Hindu/Catholic Ceremony

You mean you'll have an Indian ceremony and a Catholic ceremony on the same day? Or were you hoping to do something interfaith?

On the same day? Not sure how long the Indian ceremony will take I don't think interfaith would be possible?

In order for it to be an actual Catholic ceremony you have to get married in a Catholic Church by a Catholic priest or deacon...and I wouldn't say they are very flexible. Is your fiancé a baptized Christian (any denomination), because if not, you may not be able to have a Catholic ceremony anyway.

This might be difficult. Catholic weddings typically (always?) take place in a Catholic Church. Not the ideal place for a Hindu ceremony. Both Catholic and Hindu ceremonies are long on their own, let alone together. You may need to split this up. That's a lot for you and your guests.

@nicole no I don't think he is baptized at all In any religion. I just rcvd the application to start the process of holding the Catholic ceremony in the church but according to that we'll know if we can/cannot proceed w the process. @MayBride that's exactly what we have in mind that it might to too long for our guests if it's split up I don't know if there such thing as an "express" version. The venue where we are having our reception is where we will be able to hold the Hindu ceremony and I found a Catholic Church less than a mile away. Is it me or does it sound like too much? :/ my second option is getting an ordain minister and having bother ceremonies at the venu

By Indian did you mean to specify a certain religion? Or do you mean Indian Catholic churches? I'm going to go with the former and that you mean a Hindu wedding. If you mean Indian Catholic, you won't have many options other than the Catholic church so the first stop to make is to the church you/FH attend now. They might have requirements such as needing you guys to be members.

If you mean Hindu, here's an article about incorporating Hindu traditions to an interfaith ceremony.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-laurie-sue-brockway/5-hindu-traditions-to-inc_b_5024623.html.

ETA: Since OP edited the original question from 'Indian' to Hindu, ignore my question about what religion they meant. OP, thanks for the clarification!!

@Tulip oops I meant Hindu/Catholic ceremony. I'll check out the website

I've seen it done a bunch of different ways. If the couple does a church wedding, the Hindu ceremony (usually shortened a bit) typically takes place the following day. Option 2 is two have an abbreviated Hindu ceremony (1 1/2 hours or so) and a quick exchange of vows immediately after. Option 3 is to incorporate aspects of each ceremony (exchange of vows and taking seven steps or exchanging garlands). I think Celia, an officiant who posts here, has done Option 3 type ceremonies before. She may be able to provide more guidance.

You might be able to get a disposition if he is not baptized. Here's hoping if it's important to you to get married in the Church. My friend just got married in the Catholic Church and her husband is not baptized. They were able to get a disposition for the marriage. She is sad that her marriage is considered "natural" and not "sacramental". But I believe that she is still considered to be in good standing with the Church and can receive communion. I'm not totally sure though. As far as it being too much, I would say no. Something to fill that classic Catholic wedding gap! I would provide refreshments in-between the two ceremonies. I know there are Chinese American brides that have the traditional tea ceremony and then the Western style ceremony. I would be curious to hear from them.

This would be quite the ambitious undertaking! A Catholic/Indian fusion ceremony will take alot of planning, and alot of flexibility. I hope you'll consider sharing video after it's done. I would love to see the result.

@Tulip, Indian weddings transcend religious identity. Actually, the better way to describe it is to say that Indian tradition is a conglomeration of many traditions. Weddings will combine local customs, religious customs, and even family traditions. But there are commonalities that are fairly ubiquitous. Even though Hinduism is the majority religion there is also a sizable Muslim population, and a few other notable religious minorities.

@Rev. Patrick, that's not accurate, or at least, that's not unique to India. OP specified that she was talking about Hindu ceremonies. There is no such thing as an "Indian wedding" and religious identity has a lot to do with Hindu ceremonies. It's very rooted in religious traditions. Traditional Hindu weddings do not incorporate anything from Islam or Christianity. There are obvious regional differences, but it's like saying American weddings transcend religious identity because northerners and southerners have regional differences. All weddings everywhere combine local and familial customs.

@Rev.Patrick - the clarification was needed since quite often people refer to the word 'Indian' when they mean Hindu. Similar to when people ask if I speak 'Indian' when they could mean any of the 22 official languages or the hundreds of unofficial ones. I was raised in an Indian Catholic church for a good chunk of my life (followed by Southern Baptist) so when OP phrased the initial question of Indian/Catholic, it needed clarification. There are traditions very specific to Indians that are Catholic and Indians that are Hindu. Some of which don't overlap between religions. OP graciously clarified.

OP - This is one of my favorite Hindu/Catholic weddings! Here's the album

http://somethingturquoise.com/2013/10/02/hindu-catholic-wedding/ and this is the video ( https://vimeo.com/album/2660262/video/82568178 ) that shows the entire ceremony. First they had a short hindu ceremony and then switched to a catholic one at around 20 mins. The entire ceremony is about 40 mins but they covered both religions and it's still shorter than having two separate ceremonies.

ETA: Removed repetitive items that MayBride posted in reply to @Rev.Patrick.

@MayBride How do I find her? Do I have to keep checking on the forums posted? Is her username Celia only

She's usually around during the day. Bump this thread tomorrow morning (you bump just by commenting). She'll probably see it, and see that we're talking about her

When you bump the thread you can also add something like 'Paging Celia' to the end of the title line of this post. She's pretty active and VERY helpful! Also, change your avatar. You'll get more help when you do.

@Tulip you have a good point about Indian Catholics. My beloved priest is Indian and is from a part of India where there are a lot of Christians.

@Simple - I'm from South India where almost everyone I knew were Christians (I think I knew like 5 people who followed Hinduism) and most of the Indian pastors I know here in the U.S. originated from South India as well. I wouldn't be too surprised if your pastor was from the South.

I was going to say that he was from the South! I wish I could remember which part. He recently went home to visit. I remember that he was saying they had huge celebrations for the Epiphany while he was there.

I'm from the south too! But I know about 5 Indian Christians

@Maybride - Ha! That's awesome. We've balanced it out.

@Simple - Possibly from the state of Kerala or Tamil Nadu. I'm from both and both have a heavy Christian and Catholic presence.