Help: Catholic priest needed for outdoor wedding

Gina Steven Wedding

My Catholic priest says the church won't allow priests to conduct outdoor ceremonies unless the church is under repair at the time of the wedding.  Does anyone know of any churches in Milford or Stamford, CT which will be under repair June 2011?  Thank you.

jennylove810

I honestly think the chances of this working out for you are pretty slim.  The church would essentially have to be closed, and that doesn't happen very often.  I think you'll have to choose between having a Catholic ceremony inside a church, or a non-Catholic ceremony outside.

skarupak

Agree with PP, there is a reason why this is done and if you don't believe in the sacramental aspect of marriage then just skip the church wedding altogether and get a JP. But you shouldn't feel as though the rules should be bent for you, and you need to choose.

christikao

I'm not Catholic but DH is and at first I didn't understand why for the marriage to be recognized by the church it has to be inside of a Catholic church. I was told by our priest that the only way you can get married by a priest outside the church is if the Bishop give permission and so far at the Bridgeport Diocese (Stamford is included) it has never happened. Like Skarupak said, marriage is a Sacrament and Sacraments are normally celebrate in a sacred space, i.e., inside of a church.  I would think if a church is under renovation they would not let people book it for a wedding. 

banana468

Ditto PPs. A Sacrament needs to take place in the house if worship. Instead of looking for a church under construction, why not look to actually marry in a church??

Lovinmark

Okay I had a friend do this! The night before their wedding that was to be held at her grandparents parents farm in a tent, they went to the Catholic church and got married during their rehearsal. then the next day the priest came to the outdoor ceremony performed by a friend and did a blessing. 

banana468

Did they tell their guests that they were already married on their wedding day?

skarupak

Ditto Banana 100%. So their guests didn't actually see them get married. If it's important to you to have a sacramental marriage, just get married in the church. If it's not, or it's more important to you to get married on the beach or whatever, forget about the religious acknowledgement of your marriage. Or go have your marriage recognized by a priest in a church at a later date (which is possible). But I don't think you can really have it both ways, and trying to do so is either superficial and compromising the importance of a sacarmental marriage or deceptive to guests expecting to see you be married and not just blessed.