2 ceremonies?

You can’t legally have two ceremonies. In order to do this the first one would have to be fake and I would feel uncomfortable deceiving my guests.

It’s quite normal when you have a church wedding to drive from the ceremony to the reception - almost every wedding I’ve ever been to has done this. We had a twenty minute drive between church and reception venue and no one just left. What you could do is have a civil ceremony at the same site as your reception (which is your legal marriage ceremony) and then do a church blessing ceremony (possibly called convalidation? Not Catholic so I may have that wrong) later on if your fiancé really won’t budge.

I had a friend that had a big non-religious ceremony/reception on friday or saturday (I forgot which day) and a church wedding the following sunday with close family so it is definitely doable. Depending on the church, you can give you a 'suggested donation' which may be fairly cheap (and also tax deductibe!) if the church is not in high demand. But, I will say, I've NEVER heard of guests only attending the ceremony and leaving or attending only the reception but not the ceremony.

Speaking as a Chaplain You can have 2 ceremonies just one will be the official documented date and signed on the license.
No one will be deceived cause if you want a church service you will include whomever you want and those that are included probably were at the other ceremony.

2nd My 1st husband & I got married before he left for service 38 .yrs ago we couldnt secure the church it was booked over a yr ahead. So.we had a church wedding when he returned.and civil before he left.
Our travel is only 10 min this time w FH

People wont leave. Has he never been to any catholic or otherwise church held wedding?
I had a full 1 hour catholic mass with a 3 hour gap between (with some planned entertainment for our of towners). Everyone, even non Catholics, loved our mass and ceremony. One person went to only the ceremony and only because she had a family member's wedding that evening and her husband was in the wedding.

THE WEDDING CEREMONY IS FOR YOU! NOT YOIR GUESTS! THAT'S WHAT THE RECEPTION IS FOR.

My understanding is that if you have a civil ceremony, you can have a later Catholic convalidation. However, you should speak to your priest about this possibility ahead of time. While the civil marriage would be the legal one, the convalidation would be the one recognized by the Catholic church, and you would be expected to refrain from sex until the convalidation. And my understanding is that different priests take different views of the acceptability of having a civil wedding with the expectation of having a convalidation shortly thereafter.

View Quoted Comment Not tax deductible under new tax laws!

I’m Catholic but we aren’t having a Catholic ceremony since FH isn’t Catholic. But my friend is getting married with the catholic ceremony at her reception site. As long as you get permission from the pastor and bishop this can happen. Lots of people have the ceremony and reception at different locations and guests don’t mind going from one location to the other.

Double check with your priest about the rules and what is required. I'm not catholic but I've also heard of year long classes that are required. Have you participated in those?
My experience is people are more likely to skip the ceremony rather than not drive the distance to the reception. Maybe revisit this with your FH? How far is this? I've driven maybe 25 minutes before. The one thing to note is you'll have to be expedient with photos with a far drive so guests aren't waiting and waiting and waiting.

This was a possibility for us depending on how our plans played out. but it isn't what we are doing
I believe the church prefers having the religious one first, and legal. And then the big ceremony after and not be legal. When I brought it up to my priest he had no problem with it. Said it could
only be us with a witness.
But, I know every priest is not as relaxed as my priest and dont want to do that. Just have a meeting with him and see what all your options are.

GIRLFRIEND!!! I’m having a similar issue, except I’ve always dreamed of being married outdoors so we’re currently working it out with our priest to see if we have to do 2 ceremonies or if he will marry us outside. If he won’t, we will do the catholic ceremony first, earlier in the day, and then pictures, then an evening outdoors ceremony. Also, if it’s 2, we will only be inviting immediate family and bridal party to the church and then everyone to the civil and reception. Hope you figure it out and have peace with your decision!

View Quoted Comment Kelci you know you can still have a catholic ceremony even though he issnt catholic, right?

I wouldn't worry about guests leaving. We are getting married at a chapel and the reception is at another venue (ours is a 2 minute drive / 5 minute walk away).

One of my best friends brothers got married last October and their ceremony and reception venues were 40 minutes apart and everyone from the ceremony drove!

The people who want to come and celebrate will drive to the reception location, I think!

Based on your religion (and if FH is okay with it), what I would do is just have the ceremony at the church and drive to the reception. Are there any other churches affiliated with your church that your priest would be willing to marry you at that may be closer to your ideal reception venue?

View Quoted Comment That is something that I can work out. Obviously I am not planning on making my guests drive 2 hours to the reception venue but I was trying to find something close. Especially for out of town guests that might get lost.

View Quoted Comment Yes I know I could but I just wanted to get married at my venue not in the church

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the update!!!

View Quoted Comment How is the planning going? I'm just in the beginning of figuring out a way to make it all work.

View Quoted Comment I am doing the ceremony at the venue, trying to do it at the church was just not working out. We have a minister already and I got the ok from our families too so that is a huge relief for me!

Some preists will do a Catholic wedding outside a church, my area is very Catholic and it's not unheard of to skip the church entirely.
That being said it is very, very, very common to have the church ceremony and then go to the reception elsewhere, it's only in the last decade or so it began to be popular to do ceremonies outside of the house of worship.

View Quoted Comment Believe me I tried every avenue and they kept saying no. My church was giving me too many problems and the timing of the ceremony was not great either. It was better for us to do it at the venue.