DIY Destination Wedding-Venue/Florist/DJ/Catholic Officiant

A Catholic marriage ceremony is a holy sacrament, thus it was be officiated in a Catholic church.

About 99% of the time you can not get a Catholic priest to marry you outside of a church very very rarely you will get one who will. Just note if you are a practicing Catholic you MUST get married by a Catholic priest for the marriage to be recognized and for you to continue to receive communion. Other wise it is considered living with a man before you are married.

Courtney, I'm a civil wedding officiant in Sarasota.

Thank you but I understand all of the Catholic rules. However, I am Christian & my fiance' is Catholic. I have found one Catholic officiant in St Pete that will do a beach wedding. I was just looking for other options. Although it is a beach wedding, I still would like one of our religions to be recognized during the ceremony.

Nancy, what is your price range? We are on a tight budget.

A catholic officiant must be a priest or a deacon under the watch of a priest. Make sure to check out everything about him because in our area there was a man staging as a priest and marrying people illegally. Also understand that a mixed marriage (one of catholic faith and the other of another faith) requires paperwork to the bishop.

Thank you, did not know about the paperwork & the one Catholic officiant I did find, has good reviews from what I have researched.

Courtney, my fee depends on how far I have to travel. I try to stay in Manatee & Sarasota Counties and not go to St. Pete/Tampa.

I heard of a male officiant up there who was a former monk or priest, but I think he'd be officiating as a Notary Public.

Is your "Catholic officiant" an ordained priest or deacon? How did you find him?

If having a Catholic wedding is important to you and/or your FH, talk to his priest or deacon to make sure you have met all the requirements for a valid Catholic marriage.

I'm getting married in st Pete. Affordable DJ check delite entertainment. We are getting married at st John Vianney catholic church which is very close to the water. Venues check st Pete community center and st Pete womens club. I have a whole spread sheet of research I did for Tampa bay venues. I'd be happy to share.

I am using a beach wedding company out of St. Pete. They do the flowers, officiant, chairs, decorations for the ceremony, photography, and sand ceremony. I chose the Lucky in Love package and added on the pre-recorded music to it. Personally I thought St. Pete would be more accessible (Tampa International Airport) to out of town guests than Sarasota. Even though Siesta Key is supposed to be gorgeous. I second looking into the St. Pete Beach Community Center! I'm having a small reception at a beach house rental with Affordable Catering providing an hors d'oeuvres menu. They don't allow outside decorations for the ceremony, but I figure I can showcase my DIY skills at the reception. We visited from Illinois 2 weeks ago and stayed at the Howard Johnson in St. Pete Beach when we scoped out things.

Here is the company's website:

http://tidetheknotbeachweddings.com/

They also have a facebook page with a lot of pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/tidetheknotbeachweddings?ref=ts&fref=ts

Michele-My "Catholic officiant" is recommended by Grand Plaza hotel. We are not from Florida; therefore, his deacon is not going to come from Michigan to marry us.

Rossy-Yes, please share. I am leaning towards Grand Plaza hotel in St Pete area because it includes everything & is somewhere my guests can stay. It is also reasonable but I am open to other ideas. I have doing a lot of research but it is always nice to get opinions to reassure your's.

Aimee-Our reception will also be small. I have visited Siesta Key plenty of times & let me tell you, it is BEAUTIFUL!!! I have not been to the St Pete/Clearwater area, only Sarasota. Thank you for the websites! Much help!

Courtney, I would double check on that priest, because as a Catholic I know that they do not have Catholic Weddings outside, we see weddings as a sacrament and that is in the church. As far as the requirement you need to do pre-cana, interviews to make sure you two are a perfect fit, there is more to a catholic wedding then booking a priest and having him show up the day of. IMO I think it will be a lot easier since you are out of state to find a Christin officiant.

Grand Plaza can be pricey but if your budget allows it, it's lovely.

However There are two spots on Sunset Beach - The Lions Club which has a private beach, and a lovely hall you can rent. It fits around 100-125 tops. We are getting married there and having 80 people and it's perfect size for us. We were able to bring in our own alcohol, pick our own caterer and save a ton of money.

We also booked hotels at one of the hotels on the beach and they were wonderful to us. We are getting married April 13th this year there.

The venue provides tables and chairs which was nice. Also - the venue fee goes 100% to seeing eye dogs and eyeglasses for the needy. It's quite nice!

There is also a spot called The Sunset Beach house which also looks neat but you have to rent everything and there isn't an inside backup plan.

St Pete Rec Center is on the intercoastal and is very lovely but not the beach if you are intent on having your toes in the sand.

Oh - also Ft DeSoto - is a state park with a gorgeous beach. They have a hall on their site which looks really nice for a reception. You can have a beautiful beach wedding there. Not sure of prices or anything.

Courtney can you send me your email address. You can send it by private message on here if don't want to post it on the board.

Hi Courtney, for a destination wedding I would suggest that you spend a little more on one of your main vendors, preferably either the venue, planner or dj, so you have one person on site looking out for you. Having someone with experience at the destination will likely save you money, and definitely enhance your chances of success. If you were living in the area it is stressful enough making everything happen the way you want, but showing up the week of your wedding and finding things different than you were expecting can be disastrous. However you decide to handle it let us know how it goes and enjoy your special day!

I can suggest venues in my area, but not familiar with much in St. Pete/Tampa/Clearwater area.

Siesta Key was named #1 beach in the country in 2011.

Lisa- it is pricey & at the top of our budget. We will only have approximately 50 guests.. Almost all of which will be from Michigan. Our main wish is a beach ceremony on a white-sandy, pretty blue water beach & a beachfront reception to follow, indoor or outdoor doesn't matter. I have not heard of Sunset Beach but I will look into. Thank you!

Rossy- I will try to figure out how to send a private message..I just made this account yesterday & still learning! If I can't figure it out today, I'll just post my 'junk' e-mail.

Nancy-You're sure a big help. I will need to look into your services. We just don't have a large budget. If we were to have a wedding at home, it would be way out of our budget due to the amount of people we are obligated to invite. Therefore, we have decided on a destination wedding to save costs.