My fiance and i are having two ceremonies. The first one is Catholic (on Friday) and the second is a civil ceremony (on Saturday).

It doesn't matter if your family or friends arent Catholic. The wedding ceremony is FOR YOU! The reception is for guests. Our nonCatholic friends and family really loved our full hour long catholic ceremony and many of them came up for blessings during communion and told us how great the priest was at making them feel included and that it wasn't overly religious. I also put a section in our program about a noncatholics role in the ceremony and mass.

Most Catholic ceremonies are the opposite of relaxed and intimate though, not sure what you mean by describing it as this.

I dont get why you would have 2 ceremonies. You can't legally get married twice. One ceremony will be the legal one and the other will be a vow renewal.

Well we decided to have 2 weddings because that's what we wanted. I am looking for ideas to balance both. The Saturday ceremony is not the legal ceremony and will not be performed by an ordained priest.

The Saturday ceremony will not be legal, no matter who is the officiant. You will have already been legally married the day prior.

As a guest, I wouldn’t attending both, it’d be one or the other. Most venues allow you to do reception only, if you’re having a church wedding. At least all I toured gave that option. I’ve atrended Catholic weddings before, I’m not catholic. Not sure what the guests’ religious views have to do with it, it’s your wedding.

You send out invites like you normally would. It’s just extra work, double the inviting not lists, rsvps, postage and coordination. There is no way, as a bride I’d plan two separate ceremonies. It’s teicd as much work and additional money.

For your civil ceremony, since you’re already married, I personally wouldn’t sleep apart the night before.

Post Catholic Ceremony, there should be some type of food. Punch and cake, or a casual get together.

We can’t give you the details because Ava h wedding is different, each couple is different.

Since you want to have the Catholic ceremony be intimate then just invite your family and bridal party. When it is completed you could have a BBQ at home or a dinner out. On Saturday enjoy the day with all of your guests. I see nothing wrong with what you both want.

You do need to host something after the Catholic ceremony - which is your actual wedding ceremony - for the guests who attend that.

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Hi Abby! I'm in a similar situation! I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one wanting this. We may have to have the Catholic Ceremony at my home church in Indiana and we aren't quite sure what that looks like yet. Have you had any luck with the communication about this with the Priest? Also, have you learned anything about the marriage license portion yet? I'd be happy to bounce ideas with you about all of this if you'd want!

So glad to hear Jane that you are doing this too! We have started to sort things out:

1. We did communicate this to the deacon during our marriage prep class, he said basically to keep it on the hush. The church doesn't approve of 2 days for your wedding I guess. Luckily, he was laid back about it, so be careful who you communicate that to!

2. My fiance and I decided to do the marriage licensing and everything legal during our Catholic ceremony, so that is where the signatures will be. Our Catholic ceremony will be before the other ceremony.

I am still not sure how we will send out invites to the Catholic ceremony, still working on that! I did put that information on my wedding website though, just information for guests that we are getting married the day before with just close family attending. That way everyone kinda knows!

View Quoted Comment Glad to hear that it’s working out for you! I figured the marriage license would work that way, but thought it wa as good to ask. Our big ceremony will be where most of our people are, we will only have parents, grand parents, and maybe aunts/uncles. We’re very selective and it won’t be an official invite to the church. We made that clear to family at the beginning. Feel free to find me on Facebook (I feel like that’s safer than putting my email or phone number on a public forum! Haha it’s Jane Marie Hahn and I’m in AZ) if you want to discuss anything one on one or continue to share ideas. I’m glad someone has successfully figured out how to do this! Great job and congrats on your special day(s).