial registration may also be the fact that people do not really like big holidays. It is enough for them to listen to congratulations from their closest friends and relatives. For example, if newlyweds are from different cities, then it is much easier to listen to congratulations over the phone, especially if both of them do not live in their home cities.
