Planning a Catholic Wedding (hopefully)

You can definitely get married in a Catholic Church even if you are legally married. I wasn’t married legally before my catholic ceremony but in our Precana classes literally all 8 other couples there were married. I know someone that got married the Sunday before Labor Day and her ceremony was at a Catholic Church.

As someone who attempted to get married in the church, these are questions best asked of your parish priest.
We were told no Sundays, for instance. (DH's church is also a multilingual church and has multiple masses, so that's a major factor.)They may not marry you if your husband is not Catholic, please be prepared for that. (We did precana, and ran into that buzzsaw, still.)

This is all going to vary by church. You can’t get married in the church if you’re already married. You’d be asking for a convalidation. I don’t know how traditional your church is but at the church we’re members of convalidations are very small quick ceremonies- our church does not allow them to have a lot of guests or the pomp and circumstance of a regular wedding. There are no Catholic churches near me that allow weddings on Sundays but again that varies. The best thing to do is to speak to your priest.

1. My husband is Methodist and I'm Catholic. I want to get married in the church I grew up in. Does anyone know if it will be possible to have a Catholic ceremony even though we are already married legally?

I can't really answer this because I'm agnostic, but if I remember correctly my Aunt couldn't my uncle until he converted to Catholicism. Also, don't call it a wedding. You're already married and your families know that. A LOT of traditional people get REALLY UPSET when people call it a wedding and the couple are already married (they call it a pretty princess party and they refuse to give gifts or rsvp and they mock the couple). I would advise calling it a Vow Renewal so you don't invite that kind of negative attitude.

2. I want to plan my wedding for Labor Day weekend so our families can travel for it. Good idea or bad?

I always avoid planning big events on holidays. For many reasons: one- people may want to use that weekend for their own family events or house repairs or yardwork. Two- hotels are so much more expensive because of holiday price gouging. Three- venues and caterers also charge more for the same reasons.

3. I'm not sure if my church would host our wedding ceremony, especially on a Sunday. Would it be reasonable to have our wedding ceremony on a Saturday and then host our reception on Sunday?

Your asking people to give up the whole weekend for your event. I wouldn't personally do that (not even for my brother) because I'm a selfish person who wants at least some time to do what I want to do. Is there a particular reason you want a Sunday wedding?

My husband and i got married. He is a baptized Christian, but non practicing. We had no issues getting the “approval”.
My parents got married in the church 10 years after their legal marriage. The priest actually encouraged it!
I see no problem with a labor day weekend, but some do. I say if it works for you go for it!!
I believe my church was ok with a Sunday wedding, but we weren’t interested. The priest even said we can get married during a regular mass if we wanted to!
the best was to get answers to your questions is to ask your priest. But I’m my experience i don’t think you’ll run into any issues 😊

I don't have advice regarding whether or not you can have the ceremony. My best advice is to talk to your priest because different parishes run things differently (they shouldn't be alas).

As a fellow labor day weekend bride, I say go for it! we have heard from some guests so far and they're happy we chose that weekend because it gives them more time to travel rather than rushing back Sunday to work Monday.

Agree with the above that it will vary by parish, but you may want to have a look at this website. The FAQ I’ve linked to answers your first question.
https://catholicweddinghelp.com/questions/civil-ceremony-first.htm

1. What you are looking for is a convalidation ceremony. Basically, you are getting your existing union blessed by the church. However, be aware that it most likely will not have mass (the sacrament), as only one of you is Catholic--both people must be Catholic in order to "bestow" the sacrament on each other.

2. While it is not an bad idea to have a wedding during Labor Day weekend, be aware that reception venues may be much more expensive than non-holiday weekends.

3. Most Catholic churches will not do Sunday weddings--they already have multiple scheduled masses all day. Many do not perform weddings on any day other than Saturday. Most churches also will not do evening weddings on a Saturday, as that conflicts with the Saturday 5pm (or 5:30) mass.

Why on earth would you want a Sunday wedding anyway? In addition, splitting up your wedding events on 2 separate days is going to be massively inconvenient (not to mention more expensive) for your guests. Don't do this.

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I definitely plan on calling it a vow renewal. My sister in law had the same judgment but her "wedding" was a month after getting legally married.

I talked more with my sisters and they reminded me how much more time it would mean to spend time with family. I only wanted to do the religious ceremony the same day as the reception and I wanted to do the reception on Sunday for a better price on the venue. You're right about the price hike for the holiday. I'm not totally set on the date since it is so far out.