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Need a Catholic Priest to perform Outdoor Ceremony

lynchhk30lynchhk30 member
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in Wisconsin
Hey ladies,

My fiance and I are having and outdoor ceremony & reception in Green Lake, WI.  We are from the Johnson Creek area ourselves.  We haven't started our officiant search yet, but we are both Catholic and our parents are insisting that the ceremony be done by a priest (which I prefer), but we all know that priests don't typically do outdoor weddings because of the Roman Catholic rules. I have known of a few people who have gotten married in the past that had Priests do outdoor ceremonies (in different states) so I know that some are willing to do it. My question is..does anyone know of a priest around those areas that does outdoor weddings? It's like finding a needle in a haystack. And any suggestions as to how to still get my ceremony outdoors and have it be Catholic?  Should we get married in the church beforehand or afterwards? HELP PLEASE!
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Re: Need a Catholic Priest to perform Outdoor Ceremony

  • kwallingkwalling
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    edited December 2011
    We are having the exact same problem, but Lutheran.  I still don't have one and it's 6 months away.
    I'm not sure if you will find one that's Catholic, but I did contact churches that were Nondominational or Assembly of God.  It just didn't work out in their schedule.
    I dont' know if you would be open to that or not?
    I'm about to call the Justice of Peace, only because I'm out of ideas.
    You could just start contacting the churches in Green Lake and asking the Priest if they would consider it?
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  • gundy21gundy21 member
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    edited December 2011
    The easiest option would be to have the ceremony in a church (like Catholic docorine requires) and have your reception outdoors.
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  • samanthajeremysamanthajeremy
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    edited December 2011
    You won't find a priest to marry you outside the church.  Against the Bishops's rules.  We had the same problem and fixed it but getting married by a Lutheran pastor instead.  Closest thing to a Catholic service, minus communion because we didn't want it.
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  • lynchhk30lynchhk30 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    How similar is a Lutheran ceremony to a Catholic one?

    I was thinking that a way to side-step the stress of this all was to have the outdoor ceremony done by a pastor and either get married in a Catholic church a few days before or after our wedding day. That way my fiance & I get what we want (outdoor wedding) and our families will be happy (having the church recognize our marriage as Catholic)....has anyone tried this before, or know of anyone who has?
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  • jberg134jberg134 member
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    edited December 2011
    If you are looking at the Lutheran route you could also check out Episcopal churchs, as they are the most closely related to the Catholic Church.
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  • LittleKatie13LittleKatie13
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    edited December 2011
    I'm late to this... sorry!

    I got married in Princeton, WI and had our reception on Green Lake.  Fr. Grubba is a great priest (St. John's-Princeton), we really enjoyed working with him.  You can ask if he'll marry you outside, but I'd kind of doubt it.  It is against the rules.  The church is gorgeous and he's great, so if you decide to get married in a church, definitely give him a call. 

    Fr. Krogman at Our Lady of the Lake in GL (our usual parish for weekends at the lake) is very old school and I can guarantee that he will not marry you out in someone's yard.  However, that church has a prayer garden complete with alter that was once used for outdoor masses.  It may be worth a call to see if he is willing to marry you out in the prayer garden since it is beautiful (the garden is amazing) and on church grounds and has an altar.  The church is not nearly as beautiful as St. John's in Princeton.

    The church in Ripon (St. Catherine's) was not very receptive of having out of towners get married there without being parishioners. 
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  • lynchhk30lynchhk30 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you for all the information! It really does help a lot. I'm going to try to see if we can get married in the prayer garden the day of our wedding (we already booked both the outdoor ceremony and reception location so we can't go back on those)...looks like we're having two ceremonies that day!! :)  We'll be pulling a Pam & Jim.....sorry for The Office reference ;) I love the idea of that though. Have a private ceremony at a chapel with just our parents present...and then an outdoor one a little later for the rest of our guests to enjoy and remember. It's like the best of both worlds!  Thanks for your help! :)
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