Catholic Wedding ...

I think each church/parish may be different. I was married in a catholic church and I had asked about the dress and the priest said strapless was fine. It would not hurt to just ask.

Greatly varies. Some will put restrictions on attire, some on photography within the church, some on when vendors can set up, some on decorations allowed, I think most want some sort of counseling prior to being married. There can even be limits on size of bridal party, tell them what you have planned and see where they say no.

Just wear a bolero or shawl over your shoulders during the ceremony, then take it off for pictures and the reception. Same with the bridesmaids. That's what I'm doing.

We're getting married in a Catholic church and my dress along with half of the BM's dresses are strapless so that's not a definite no-no. As others have said, restrictions on dress, music, photography, etc vary from parish to parish. The parish you're getting married in will in all probability have a booklet listing the do's and don'ts. Try it's website -- ours has the guidelines posted there. Otherwise you will get them when you meet with the priest. Good luck!

I am getting married in a Catholic church. Both my bridesmaids and myself are wearing strapless dresses. The first thing I asked the priest when we met with him was whether or not this was allowed. At that time he provided us with a list of restrictions and most of them have to do with photography and decorations. I would imagine your priest would provide you with the same information.

It really depends. My dress was strapless and so were the BMs. I never asked and no one ever said otherwise. If your church has a website, check it out and see if they have a section on weddings. The only restrictions mine had were certain areas photographers could not enter and nothing was allowed to be thrown (birdseed, rice, etc).

You should have a conversation with the priest about the dos and donts, because it depends on priest, some do not have restrictions and some do, have a meeting with him, you and FH to discuss.

Dear SoontobeMrs.D, not all churche's policy are the same. As Brian indicated above, there are Catholic weddings that were very liberal in their guide lines. Speak to the prist or pastor to see what is allowed and it is not.

Definitely, ask the priest and whatever he says.

I know one of the priests in our church is very conservative, while the one marrying us is very open and does not have any issues with strappless gowns.

I wore a strapless gown & so did my BMs. That isn't the issue, its typiclly cleveage (sp??). As long as the girls are covered up, most have no issues. Talk it over with your priest.

Things you typically CAN'T do:

1-Play "here comes the bride" - Catholics belive the a wedding ceremony is a sacrament for both the bride and groom and thus do not allow this song. One good substitution: Cannon in D (Clarke)

2: Offer communion to non-Catholic guests (OR the bride). My suggestion, do not have communion.

3: Wear see-through clothing. If you are a fan of those new dress styles that leave you practicly naked or you can see through parts of the dress to see skin, you will have a problem.

Im wearing strapless and so are my bridesmaids. SIL and a freidn of mine ( all in different catholic churches) all wore strapless.

@Brian - hmm, it might be. When we were planning our ceremony the priests we worked with all came back to the same point about the music. To be honest, I've been to a few myself that played the song but I was still in ankle socks at the time. :-)

I think it could be either regional or something started recently (by recent I mean in the last 5-10 years).

Thanks So I'm confused they won't serve me communion even though I'm Catholic? ANd I don't need to worry about communion for my guests most of us are Catholic....

Like everyone else has said, it really depends on the specific church. Some allow strapless dresses and some are more conservative. My church (and many other Catholic churches in my area) do NOT allow you to walk down the aisle to the bridal march ("here comes the bride") because it was written by Wagner, an anti-Semite, and they would see permitting it as disrespectful to Jewish brethren...as well as the other bridal march by Mendelssohn, because his was originally used in a play during a scene mocking the sanctity of marriage. You can also expect them to tell you you're not permitted to play any kind of secular or popular music. It's really not too bad though...if you're deciding to get married in a church, these things aren't the most important elements of the ceremony anyway!

SoontobeMrs.D, I think MrsJoseph meant anyone who is non-Catholic can not receive communion (she used the bride as an example).