Can Catholic priest also be officiant if you’re already married in the Catholic Church?

Why do you need a second officiant? As you say, you’ll already be married. There’s no need to play-act to do it again in front of more people. Just make the second part the big party and have pictures from the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment To each their own. The church might literally have 10 other people at it and not the entire bridal party either. so we are doing both.

From what I have read on here from other brides, Catholic priests are typically unwilling to officiate second ceremonies or ceremonies outside the church. That being said, it never hurts to ask. If they decline, I would either have a friend become ordained and perform the ceremony, or find a non-denominational Officiant to perform the vow renewal at the second celebration.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your input!!! You’re right he can just simply decline.

View Quoted Comment You don’t need an ordained person at all because the legal marriage has occurred. A person only has to get ordained for it if they need the to meet the state’s requirements for conducting a marriage. A recreation or vow renewal doesn’t have any requirements, so they can just ask a friend to do it.

View Quoted Comment Wow! That concept didn’t even cross my brain! Thank you

You will already be married, you do not need an officiant. Just have your party. Please also make sure to let your guests know that you are already married and the event isn't a wedding.

Very silly to play dress up and pretend married when your already married.

Considering that you'd already have been married in the church, then you should be fine - it's just a matter of asking the priest if he's available and willing to do it. Like previous posters have said, the latter ceremony would be a vow renewal or even a simple blessing over your marriage, and the Church doesn't have any regulations for those. You actually don't even need to have a priest, and you can almost do whatever you want, except for having the actual rite of marriage repeated (because you've already done it), and you wouldn't be able to have communion. And like others have said, it's important to make it clear to your guests that you're already married.

I agree with Andrea, your priest will have signed and sent the official papers to the county by the time of the party so anyone can do a symbolic ceremony. I thought of these ideas:. 1) You can have the symbolic ceremony with another stand-in so others may witness your vows. Party to follow. Or 2) No reenactment, keep your vows private, and instead invite your Officiant to your reception, asking him to say a prayer/ blessing over your marriage, and over the meal. I think either one would feel meaningful for your guests who could not or were not asked to come to the Church ceremony. Of course, it is up to you how you want to mark this commitment. Best wishes.

View Quoted Comment Was this supposed to be helpful?

Short answer, no. The Catholic Church and most other places/people consider the day the legal part was done to be the actual wedding day. When you were wedded to your partner. The Catholic Church considers marriage to be a sacred ritual with strict regulations and they don’t play when the rest of the world says “the day the legalities took place wasn’t a real wedding” as is a popular mind set post-Covid that not everyone agrees with, and many find it equally disrespectful and offensive to say that the “legal” part is not the “real” wedding day., because that statement disrespects couples who intentionally married at the courthouse or other venue privately with no intention of throwing a big renewal ceremony and reception later that is called the “actual wedding” and not being honest with guests that the wedding took place at another time in the past. The Catholic Church only allows weddings (the legal ones, not ceremonial vow renewals) to take place outdoors in rare occasions and they have a laundry list of regulations to follow in that case to make it valid in the eyes of the Church. If you are not 1000% honest at any point during the process, they will shut it down. They don’t do “vow renewals” except in super rare circumstances that they decide what is valid and what isn’t. If you ask them to do this, you and they will be committing fraud. Because you are already legally married, just ask a friend to perform the renewal ceremony if you plan to have a ceremony of some kind. It doesn’t make sense to pay an officiant who is under the impression they will be performing a legal ceremony, and no Catholic priest will agree to participate in this.

View Quoted Comment Agree completely. Have attended a few of these where only a couple guests were aware that the couple got married at the courthouse a week or month prior and sworn to secrecy. Each one backfired badly when guests found out between the ceremony and reception that a legal ceremony already took place, when they were told this was the legal ceremony and bridges were permanently burned as a result of being lied to.

View Quoted Comment His role “officiating” would be to say some nice words into the mic and then say you may now kiss the bride blah blah blah.

View Quoted Comment Don’t get a priest if you don’t expect them to… priest. That’s the job. If you don’t want/can’t have the religious ceremony, just ask a friend to say some nice words and you may now kiss the bride.

View Quoted Comment A Catholic Priest in good standing with their local Diocese will never agree to do this. Just ask a friend to recite the script you want.

One thing that few if any would do as an officiant would be to pretend to be doing the actual marriage. I'm not sure if this is what you were imagining. This could represent a degree of fraud. Some may be able to do a commitment ceremony where the distinction can be maintained from a marriage ceremony.

One couple posted here recently where they narrated the ceremony they just had. "The officiant asked us if we join in holy matrimony. We said our I dos. We gave our vows to each other which were as follows. ... We were pronounced as newly married. And we did a long dramatic k.... we'll like this..."

View Quoted Comment

There's a difference between a convalidation and a vow renewal. OP would already have a valid marriage (in the eyes of the Church) since they would have already celebrated the sacrament at the church. That being the case, they would be celebrating a vow renewal at the later celebration, and that can take pretty much any form that the couple wants. Vow renewals are not considered to be sacramental in the Church, so a couple can do a vow renewal however they want at any time, except they can't repeat the rite of marriage (since they're already married), and in this case, they can't have a mass without special permission since it's going to be held outside. I also doubt that the officiant would think that they'd be performing a legal ceremony, since the OP mentioned asking the same priest who will be officiating their church wedding the week previous. But I agree with you, better to be honest about it being a vow renewal with their guests than pretending like it's something different.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for saying something actually helpful. You must’ve actually read the post instead of immediately criticizing and assuming things. The idea of fraud is hilarious due to the fact that everyone knows we are doing our catholic mass the week before including the priest, venue, friends, and family. No secret covert ops plan 🥸

My guess is that whether you are open that you are already married or not a traditional priest will not be willing to “officiate” at a wedding like ceremony as that sends the message that your real wedding day was not “real” wedding or that vows need supplementing or can expire. You can, of course, invite him to the celebration and he might be willing to get up and do a simple blessing or say a prayer. I think an outdoor ceremony with wedding like elements is unlikely though.