Getting married with a venue?

[carn1x]

Hello,

Me and my fiancé are planning to get married in the next 3 weeks or so, or at least before the end of august.

We plan primarily to go through a registry office, however early signs are indicating that we may have a hard time securing a booking before the end of August. While we have by no means given up on this plan, it is important to explore the alternatives just in case

So the alternative would be to use a lawyer at higher cost but also likely high convenience. I was recently given the contact information of Arthur Au to contact for this purpose, however at first inquiry, we were informed not to expect such a nice venue, as it would simply be getting married in an office. While they said that they will provide the service at a location of our choosing for a higher price, they refused to name a price unless we could name the location, which at this stage we do not have.

I am wondering if anybody has any suggestions for locations along the lines of a hall that the registry office might provide, either for rent for use with a lawyer, or perhaps even a lawyer that provides a more pleasant venue?

I was originally advised that marriage with a lawyer would cost around $3000HK including the giving of notice. Arthur Au's office told me that in fact, were we to do it in office it would cost us £2305HK. While we would like to keep the cost low, the venue is still important to us, especially as we will have around 10 guests maximum, possibly a few less.

Thanks for any thoughts and help!

[TS888]

First, the pedant in me is squirming like a snake nailed to a board, so I have to correct at least one of the numerous grammar violations committed above. It's "My fiance and I are planning to get married..."

Despite what your friends may tell you, no one really enjoys sitting through a wedding. Marriage is a simple civil contract, no need to imbue it with any more significance than it deserves. My advice would be to spend the least possible amount on the legalities, and use the savings to host a good party.

[PDLM]

I'm with TS888. We used Don Vong at Vongs for our wedding which we did in his office with the minimum of fuss. Parties followed later.

[BryanL]

Just curious, I looked at Vong's webpage and they charged roughly $3000 for application for marriage.

Correct me if I am wrong, application for marriage is the easy part am I right? All you would have to do is go to this site: GovHK: Online Appointment Booking for Giving of Notice of Intended Marriage and give notice within 3 months of your intended marriage date.

The hard part is the actual marriage celebration as it is hard to get a special day, especially if it is auspicious. That I can justify the $5,000. But paying $3,000 to just submit your name online is a bit too much. Unless of course I am mistaken, please someone correct me.

[PDLM]

Firstly their fees are highly negotiable, secondly they include the fees at the marriage registry (filing and exhibition of notice of marriage), doing the marriage ceremony itself, and producing and submitting all the other paperwork.

You can get married any time, anywhere you want. The only bottleneck is if, for some reason, you want to get married at the marriage registry - that is a finite resource and difficult to get on certain days.

If you want to get married in the cheapest possible way then yes using the marriage registry and doing it all yourself is undoubtedly the way to go. But if what you want is the minimum of fuss and hassle and just doing whatever is necessary to get the piece of paper that is necessary to get things out of ImmD and IRD then I still think that a Civil Celebrant is the way to go. We got married after work on a Friday night at Vong's office a few minutes walk from my office. Walking over there two weeks earlier with a cheque as a deposit for his services, turning up on the day, saying yes, and signing a few forms on the day was all I had to do. For me that was $3800 well spent just for the convenience of it all.

Frankly, compared to the lifetime cost of being married we are talking trivial sums of money anyway. (I actually spent significantly more just on a couple of bottles of Krug at the Grand Hyatt Champagne Bar where the four of us (me, Mrs PDLM, two witnesses) went to celebrate afterwards.)

[BryanL]

Firstly their fees are highly negotiable, secondly they include the fees at the marriage registry (filing and exhibition of notice of marriage), doing the marriage ceremony itself, and producing and submitting all the other paperwork.

You can get married any time, anywhere you want. The only bottleneck is if, for some reason, you want to get married at the marriage registry - that is a finite resource and difficult to get on certain days.

If you want to get married in the cheapest possible way then yes using the marriage registry and doing it all yourself is undoubtedly the way to go. But if what you want is the minimum of fuss and hassle and just doing whatever is necessary to get the piece of paper that is necessary to get things out of ImmD and IRD then I still think that a Civil Celebrant is the way to go. We got married after work on a Friday night at Vong's office a few minutes walk from my office. Walking over there two weeks earlier with a cheque as a deposit for his services, turning up on the day, saying yes, and signing a few forms on the day was all I had to do. For me that was $3800 well spent just for the convenience of it all.

Frankly, compared to the lifetime cost of being married we are talking trivial sums of money anyway.

$3800 is a good deal
Well I agree that the second part is worth it, but if you are paying $3000 (before negotiation) just to get someone to do something that would take you 15 mins to fill online, then that is not worth it. Unless of course the application for marriage is more than just filling things online, something which I hope someone can correct for me.

Compared to lifetime costs being married, this is trivial sums of money, unless of course there is a divorce down the road

[hullexile]

$3800 is a good deal
Well I agree that the second part is worth it, but if you are paying $3000 (before negotiation) just to get someone to do something that would take you 15 mins to fill online, then that is not worth it. Unless of course the application for marriage is more than just filling things online, something which I hope someone can correct for me.

Compared to lifetime costs being married, this is trivial sums of money, unless of course there is a divorce down the road

I would imagine the HK$3000 they quote is for more than just applying. I paid HK$4000 or 5000 (can't remember) but that included a small additional complication of being divorced. Easy, hassle free and friendly.