Do I have to get married in a Catholic Church

Because he's catholic you can get married in the church and have it be recognized. I'm not sure how long it takes to become a catholic. I know there are classes and you have to get baptized and do first communion. My FH's cousin's FH is converting to catholic. I don't think its recognized if you do a ceremony outside. I'm not totally sure. To get married in the church you have to talk with the priest and take a pre cana class or we did a couple to couple.

I am Catholic - my FH is not Catholic but currently is taking the classes to become one. It is a personal decision to become Catholic so your FH should not be making that decision for you. You need to make that on your own REGARDLESS what he says. The classes typically take 6 months to complete but it depends on your church.

If you get married in a Catholic Church it will be recognized through the Parish. If you choose to not have a Catholic wedding, in order for your marriage to be considered a sacrament, you must get your marriage blessed which will happen anytime after you are married. You can still marry your FH in the Catholic church even if you are not Catholic. Priests will not preform wedding ceremonies outside of the church because marriage is a sacrament. Here's a website that might help you answer all the questions you have: http://catholicweddinghelp.com/ You may also feel free to PM me :o)

Just wanted to add, in the Catholic Church you must go through Pre-Cana. I see that you have your wedding date set for June, in the church you must be engaged for at least 6 months and the conferences you attend do fill up so you have to sign up for them ahead of time. I would recommend getting the process started soon if that's the route you want to take.

What Kimi said. You can be married in the Catholic Church as long as one of you is Catholic. Converting is a personal choice and it has a lot of meaning attached to it. You do it for yourself, not for your SO.

You will need to talk to the parish asap. Are you getting married locally? That would be easier, because H and I were getting married in the parish he grew up with, but it was in another state. We had to work it out between that church and our local one for us to take our pre-cana sessions and make sure they were valid between parishes. They definitely did not take 6 months though--I think they were once a week for two or three months. Depending where you are, you might be able to go on a pre-cana retreat for a weekend and be done with it. And sometimes different parishes can have different rules, so you'd need to work out all these things asap if you're thinking of getting married in the Church.

And like Kimi said, if you get married outside of the Church, in order to get it recognized in the eyes of God you would need to have a Marriage Convalidation Ceremony.

Unless the Church is an outdoor church or chapel (which do exist), you will be unable to have a wedding outdoors. I wanted an outdoor wedding but could not have one because it needs to be in a sacred setting. However, the priest at H's church was out of town the week of our wedding, and instead a Franciscan monk performed our ceremony for us, and he said he would've done it outside if he had known. So I'm not really sure what to make of that....I thought the outdoors/indoors rule was pretty strict, but he made it seem like it's from priest to priest and parish to parish. I wasn't quite sure a priest couldn't just bless the area we were having it and make it sacred, but I didn't argue and just accepted an indoor wedding.

Also, (I know it's a lot--keep running out of space), there could potentially be a lot of rules that you don't expect when getting married in the Catholic church, according to the particular parish. Friends of ours had a Catholic wedding as well and they had TONS of rules they had to abide by compared to our church. It's just something that you'll have to look into first. You do have to be members of the parish though I think to get married in the church building--it's not a rented-out-for-weddings type of deal which some people make the mistake of expecting.

This is a huge decision. You don't do it for someone else. You do if for yourself.

Personally- I would not rush into this with 5 months to go. Converting is a big deal that should be considered very seriously IMO. Check with your local parish, but I imagine that if you decided later to convert, then that would be a legitimate reason to have your marriage convalidated by the church at that time.

If your FH is a practicing Catholic then it's definitely a big deal to have a recognized marriage. If he's living in an unrecognized marriage, then my understanding is that the church views him as living out of wedlock, and he's not supposed to take communion.

However, you said neither of you go to church....so I'm sorry to be nosey but can I ask why he wants you to convert?

Ladies- her date in 2013- she has plenty of time to go through the process IF that is what you wish.

You need to decide on what is good for you. For an entire year I went to church with FH before I decided to change from (non-practicing) Lutheran to Baptist. I didnt make this decision lightly and really found that I feel like I belong where I am now verses where I was. As Celia posted below, do you really agree with the tenets of the church?

Good luck in your decision.

D'oh! Jessica you're so right. Reading comprehension fail on my part. For some reason I was reading June 2012. I think I'm distracted b/c I'm trying out different kinds of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

@Megan, forget what I said about five months to go. But, I stand by the rest of it.

Good luck making this decision. It's a big one.

I stand by my comment too. Switching religious affiliations is a major decision. If neither one of you go to church, why does he want you to switch? Do you understand what this really means? Do you agree with the tenets of the Catholic church?

This is a decision that is way more complicated that just deciding to go to one ceremony space or another.

Neither of us go to church but he grew up with Catholic values and there are a few things that is important to him and one is to make sure the marriage is reconized. I havent really been into my religion much other then I know that I believe in god and jesus and heaven I didn't really know what part of christianality I was baptized into (luthern, methodist ect.) until I asked my parents cause I haven't been to church or talked about religion since I was really little. And I have thought about it and he did give me the choice if I want to or not and I don't think it'll hurt for me to change religions actually know about it since we already agreed that when it is time to have kids we will be going back to a catholic church with them at least to their first communion. Thank you so much ladies for all of your input. I think this will be a another discussion me and him will be sitting down and making sure both of us know what we are wanting and what has to happen.

Megan, thanks! That helps a lot, I just wasn't sure where you were coming from.

I would check with your local parish or priest about what's involved, but there is a series of classes that you take. Then, you and your FH need to sign up for Pre-Cana like Kimi said. The weekend retreats are called Engaged Encounters, and I don't know if they satisfy the entire Pre-Cana requirement but they get you pretty close.

I do think you usually have to be married in a physical Catholic church building. One of my friends was married by a Catholic priest in a nondenominational chapel at a ski resort in Montana......I don't know if it's a site that was already consecrated, or if she got an exception or what.

Also you may have to consider your timeline for the day- usually Catholic weddings are a bit earlier b/c of afternoon mass, so you might have to decide whether you will have a gap or an afternoon reception.

Good luck!

I am Catholic and my FH is not, nor does he want to convert.

You can have a modified Catholic mass and you do not have to convert. You just have to be baptized in the Christian faith at some point and have some sort of proof. The pre-cana classes are basically like marriage counseling/prep and we are both really enjoying it.

Unfortunately, with Catholic's you can't get married outside. You'll have to do it in a Church still, but it'll be shorter than a regular, full Catholic wedding. It'll still be recognized in the church and everything, so you'll be set. :-) Just call your priest or a local priest. Also, if that one isn't going to be very accommodating to you, just call the next one. Each one is a little different and you want to find someone who works with you, not just makes the process more difficult.