My boyfriend and I are in a serious relationship and have been for nearly four years, and would like to get married in a couple years once we have completed college and have stable jobs. I graduate in December of this year, he next May, and would like to get married in 2015. I am Catholic and I do plan to get married within the Church. He is not, but he has agreed to get married within the Church. However, his parents are divorced with his mother remarried. His father and mother have a good relationship. However, we want to keep the integrity and tradition of marriage within our wedding, and he is adamant his step-father not be included because he thinks that would disrespect the institution of marriage. Although he is Baptist, he wants to respect the Catholic Church's stance so as to not disrespect my family. The only problem is, we are concerned about alienating his family. We are concerned about how to handle this within the ceremony, reception, and invitations. Our thoughts are these:
For the invitations have his parents line say " Mrs. X and Mr. Y, and Mr. X the parents and step-father of (son).."
Have his step-father not be apart of the parents walking down the aisle and just have him sitting in the front row, with the biological father walking his ex-wife down the aisle. We would also have his mom sit in between her current husband and ex-husband.
For the reception, his father would again escort his mother in, with his step-father walking directly behind them.
My grandmothers are uncomfortable with his step-father being included in any part of the wedding. They were both married to my grandfathers for decades before they both passed on, and are very devout Catholics. My parents have also been married for several decades and are becoming more devout. Do you have any advice on how to handle this situation?
I know that we're not even engaged yet, but due to the economy, our families are trying to see if they can even afford to give us a wedding in a couple years, and that is why these concerns have popped up. I say this because I posted this on another board and was told I was jumping the gun and to wait. However, my parents have their concerns as to how to approach his family about this and while they are consulting the Father of our parish, I thought I would try on here. Thank you!