Help!!

dawn83

Hi ladies,
My FI and I are looking to get married in a catholic church (we are both catholic) however we are looking to get married in philadelphia and we live in NJ. Is is best to become members of a church in our area and go that route or is it best to become members of the church we are looking to get married in?? I feel like I dont know where to start with the church planning!
Thanks so much!!!

mica178

I would join the church you plan on attending on a regular basis.  That way, you could do your pre-marriage prep nearby and develop a relationship with Catholic people living near to you.

A main benefit of joining the church where you plan on getting married is that some churches will offer a discount to parishioners getting married at their home church.  However, they usually require regular attendance to fulfill the description of parishioner.  If you live too far from this church, it'll be difficult to attend Mass often, so you might not get the discount anyway.

Why are you getting married in Philadelphia?  If one of your family members attends the church where you plan on getting married, you might still get the discount.

NatesGirl16

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_help-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:7968270a-65df-4656-b1bc-552649cbb5ddPost:2327fd1f-62eb-4743-83f4-c114657b2978">Help!!</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi ladies, My FI and I are looking to get married in a catholic church (we are both catholic) however we are looking to get married in philadelphia and we live in NJ. Is is best to become members of a church in our area and go that route or is it best to become members of the church we are looking to get married in?? I feel like I dont know where to start with the church planning! Thanks so much!!!
Posted by dawn83[/QUOTE]
The church we attend is the church we're getting married in, so that made it easy on us. However, they would have made us become parishioners anyway.  It might be something the Diocese requires or just my church in particular, but if you're planning on getting married there, you have to become a parishioner.

Calypso1977

have you considered getting married where you both live now and are parishioners?  i loved getting married in the church ive attended with my H since we became a couple.   we plan to baptize any children we have in that church too.

catarntina

My family lives in Ohio where I got married in.  DH and I live in Colorado.  We became members of the church in Colorado, did all of our pre-cana in Colorado, we attend church in Colorado.

It wasn't an issue to have our paperwork sent from Colorado to Ohio.  I would just become members of the church you are able to attend on a regular basis, do your pre-cana there, and get married in Philadelphia.

With that being said, my mother is a parishioner in the church I got married in, so the priest had no issues with marrying me there.  Like PP's said, some diocese or specific churches won't marry you unless you're a member.

[Deleted User]

Our situation was very similar to catarntina's.

H and I are both originally from centraol Ohio, which is where we got married. We live in GA, did all of our pre-cana and EE Weekend here. Our priest here was in contact with the priest that married us to ensure we had everything in order and all of the requirements met. The church we got married in was actually H's church (bc it was prettier than mine) which he attended regualarly before moving out of state for his job. Unfortunately, they still charged us the non-parishoner price since he was no technically a member at the time of our wedding.

Jackief11

The church we're getting married at made us become members, but I was already. I would check with the church.

dawn83

Thanks for all the help ladies!! FI and I are getting married in Philly because that is where he used to live, where we met, and where he proposed. We go there regularly, beacuse we both enjoy it, but it is a good 2 hour trip. It sounds like the best way to go is become members here in a church closer to us.
Thanks again!!!