Reykjavík wants municipalities to conduct civil weddings

Reykjavík City has proposed giving municipalities legal authority to conduct civil marriages, mbl.is reported. The idea appears in comments on a draft bill for new marriage legislation prepared by the Family Law Committee.

The proposal is based partly on practices in the Nordic countries, particularly Norway, where town halls are often used for wedding ceremonies and given a broader public role.

Björg Magnúsdóttir, president of Reykjavík City Council, supports transferring responsibility for civil weddings from district commissioners to municipalities. She already has the right to conduct marriages through Siðmennt, an organisation that provides secular ceremonies, but does not currently envisage overseeing the ceremonies herself.

“Our idea is to make better use of the impressive buildings owned by Reykjavík City and its residents,” she said. One possibility would be to use Höfði, a historic house in Reykjavík, for the ceremonies.

Magnúsdóttir said Höfði was one of the city’s finest buildings, with a scenic location and important history. The house hosted a 1986 summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

“We have been considering ways to give the public better access to the city’s buildings and make better use of them,” she said, adding that the city wanted to discuss possible approaches and submit ideas.

Bragi Bjarnason, municipal manager of Árborg, said the proposal was interesting. Árborg had several attractive locations that could potentially be used for such a role, he said, but the project would need to be assessed for its cost, scope and feasibility before municipalities took over the responsibility from the state.

Bjarnason also raised the possibility of charging fees for the use of public buildings. Municipalities have limited defined opportunities to generate revenue, he said, while the buildings had been built with public money.

Berglind Ósk Guðmundsdóttir, mayor of Akureyri, described the idea of transferring civil weddings from district commissioners to municipalities as appealing but somewhat strange. She said she was comfortable with the current arrangement, under which legally trained representatives of district commissioners conduct civil marriages and clergy conduct marriages in churches.