1 As a symbolic institution of marriage and love, the Registry of Marriages (ROM) is launching 'MyROMStory' Campaign on Valentine's Day and is inviting all Singaporeans to contribute their memories of their own ROM experiences, including what they remember of the ROM Building.
- 'MyROMStory' Campaign - Jointly developed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Singapore Memory Project, this campaign aims to collate the social memories of Singaporeans when they started on their marriage journey. It encourages Singaporeans to reflect on their marriage, and how they view the significance of marriage as an institution in the Singapore society. Members of the Public are invited to share their photos and memories of their ROM experiences, including what they remember of the ROM Building, on the Singapore Memories Project website.
2 In conjunction with Valentine's Day, the Registry of Marriages (ROM) has also organised the following activities
a. Activities at ROM in celebration of love and marriage - Couples and families that visit ROM on Valentine's day can enjoy romantic love tunes by a roving guitarist and violinist, and also take photos against a photo floral-design wall.
b. National Heritage Board's "Romance, Hopes and Dreams" exhibition (11 February to 1 March at ROM) - This exhibition highlights the significance of some wedding customs and rituals which are commonly practised by major ethnic communities in Singapore. Wedding ceremonies are a whirlwind of joyous anticipation and activities, but marriage is for a lifetime. Hence, just like how couples finds deep joy and value in investing time and effort in deepening their relationships with their spouses, visitors will realise that it is through these ceremonies that couples and their families create precious memories to look back on.
3 Statistics on the number of civil marriages on Valentine's Day (14 February 2019) are summarised in the table below. 87 couples will be solemnising their marriages on 14 February 2019, the highest when compared to the last three years. To date, 14 February 1995 was the most popular date for marriage in the history of ROM with 1,082 solemnisations held that day. This date was special as during that year, the Western Valentine's Day coincided with the 15th day of the lunar new year (Yuan Xiao Festival), which is the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day.
| Date | Number of civil marriages |
|---|---|
14 Feb 2019 14 Feb 2018 14 Feb 2017 14 Feb 2016 14 Feb 2015 14 Feb 2014 | 87 65 58 66 123 235 |
Annex About the Registry of Marriages (ROM) and Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM)
- The Registry of Marriages (ROM) was set up in 1961 to administer the provisions of the Women's Charter (Cap 353) for the solemnisation and registration of civil marriages.
- The Registry of Muslim Marriages ROMM was set up in 1968 to administer the provisions of the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) (Cap 2) for the solemnisation and registration of Muslim marriages.
- Since the set-up of the Registries of Marriages up till 2018, about 1.3 million civil and Muslim marriages have been registered.
- Various initiatives have been organised in recent years to enhance the overall experience of soon-to-wed couples and to celebrate marriages in Singapore. These initiatives include
2011 - Integration of ROM premises at Canning Rise with parts of Fort Canning Park for couples to celebrate their nuptials and create memories after their wedding at the ROM premises.
2014 - Introduction of two-hour Introductory Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Programme (PREP) at ROM premises every weekday for soon-to-wed couples.
2015 - (1)Commemorative SG50 marriage certificate holder for residents who married during the year.(2) Exhibition at ROM on wedding customs and rituals of the different races in Singapore. (3)Photo booth for couples getting married and their guests as a keepsake from their wedding ceremony.
2016 - Celebrating 55th Anniversary of First Civil Marriages in Singapore, to commemorate the passing of the Women's Charter in 1961.
2018 - Inaugural Golden Jubilee Wedding Celebrations to celebrate couples who had been married for 50 years in 2017.