9. (a) In the case of a civil marriage, what might a Christian couple choose to do? (b) How might the elders be involved in the wedding plans?

⁹ In other countries, the law requires that a couple marry at a government office, such as city hall, or before a designated civil agent. Christians often choose to follow up that legal step with a wedding talk at the Kingdom Hall on the same day or the next. (They would not want many days to pass between the civil ceremony and the Bible talk, for they are married before God and man, including the Christian congregation.) If a couple who will have a civil marriage desire to have a talk at a certain Kingdom Hall, they should beforehand seek the permission of the elders forming the Congregation Service Committee. In addition to confirming that the couple have a good reputation, these overseers will make sure that the timing of the wedding will not interfere with the regular meetings and scheduled programs at the hall. (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40) They will also review any preparations of the hall that the couple may request and decide whether there will be an announcement made about its use.

10. If there must be a civil marriage, how would this affect the wedding talk?

¹⁰ The elder giving the wedding talk will strive to make the discussion warm, spiritually upbuilding, and dignified. If the couple were first joined in a civil marriage, he will make it clear that they were married according to Caesar’s law. If marriage vows were not exchanged in the civil ceremony, the couple may want to do so during the talk.c If that civil ceremony included vows but the newly married couple want to say vows before Jehovah and the congregation, they would do so in the past tense, showing that they were already “yoked together.”​—Matthew 19:6; 22:21.

As noted above, the couple who are thus married may want to follow that registration right away with a Bible-based talk at the Kingdom Hall. The spiritually mature brother selected to give the talk will inform all attending that the couple are married by reason of the registration that just took place. Any vows would be handled in accord with what is outlined in paragraph 10 and its footnote.

As noted above, Christians entering such a legal marriage may desire to have a marriage talk, with wedding vows, at the Kingdom Hall. If that is done, the speaker would acknowledge that the couple were already married in harmony with the laws of Caesar. There would be only one such talk. There is one marriage, in this case the legally valid customary (tribal) marriage, and one Scriptural talk. Keeping the two aspects as close together timewise as possible, preferably on the same day, contributes to honoring Christian marriage in the community.