So, I may have messed up... Church Wedding vs. Venue Wedding

I'm not of the Church....but people get married by clergy outside of churches all the time don't they? Cant you just ask a Priest to come to your venue to officiate your wedding?

Did you talk to the church you want to get married in? Our church required six months of wedding prep to be eligible to get married there. If your church is the same way you are past the mark and it wouldn't make a difference now anyway.

Just out of curiosity why did you not want to get married in the church in the first place?

No it will not be recognized by the catholic church unless you get married in a church by a priest. How are you just finding this out now? Also have any of the churches agreed to marry you on a Sunday? How are you just now thinking about the ceremony?

I don't think you messed up. You still have time to change the ceremony location (as long as you haven't already printed your invites). The rule of thumb is to keep the distance between the ceremony and the reception 30 minutes or less. So, just check out the churches near your parents house and see if you find one. Or, like Helena said, you could have a priest officiate your wedding an not change your ceremony venue at all.

ETA: I forgot about all the requirements for Roman Catholic churches. A little embarrassing, since I was raised in that religion! I haven't practiced in a long time though and am not getting married in a church since FH is not religious. Hope it all works out!

My understanding is that Catholic Priests don't perform marriages outside the church. And that you have to be a member of their parish (hopefully that is the right term).

Do you HAVE to have a marriage recognized by the Catholic Church? I guess I'm asking how important to you this is. Because it sounds like if it's very important, you'll have to find a way to have you religious ceremony separate from your civil. If that is a thing. IDK.

@love4slife, A Catholic priest will not officiate a wedding outside a church, a deacon might but it will NOT be recognized by the Catholic Church.

My advice is ask the church of your choosing if you still have time to do the wedding prep, if you don't and really want to get married thru the church you will have to make changes. From your post I'm not sure how important it is to you, because honestly when my DH and I decided to get married the first thing we did was meet a priest we felt comfortable with and then booked the church. Everything else wasn't as important.

For a Catholic ceremony, you may be out of luck. There are very, very specific requirements regarding your sacramental status, your fiance's faith, the location (has to be a consecrated indoor space) a long prep time etc. for Catholic weddings. It's almost like the Church doesn't want young Catholics to marry in the faith!

Talk to the priest in your parish, if you're active there, and ask for advice. If there's nothing he can do....then with an outdoor ceremony you'll still be married, just not in the sacramental sense.

If it was important to you, you would have thought about it before now. And a priest will not preform a marriage ceremony outside the church so people should stop suggesting that. If you are considering it op, I would figure it out asap because like mrs b said there is a lot of pre marriage things they require you to do.

I'm getting married in the Catholic Church and we have a bunch of classes we have to take. We also have to meet with the priest 3 times prior to the wedding. At the first class you attend we were told unless you were a member of the church currently or had significant ties to it (it was the church you grew up in) you needed to go to a different church. Our dioceses pre-cana process is at least 6 months and to book the church we were told to book at least 8 months out.

You could look into convalidation of the marriage if you get married outside the church, but I am not sure how it works if both parties are Catholic since that is normally used when people convert.

Why am I just realizing this now. Well, we got engaged in mid-December, rushed to book a hall, I was "ok" with the wedding at the venue. I, like most brides, have been consumed with flowers, music, dresses, my mother, engagement party, and all the other details, sadly I haven't had time to breath and sit down and really think about this.

I was just reading up on choosing an officiant, and the website said it won't be recognized. I did not put 2 and 2 together until just now. I am aware there are specific requirements, what those are, I'm not too sure. I do know that there is a time frame, a family member needs to belong to the church, etc.

Yes, I'd like it to be recognized by a Catholic Church. My mother is very religious, I've received all the sacraments up until this point, so it's important.

I'm not familiar with Catholicism, but if it's really important to you, is there any way to do a religious ceremony after the fact? I.e. have a civil ceremony and reception as planned on 8/21, then have a religious ceremony with maybe just you guys and your parents on a random day after you've fulfilled the requirements? No clue if the Catholic church would allow that, just throwing it out there as something to explore.

Edit: Posted w/o seeing the PP.

@love4slife -- invites haven't even been chosen yet, so we're ok in that regard. UGH

Call churches and ask. It never hurts.

If it is really important to you, you could always do a small vow renewal in 5 or 10 years at a Catholic Church. You don't even have to invite anyone, you could just have immediate family.

@Sarah, I was thinking you couldn't go that route unless you have the extenuating circumstances or you were married prior to converting. Thanks for confirming my suspicions!!

Ok. Don't worry. You can always get your marriage blessed by the church post facto.

I would contact a few churches to see what you need to do. We are getting married in a Roman Catholic Church. We had to do Pre Cana, the class was one day for 8 hours. We are also not members of the church and do not need to be to get married there. Worst case they tell you no but it's worth a shot.

Good Luck Michelle, it sounds like you may need it! The only thing I can contribute is that our Newman Center here on campus seems to be more flexible than many parishes. You might check for student catholic centers on campuses close to your venue.

And I know this can work because my priest talked to me about it. He said a church blessing will make it just as valid as having

Gotten married in the church.

Can you do a "church ceremony" afterwards with just family? Im not sure of all of the ramifications of this or if its allowed. Im wondering if you can keep your legal wedding as and have a catholic ceremony under God at your home church with your parents shortly afterwards. Would that be an option?