Wedding Officient - Catholic?

kdianehansen

I'm searching for a catholic wedding officient - would prefer a catholic priest to make things easier down the line when the kids come around and make the family happy now.. but its not a must at this point.
Anyone know of anyone near Toronto the GTA?

ring_pop

For the most part, Catholic priests and deacons only perform weddings in churches. If you or your families are registered at a parish, inquire there first.

Otherwise, if none of you attend a church regularly, but you are certain that you want to have a Catholic wedding, then find a church, start attending their Sunday masses, and then inquire about having your wedding there.

Be aware that in order to have a Catholic wedding, you will need to go through some form of marriage prep with your church, and promise to baptize and raise your kids Catholic.

If you don't want to have a church wedding, I'd suggest finding another wedding officiant and asking them to include religious elements into your ceremony. All Seasons Weddings and Jeremy Citron are highly recommended here.

CaylaSummer

hey there,

i'm getting married in the catholic church next year. I think with most church in toronto, you have to be a member of the parish for at least a year and attending on a regular basis. I know with our church we had to book a year in advance because it is a big parish. However, it also depends which church you go to because my priest was kind enough to agree to marry us even though I was not practicing and I moved to a different neighbourhood. Anyway, I explained my history with that particular parish to the priest. 

As far as I know, they do not marry anyone outside the walls of the church. i think you have to figure out what kind of wedding you want and I could be wrong but you can still baptize your children as catholic but you should be practicing though and belong to a member of a parish.  

There is a marriage prep as already mentioned by the mod. The other thing as well, with my parish I don't really have a whole lot of say what goes on during the ceremony. I can pick the flowers, songs, readings but I believe they are all suggested by the wedding coordinator. I also have to cover my shoulders and my bridal party, so it is a little bit more conservative. Then again maybe not all parish is the same. 

[Deleted User]

As far as I know in order to baptize your children in a Catholic church, you have to be married in a Catholic church.  My cousins got married in a unitted church and wern't allowed to baptize their children unless they did a vow renewal in a catholic church-but again it may depend on the priest. 

sytom

I called directly to the church and by the next day, my deposit was made.  They were really welcoming even if I don't go to that church anymore.

I heard that there is an organisation that passes for catholic priests but they're not.  You should definitely call your church, parish or diocese to make sure you have what you want.

ss05ms

Can anyone confirm this....

I am a Roman Catholic and my fiance is not.  Can we get married in a Catholic Church?   People say he could convert and he said he could himself, but i don't think he should be in spite of me wanting the catholic wedding.  So want to know if anyone has a similar experience...what was your process like for marital classes and such?

Littlin

He doesn't need to convert for you two to get married in the Catholic church, so long as you are Catholic.  I've had many friends get married in the church with their husbands not being Catholic and vice versa.  It only means he cannot take communion - some brides opt not to have a full mass because of this, which means your ceremony will be shorter!

You still have to take a marriage prep class that the Church approves of, and agree to raise your children Catholic, but other than that, I think you are fine!

Littlin

We did our classes right in the city - ours was 5 weeks for 2 hours each week (but it always ended earlier than that) - just a lot of talking with your FI and questionnaires on communication, romance, splitting of chores, finances, having children, etc.  Some parts were interesting, others not so much - I don't think we necessarily learned anything new in them, but it was nice to talk about the future and what we see!  Some couples were fighting throughout the course - funny and scary to watch at the same time!

I believe there are weekend classes available too, so you get it all done at once - just see where your priest refers you!

CaylaSummer

Hey there,

My fiance is not Catholic. If he is a baptized christian you can have a full mass. I won't be having a full mass (no communion) because he is not baptized. He just has to agree that he will let you raise your kids as catholic and not get in the way of you practicing the religion. 

You must meet with the priest first of the parish that you belong to. He is the one who decides if you can get married there or not. It is not as difficult as others make it out to be. I was so nervous about meeting the priest at my parish because people were telling me all kinds negative things. He was super nice and he understood that people do fall out from the church but if you are willing to make the commitment of coming back to the church then you are fine. Your fiance certainly can convert if he chooses to but not needed. Just make an appt with the priest. It took 3 weeks for me to get an appt and they only marry x amount of couples in a day. At my church they only had 3 spots on that saturday so lucky for me I got the latest one at 3 pm. 

i'm doing my marriage prep in January so I can let you when that's done. Mine is only 2 weekends. 

D1aneC

One of the parents of the child has to be Catholic, and there must be a commitement to raise the child Catholic.  Although, if there was no commitement to follow the teachings of the Catholic church, you wouldn't be concerned with baptising your child Catholic. 

As for the wedding officient, like others have said, you cannot have a Catholic wedding outside of the Catholic church (whether it is outdoors, or in a reception hall).  Another option could be to have a non-Catholic wedding ceremony, and then get it blessed later by a Catholic priest so it is recognized in the church.