“We see there’s a great demand for Saturday weddings, but must prioritise somwhere. It’s obvious that we’ll have to discontinue the service if this continues,” declared Sør-Trøndelag District Court head of administration Børge Trond Vold.

District court judges in Oslo hold between 500 and 600 marriages each year. Nonetheless, budgets have not been decided for 2013 yet. This means those who want to schedule their civil marriage ceremony for after February may experience problems. 

“This will be one of the things to be evaluated and possibly cut down on. The service will not disappear, but it could mean an end to Saturday marriages,” Steinar Weseth said to NRK. 

Bergen civil ceremonies could also be affected. Officials cannot say anything more until the government completes work on the 2012-13 national budget this month.

In other news, with next year the year of Norway’s general election, marriage formalities and ceremonies may change should the Conservatives (H) gain power.

The Party’s aim is to develop a broader policy that will be more multi-cultural and multi-faith friendly, Christian newspaper Vårt Land reports. 

Under the proposal, the State will be given the power of marriage and take over the paperwork and legal aspects, while the Church’s function will just be purely ceremonial. Ordained clergy welcome the idea.

“I think this sounds like a reasonable suggestion and one worth examining more closely if we get a scheme where it is up to the churches themselves to determine what kind of rituals they use to bless the marriage,” declared eastern Norway’s Bishop of Tunsberg Laila Riksaasen Dahl.

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