1.   Although Yeager and Dahmani had a religious wedding, their civil marriage had not been formalized with a certificate.

2.   In recent years, however, the council noticed that its civil wedding numbers were falling, while religious weddings were on the rise.

3.   There are sites for religious weddings, unconventional weddings and small weddings.

4.   Under Israeli law, only religious weddings are permitted, and what the rabbis see as inter-marriages are forbidden.

5.   Lebanon only permits religious weddings and couples of mixed religious backgrounds must travel abroad to tie the knot.

6.   Lebanon only permits religious weddings, and couples of mixed religious backgrounds must travel abroad to get married.

7.   Reform Rabbi Uri Regev welcomed the idea, saying thousands of Israelis are disqualified from having religious weddings, and many others prefer civil weddings.

8.   The religious wedding has no legal standing on its own.

9.   Turkish law, based on Swiss civil law, does not consider religious weddings to be binding.

10.   The civil ceremony will be followed by a religious wedding on Saturday, the newspaper Koelnische Rundschau will disclose in its Tuesday edition.