No, you don’t need a big wedding to be legally married
With or without law, there is no threshold for an acceptable standard of a wedding. However, there is no law that demands one to only become a wife or husband through a wedding.
Hi Eric.
I am excited because I met the love of my life. We have dated for six months and I am ready to make her my wife. We cannot afford a big wedding but perhaps when God blesses us in future, we will do the big ceremony. I thought all I needed to do for the marriage to be legal was go to the pastor and be prayed for then to AG to get a marriage certificate. However, friends and family have begun complicating matters for us. Can a marriage still be lawful without those big, expensive ceremonies?
Dear reader,
Wedding and marriage are two related concepts but with different meanings, and connotations. Marriage has a legal definition and a threshold to affirm it. Pursuant to Article 45 (2) of the Constitution, which states that every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of the parties, Section 3(1) of the Marriage Act provides for what constitutes a marriage.
Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman whether in a monogamous or polygamous union and registered in accordance with this Act. This section of the Marriage Act gives grounds to deconstruct your fears. Remember, marriage is for the willing man and woman, not for friends and family.
Human beings are social animals and since time immemorial have established mechanisms and sometimes pomp of sustaining certain cultures or ways of life. Weddings, among many others, are some of the ways to promulgate marriages.
Weddings seem like a universally accepted rite to demonstrate marriage in and across most religions and cultures. While your families and friends may have a say on what type of wedding you and your finance should have, the final decision of whether or not lies with you.
That notwithstanding, there are several kinds of marriages as described and provided for in the Marriage Act. Section 6 (1) indicates to people in Kenya the five recognized marriages. These are Christian, customary, Civil, Hindu and Islamic marriages.
Each of these marriages is carried out in accordance with rites and rituals recognised and accepted within the frameworks of the specific practice. The stakes of your friends and family are likely higher in this setup where certain rites are bundled together to execute, realise or celebrate marriage.
Part III, from Section 17 of the Marriage Act provides the legal expectation of the man and woman who intend to get married if one prophesies the faith of Christianity. The Act references a church minister, in their role of marriage officer.
No threshold
The assumption as has been proven in practice is that the church minister plays this role in a wedding set-up. With or without law, there is no threshold for an acceptable standard of a wedding. However, there is no law that demands one to only become a wife or husband through a wedding.
If a Hindu or Muslim, then your marriage is celebrated under Sections 46 to 49 of the Marriage Act. However, your story demands that we understand the place of civil marriages, that are often conducted by the Attorney General’s office.
Many a time such marriages have no fanfare. Civil marriages are anchored in Sections 24 to 42 of the Marriage Act. Such union is officiated in and by the presence of a Registrar. Section 25 (1) provides you with the second step of the process, that the parties intending to get married shall give provide a written notice to the Registrar of not less than twenty-one days, and not more than three months.
The notice given, must have been signed by both parties, and comprise: the names and ages of the parties to the intended marriage and the places where they ordinarily reside; the names of the parents of the parties, if known and alive, and the places where they ordinarily reside; a declaration that the parties are not within a prohibited relationship; marital status of each party, and if divorced, a copy of the relevant decree or have a copy of death certificate if widowed; the date and venue of the marriage ceremony.
Should this notice not be objected to, a registrar shall issue to the parties intending of the union a certificate of no impediment as stated in Section 32 (1) of the Marriage Act, and dispense off the notice as provided in Section 33, having confirmed that the parties seeking to celebrate marriage are of age, do not belong to a prohibited relationship nor married to another person.
The registrar then, on the material day shall complete and sign a marriage certificate in a prescribed form, after which he or she causes the same to be signed by the parties and their witnesses, asserting that the union between the two is legitimate and legal. It is possible within the law for one to get married without big and expensive ceremonies.
The Marriage Act has given you and your fiancée an opportunity to decide what works best given your circumstances. Please remember, that it is your right to marry a person with whom you choose to spend your life with. Your friends and family have no locus standi in this matter.
Eric Mukoya has over 17 years’ experience working in the social justice sector. He’s the executive director of Undugu Society of Kenya. Legal query? Email [email protected]
