Communion for Bride and Groom

I may take flack for this, but why are you taking communion and not offering to your guests? That seems rude to me. Kinda like eating ribeye at your reception but offering sirloin to the guests.

If you really want to take communion, try to take it before the ceremony, if possible, in private.

Best wishes!

I would think one would be fine, since you’re the same household (or will be). You could also ask the officiant about covid rules or what they have experience doing

I would do one cup. Not a silly detail at all! I actually appreciate you NOT offering it to your guests, especially if there is variety in faiths.

I would do one cup!

I make this comment realizing I’m probably not understanding the cultural context...but I’ve never heard of people doing their own communion/providing their own. Does your church offer items you can use?


I’m getting married in a church & the rule of thumb is to offer communion if most guests would partake, & not offer it if most guests would not. It’s a Catholic church, too, so there are additional limitations on who can get communion. But the general idea is that it should be an experience shared by all (or most) of the people who are there to start your new life together.
Regardless of me being nitpicky, I vote one. I think that upholds the communal part of communion, even if it’s just two of you.

View Quoted Comment That’s what I thought! Thanks for making me not feel crazy 😂 we and most of our immediate families are non-denominational Christian, but my mom’s family is Catholic and I don’t know if there’s specific rules around communion in the Catholic Church, plus my fiancé’s family are not all religious. I thought it was better to symbolize the two of us being devoted to God and serving Him together, rather than have some guests take communion and some not. Thanks for the advice!

View Quoted Comment If you are getting married in a Catholic church you won’t to be able to provide your own chalice. And...if you aren’t familiar with Catholic communion, you aren’t going to be able to take it. (Not to be harsh, it’s just an incredibly important sacrament and non Catholics aren’t offered it.)
You’ll learn all that in Pre Cana.

View Quoted Comment My fiancé and I are not Catholic; we are getting married in a church but it is not a Catholic church. I have taken communion many times in Christian churches, I was actually raised southern Baptist - I’m aware of the importance, hence why I want to include it in our ceremony, but it’s certainly not exclusive to one denomination.

View Quoted Comment Have you asked your presider/officiant? I’m sure they have guidance on when to offer to all or not! And they likely already have a cup & bowl to use, if the church usually does communion.


If you have mostly non-Catholic Christians in attendance, I don’t see an issue with offering to all! Just expect the Catholics to decline (or come up for a blessing if that’s a thing—I know people do that in Catholic churches when they won’t be taking communion).

View Quoted Comment Catholic communion IS exclusive to the denomination, though. It’s a sacred sacrament, not symbolic, and Catholics believe is to be the literal blood and body of Christ.

View Quoted Comment But...she’s not doing a Catholic communion? She’s doing presumably the same one she’s done in her Christian church, I.e. a non-denominational communion ceremony.

View Quoted Comment I was replying that she said she bad taken communion before and it was not exclusive. Catholic communion is by definition exclusive - only Catholics can take it, and even then there are things that make one ineligible. Protestant churches consider communion to be a symbolic representation of the last supper - to Catholics it is literal.

My only experience with in-ceremony communion that wasn't administered by the church to the couple getting married and to everyone in attendance who wanted to participate, was my brother-in-law's second wedding. He wanted to give his wife communion during their ceremony since he considers himself to be her marital and spiritual leader. During the ceremony, they left the altar, went a little bit away to a low table already set up with wine and bread (it was an outdoor wedding). There was only one cup and one plate. He gave her communion, they prayed, and then they came back to the altar and the officiant resumed the ceremony.

Especially if your officiant is a pastor and will be presiding over the communion, I would ask them. We also had communion for just us and our pastor (also the officiant) presided over it. He brought everything needed for the communion so we didn't have to worry about that at all. That's a common thing for pastors, so yours may already have a plan in place for that and you don't have to provide anything. Since you're getting married in a church, they likely have everything ready to go anyway. If that's not the case, or you just want to have your own set anyway, I would just say to think through whether you want to take the cup at the same time or witness the other person partake. If you want to partake at the same time - two cups. If you'd like to witness each other partake - just the one.

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much for the advice! That’s a good point!

View Quoted Comment I saw your post and thought maybe I could share some insight. While it might seem rude not to serve communion to everyone at weddings I think it’s a bit different. Many couples I know are both devout Christian’s and take communion to acknowledge their own personal faith in Christ and to honor Christ by having their first act as husband and wife after their vows to signify their commitment to Christ and to a Christ centered marriage. Also, communion is only to be served to those who have professed for themselves Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and Savior and some in attendance at a wedding might not have made that choice for themselves. That’s the purpose of communion at a wedding and only the bride and groom partaking it. Usually there is a solo or musical selection going on for the congregation at the same time the bride and groom are taking communion and the minister is praying privately over them. Hope that helps to explain why it’s not offered to everyone at a wedding.

View Quoted Comment That’s is exactly right! Communion is NOT exclusive to one denomination. Use one cup, and have a blessed ceremony. 😊

Taking communion used to be a very common thing at Christian weddings. True communion was taken from one cup but I don’t see any reason you couldn’t do two. I am considering ordering the elements for our dust to take communion along with us if they choose .