When is a wedding not a wedding?

Around 25 Irish couples have been affected by a legal loophole which has left their church marriages invalid.

The problem, which could undermine family succession rights, arose from new family-legislation aimed at harmonising church and state marriages. Last year, for the first time, the state stipulated that couples must notify state registrars three months in advance of their intention to marry. The instruction's purpose is to ensure that couples reflect on their decision to marry, and so reduce the numbers of hasty unions breaking down. Newly passed legal amendments will retrospectively validate the status of 84 couples who believed they had notified registrars correctly before marriages. But 25 other couples will have no option but to go down the aisle again because they were in such a rush they neglected to give any notice at all.