Weddings
If you need guidance regarding a church wedding, feel free to contact your integration vicar Marjun Lómaklett (ml@kirkjan.fo or phone 237345) on or your local vicar (LINK).
A man and a woman who want a church wedding should register with the vicar in charge of the church in which the ceremony is to take place and sign a marriage certificate.
If the couple resides in Denmark and wishes to wed in the Faroe Islands, they are required to bring a certificate of marital status, available at the relevant Danish municipal office. A similar procedure applies to residents of the other Nordic nations.
A cooperation programme between Lutheran churches in the Nordic region enables couples from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands to be wed in the Church of the Faroe Islands.
Couples from other countries may be wed in the Church of the Faroe Islands provided that one half of the couple is, or has been, a Faroese citizen.
To qualify for a church wedding, at least one half of a couple must be a member of the Church of the Faroe Islands.
If both the man and the women are members of the Church of the Faroe Islands, the couple is legally entitled to a church wedding.
If only one half of the couple is a member of the Church of the Faroe Islands, the couple may be entitled to a church wedding at each individual vicar’s discretion.
In case of previous divorce, a divorce certificate must be submitted to the vicar, and all matters relating to the previous marriage must be settled or in the process of being settled.
Divorced people have a right to be wed in the Church of the Faroe Islands. Vicars have the right to refuse to marry people who have been divorced; however, the Church has ensured that everyone qualified for a church wedding will be allowed to have a church wedding.
The vicar advises the couple regarding the ceremonial procedures.
The bridal couple find two witnesses for the ceremony, one representing the bride and one representing the groom.
Wedding ceremonies can also take place in meeting houses of other Christian communities that are authorised to perform such ceremonies.
Couples can also be wed in a civil ceremony; in which case they are to contact the civil registrar authorised to perform wedding ceremonies.
Church wedding ceremonies usually take place in a church; however, they can also be conducted in a vicarage or in private homes. In special circumstances such as disease, wedding ceremonies may be conducted in e.g. a hospital.
The wedding authority notifies the national register and the name committee of the details of the wedding ceremony.
Church wedding ceremonies, wedding ceremonies in other religious communities and civil wedding ceremonies are legally equivalent. However, religious wedding ceremonies place an equal emphasis on the religious sanctity of marriage, the ordinance of God and benediction. Civil ceremonies focus exclusively on the legal aspect of marriage.
The Christian wedding is based on God’s system of creation.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-28.
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6.