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Argentine weddings


 Posted by Constanza on June 30, 1998 at 10:39:12:


In response to late weddings, written by Laura W on June 30, 1998 at 00:14:44


To L and T indexI don't know why I assumed it was understood that I was speaking of Catholic marriages. My grandmother is a Catholic and so was my grandfather. So sorry!
According to Argentine Civil Code (passed c. 1880) only the "civil marriage" has legal effects.  For that reason, there are almost always two ceremonies: one at the civil registry and before the registrar (it generally takes place in the morning or early afternoon, on business day, and only the bride and bridegroom, their close family and the witnesses attend) and the religious ceremony (whether Catholic, Protestant or Jewish).  Even though a Catholic marriage has no legal effects, priests are forbidden to perform a marriage ceremony if the bride and bridegroom have not previously been married by the registrar. 
Both ceremonies generally take place within the same week.  However, according to my mother, some twenty or thirty years ago, those couples who were going to Europe for their honeymoon would get married by the civil law six months before the religious wedding, to allow the bride to get a passport with her married name (otherwise, the couple would not have been admitted at the hotels).
In the religious ceremony there is no such thing as a bridesmaid (sp?) or a bestman (the parents take that place, or if one of them are dead, then the elder brother or sister).  However the "witnesses" for the civil ceremony stand in a similar position (they are generally the bridegroom's best male friend and the bride's best female friend).





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