Ceremony in jeopardy

decembergrl2014

FI and I are getting married in December, and we're planning on having a Catholic Mass. It's the second marriage for both of us, but neither one of us needed an annulment since neither marriage took place in a Catholic Church. Or so we thought... Yesterday the priest calls me and says there is an issue with my first marriage. I went to the rectory and found out that even though my X is Jewish, and the wedding took place at the reception hall, the marriage is still valid because there was a priest present, therefore making it valid. I spent the next 2 1/2 hours filling out 25 pages of paperwork, reliving the details of that horrible marriage for the Tribunal to approve. I was, and still am, beside myself. Growing up Catholic, I always dreamed of having a traditional, Catholic wedding ceremony. Now with only 5 months left, I feel like my dream is getting crushed. I feel like my wedding is now stuck. FI and I both want to get married in church. I don't know if we should wait and see what happens with the annulment, or if we should just cut our losses and look for another church (a Christian one, not Catholic) to get married in. I don't know what to do.

Jells2dot0

I saw you were getting responses to this on other boards. When you post on other boards, you should note that it's a cross post (XP) so people know it's on another board and can read the other responses and provide better advice!

decembergrl2014

Thank you for the advice! :-)

photokitty

If you want to get married int eh Catholic church I would postpone the wedding. Otherwise talk to your priest and see if he will give you convalidation after the annulment goes through and just get married elsewhere on the scheduled date. If you do not have permission to marry before you might have a hard time getting the convalidation, without the convalidation you will not be permitted to receive communion. I know as I am in this situation currently - I got my annulment, but DH didn't. I did not want to marry in the Catholic church again due to the annulment process.

I am confused as to why you thought you wouldn't need an annulment for either of you if you were raised Catholic, but I'm more confused how your priest didn't mention the need prior to scheduling your marriage in the church - that's a major fail on his part.

Mine was relatively quick, but it still took almost a full year. I would be shocked if you could get the annulment back in 5 months.

GL!