Need a church

csh96

I was a member of a church previously and moved to Columbus a couple of years ago but never officially registered with a new church.  Now I am having a hard time finding a Catholic church for the wedding ceremony that doesn't charge over $1000 fee for non-member.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I never thought it would be this difficult to get married in a Catholic church!

[Deleted User]

What part of town are you looking for?

I was a member at St. Joan of Arc in Powell. H and I got married at St. Patrick's Catholic church which is in London, about 35 min west of Columbus. My husband's Grandma has been a longtime member of Immaculate Conception in Clintonville.

There are so many Catholic churches in central Ohio. Some of them may have their wedding policies and prices on their website. I know the church in which we were married did. Since my husband moved away due to his job, they charged us non-member fees which were about $750. I have heard of churches charging more for non-members as well as a lot being even higher than $1000.

csh96

I'm on the east side of Columbus but I am willing to go almost anywhere at this point that doesn't wipe out the budget.  I had try to return to the church where I grew up, south of Dayton and they won't even let those not registered get married.  I had a preference to St. Josephs downtown but they charge $1750. wow!!  I am trying to get in contact with St. Matthews in Gahanna which is $500...tolerable.  The rules of the church have also been an issue.  I spoke to another church in new albany that wouldn't allow flower girls/ring bearers unless they were 5.  I can't explain that to my 4 year old niece.    I just didn't realize finding the church would be the hardest part!

[Deleted User]

Yeah, if you are not a registered member, I have heard it can be really hard to find a church. Have you tried getting on the Diocese of Columbus website? That should have a list of all the churches and contact info in the area.

I think St. Joseph's is the Cathedral in Columbus. My grandparents were married there and that is where we had my Grandma's funeral mass.

Even the church we got married in had pretty strict restrictions, some of which really ticked us off at first. For example, we were not allowed to have a unity candle (this didn't bother us too much), no aisle runner (this was mostly for safety issues bc it had hardwood floors), and we were not allowed to have the Wedding March bc it is considered secular music and is from one of Shakespeare's plays where a unwed couple is in the bedroom...lol.

The ceremony is the most beautiful and special parts IMO. So if you can just grin and bear the restrictions, you will still be married in the Church.

MissOwl

Where is your reception site? I would try to keep it within 15-20 minute drive if possible. 

brittann87

When is your date? If you join Saint Joseph's now and are a member for at least a year you don't have to pay a fee. Our engagement will be 2 1/2 years but I didn't think to join a church right off the bat so we're stuck paying the fees. Good luck

JoeAandEmilyK

We're getting married at St. Leo's in Columbus.  It's actually a closed church that is run by St. Mary's in German Village.  The price isn't bad and it is a very, very nice church.  Very classic looking.  

http://www.stmarygv.com/

EmDizzle

Holy Cross doesn't have a minimum member 'residency', but Fr. Jerry prefers to start up the marriage process at least 6 months out.  

The church is unbelievably gorgeous  all our non-religious friends loved the ceremony, which meant a lot to us.  Fr. Jerry is just wonderful - we chose this church when looking for our ceremony site (both of us being catholic) but now we're stuck here

It is $1000, which was a hard bullet to bite, but it was well worth every penny in our book (and we paid for almost the entire day ourselves, so we know how important budgeting is).  I would pay another $1000 for holy cross if I had to, it was just wonderful.  (I'm going to post my 'wedding bio' shortly, it has some ceremony pictures).

A BIG bonus is that Holy Cross does not have a saturday mass, so you can have your ceremony any time of day (4:30 for us, yay!)

darby22

We had the same problems...catholic churches in Columbus are CRAZY!!!  It was definitely the hardest part for us!  We became members at Our Lady of Peace in Clintonville because we really like the priest there and he was willing to marry us if we joined the church.  He was very understanding of our situation and helpful.  He is pretty hard to get ahold of though, so I would recommend going there and talking to him after mass.  Its not the prettiest church, but it was important for me to get married in a church and with a nice priest, so it worked.   I talked to sooo many priests that were very rude to me!  I never imagined it would be so hard either.  You may also want to check into Holy Name (campus area) and St. Francis of Assisi (victorian village).  I believe they do not require you to be a member there and fees may not be too high.  Im not positive though.  Good luck, I know how stressful that is!

love3daisy

I'm getting married at St. Francis of Assisi in Victorian Village in August of 2011.  I've been a member of the church for a little bit now.  I LOVE this church!  It's smaller than some other churches- more quaint.  It fits a little over 200 people.  It's not too badly priced- and it all goes to the church- so I'm ok with it!  Highly suggest this church though!

csh96

Thanks so much for all the suggestons on churches in the area.  I have taken many of your suggestions and looked into several of these churches.  After attending some more modern churches on the east side as well as beginning the process of wedding preparation, I then attended a few churches downtown.  What I found were wonderful and personable people, the old style gorgeous churches that I love, and realized that the extra costs involved were more than worth it for the environment I had always imagined.  I hope to find one soon and finally select a date. 

Thanks again for the help!

rosemin

Does anyone know how much Holy Family costs?