Catholic Churches

Alternately, does anyone knows of any priests who would travel? (My fiance went to Seton Hall, which has a gorgeous chapel, but you need to bring your own priest to do the mass since it's not technically a parish.)

I don;t know that area, but most churches will have non parishioners married there if they get a letter from their home church. There are usually either donations or a fee involved. You can just look up churches in the area and ask if your date is available, that's where we started.

I've heard the same was what Hollyberry said, they might ask you for a letter from your church confirming you're bot parishioners there. But not every church requires that, some will just ask you to bring your baptism and confirmation certificates, and attend the pre-cana courses.

My brother used to live in Basking Ridge! I don't remember what the name of the church was that he attended...St. James maybe?

I actually didn't realize that churches had requirements about being a parishioner. My cousin got married at a church in Newport that she didn't belong to without any flack.

Look into the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Montclair. This is the next town over from Bloomfield, where Oakeside Manor is. It is a beautiful space with a long aisle, a great organ and Director of Music, and soloists available (if you want one).

We are not technically registered parishioners anywhere and it was not an issue at our church. We do attend church regularly there and met with the priest beforehand but we've never been registered. I would call around.

Thanks everyone! It makes me optimistic to hear from other people who were in the same boat.

We're almost positive we're going to book at the Basking Ridge Country Club, and ended up catching mass on Sunday at a church down the road that was recommended to us by the coordinator at BRCC. It definitely seemed like a warm, welcoming parish, so we're working on setting up a meeting with the priest. Fingers crossed!

The church we got married in allows non parishioners. However the Catholic Church is more strict. They have pre cana usually and other pre wedding prep that is mandatory.

Catholic churches don't work like that.

Most true Catholic priests will not marry someone not in their parish and definitely not outside of the church in an off premise location. It's just not that simple. They expect you to be a member, they expect you to tithe, and they will expect you to go through pre cana.

There are several "priests" in NJ that will qualify themselves in different ways, but if it is really important to you as a sacrament, that's not going to cut it either.

Your best bet is to ask your church if they will do a blessing for your marriage after a civil wedding ceremony elsewhere; we did two of these this weekend.

The Basking Ridge Country Club, is a beautiful venue with terrific staff and a warm atmosphere.

Tithing in the Catholic church is not a requirement. It only serves as a paper trail to show you are an active parishioner.

Our regular church is a little further out of the city. We didn't want our guests to drive far so we decided on a Catholic Church a little closer. The priest didn't mention any letters and we didn't have any issues. We still are required to give a little more for church fees but nothing too crazy. It will probably depend on the church you pick.

Eta: We are still required to give our Baptism forms and also required to do all the marriage preparations through the church.

We do want to get married in the church and do pre-Cana wherever we pick. (The Seton Hall option is still a Catholic Church that would require a Catholic priest..) We are both baptized and confirmed and so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm expecting that we may have to pay a little more but that's OK.

For my church you don't need to be a parishioners they just want a longer time with you for marriage counseling. But ultimately they just need baptism certificate that has first communion and confirmation which you have to get 6 months before wedding.