we want to get married in a church that we are not a member of! help!

cadelan

   So me and my fiance found our venue which is located in Freehold, NJ. I am catholic and was raised catholic and went to church every sunday until i graduated high school and went off to college down the shore. My fiance is catholic as well, but only has his baptism and not his communion or confirmation.  My first idea was to get married in the church i group up at because they would marry us without him getting the rest of his sacrements, but the big promblem is that it is all the way in north jersey about an hour and fifteen minutes from my venue, which i know is way to far of a commute to expect anyone to come to the ceromony. We are now trying to find a church in the area that will marry us but i know you have to be a member first to even mention getting married in the church. Does anyone know of a church, preferably catholic church where we can be members at for about 6 months and then mention in September 2012 that we would like to get married in September 2013?? pleease help I am going crazy over here!

OliveOilsMom

You don't necessisarily have to be a member to be married in a Catholic Church.  Usually you will have to pay a slightly higher fee to use the church.  I'm not familiar with any churches in the Freehold area, so I can't help you there.

It's also not necessary for your FI to have his remaining sacraments before you wed.  Just call around to some churches without telling them you are not a member. 

You said that you found your venue already.  Did you put down a deposit for a specific date yet?  Most churches prefer that you go through them and meet with them first before you set a date or even go searching for a venue.

And there is a Catholic board, under Cultural Wedding Boards, so if you have any questions.  Those ladies are very knowledgable and helpful with any questions.

Rangergirl

Most of the time it depends on the Parish. I know my old parish would not marry someone from outside of the parish and neither will my husband's (and my new) parish wouldn't either. The two churchs we spoke to down near our hall wouldn't either. Any conservative church will not do it, you need to find one that's a little more lenient. I think your best option is contacting your hall to see if they have any ideas what churches in the area may do that, they would know more than anyone else. Good Luck!

Btw, we ended up not being able to get married in a church for the same reason basically but we found a retired Catholic priest to perform a full Catholic mass at our reception hall so if you want to opt for something like that please let me know and I'll pass his information along to you.