Wedding in church or venue?

I'm not Catholic but one of my co-workers I believe is. She is getting married this year. She ran into this problem. If I recall correctly, priests will not perform ceremonies outside of the church.

If you wanted to get married at your venue, find out how much it would be to have the ceremony there, and then call your church and see how much it is. Also keep in mind, some churches will not let you in if you are not a member of the church.

Also another thing to keep in mind is if you have it at the venue, what are your guests going to do while you take pictures? Sometimes its nice to have them in separate locations!

My home parish doesn't have a "fee" -- more of a donation. My FH and I were debating this exact thing. The venue is much more expensive for the ceremony than my church would be. Contact your church and see if there are any fees!

And Heather is right. A Catholic priest will not marry you outside of the church. Another option that my FH and I are considering is having a civil ceremony at the venue and get our marriage blessed by the priest after the fact so it is recognized by the church. Have you thought about doing that if you choose to get married at your venue?

It's not entirely true that priests can't perform sacraments outside of the church, it's just that many won't. However, there are some priests that will perform weddings outside the church, I've been to a couple. The couples involved had to apply to the Bishop to have the ceremony elsewhere and it took considerable time.

It is true that priests cannot perform a marriage ceremony outside of the church except with special dispensation for specific reasons.

A convalidation is an option but it is not guaranteed.

Best to check with your parish

My friend who is Catholic said her church only requires a fee for members in good standing and only request a donation. If you want to be married in a church, you should. You don't want to look back and wished you had.

Also, Heather, Caitlin and Tina BoBina are correct. Priests will not officiate your ceremony unless it is in a Catholic church.

I'm getting married in a Catholic Church. Incidentally my priest also performs catholic ceremonies outside his church but that's not common to find at all. Most won't do it since marriage is a sacrament and needs to be celebrated at the church. We didn't incurr any additional fees for not being a member (our home church is too small for our wedding and parking is a nightmare). The most I've seen is the huge cathedral here has specific fees for members and non members but it's about a $200 difference. No one will turn you away for not being a member, you just may have to pay slightly more.

We are getting married in a church. It's Episcopalian not catholic but they are similar. And yes, I'm paying a lot more than if we just got married at the reception. Not to mention we paid for transportation between the two as well. I'll be honest, there were a few moments where I almost changed my mind. However, now a week out, I'm so looking forward to our church wedding & really glad we went that way. I would call your church & find out their price as soon as you can. Good luck!!

Priests will do a ceremony on-site, but you have to get it pre-approved (our friends did this).

I doubt the priest was a Roman Catholic priest, annakay, or your friend was extremely lucky because Roman Catholic weddings must be done in the church at the altar. Camille, my fiance and I faced the same dilemma and found the next best thing to a Roman Catholic marriage: Old Catholic Church. Our ceremony is being officiated at our venue by an Old Catholic Paulist monseignor. Check them out: http://oldcatholicpaulists.org/, http://www.oldcatholic.org/, http://toccusa.org/

Our marriage will be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a valid catholic marriage

Many Catholic priests will not do a wedding outside of the church. Our fee/donation to be married in the church is $400.

We couldn't get married outside the church (Catholic). The fee was a donation of $250 + organist + altar servers + coordinator.. I think it totaled something under $500.

I'm Catholic, but I'm not a hardcore follower..haven't been to church in years lol. I am having a ceremony on site because I didn't want to be traveling between different locations on the wedding day, plus I figured it's convenient for guests and out of towners since you don't have to worry about people getting lost.

There is a process to get married in the Catholic church, pre-Cana, both have to be confirmed Catholic, etc. Also like others said you do need to do it in a Catholic church. You can do nondenominational Christian at your venue usually. Just a suggestion

A good friend of mine was recently married and wanted to get married in the rocky mountains, she had a friend do a civil ceremony day of with all of the guest and the reception and then a much smaller family only event a couple days later at her church.

Best would just be to touch base with your church and any venue nearby you're interested in. I wouldn't worry about the picture break between, guests will find a way to entertain themselves whether they just go freshen up or have a couple drinks nearby.

Most Catholic priests will not go off premise, nor will they marry couples without the proper preparation; pre cana, membership and having your sacraments in order.

You both do not have to be confirmed catholic to get married in the church. Just one person needs to be

Wow! Thank you for all your suggestions, I greatly appreciate it. Tbh, it's turning me off having to go through hoops to get a church wedding/getting married by a priest. Im originally from the Philippines and back there, pre cana is a one day seminar and fees/donations are less than having it done at the site. Also the venue we are picking have a cocktail hour while we have pics taken but o will definitely look in to the old Catholic site

We are getting married at a church. Will will pay them a donation. They don't require anything. We only have to do one day of pre cana. There haven't been many hoops for us. The difficult thing was communicating with them. The secretary is not the greatest at getting back to us!

FutureMrsWalton can I ask which area your church is?

Catholic priest don't perform weddings outside of the church for that you will need an officiant. Also if you are catholic and you don't get married in church they will not recognize your marriage. As far as cost I don't think its more expensive for a church it depends where you live, yes the church is more of an obstacle depending on the parish they have plenty of requirements. You need to be baptized with confirmation, both of the same religion, Pre-cana ect. Its a personal preference I really did not see myself getting married outside of the church because it goes against all I believe in.