CATHOLIC bride with an OUTDOOR wedding

dcnunes

Is it possible to have a preist perform the ceremony at an outdoor wedding? We are Catholic and would like a priest to marry us however we dont know if we can. I'm looking every where but i can't find. Would you please recommend if you know someone. Thanks

jcg98

If you want your marriage to be recognized by the Catholic church, you must get married IN a Catholic church. I believe there are priests who have left the Church who will perform outdoor ceremonies, but again that ceremony won't be valid in the eyes of the Church. If you don't care about that, go for it.

agu101

Sending you a PM

KH 2012

it definitely wont be recognized by the Catholic church if you do not get married inside a church.  We are not getting married inside the church, though I went to Catholic School from k-12.  We are getting married by Father John Michael OSullivan (732) 786-1906 at our venue.  He i sa Catholic Priest but still wont be recognized by the church.  Your only option is to get married in a church near you venue in a church but it cant be outdoors.  Trust me this was absolutley the most stressful part of planning!  Goodluck!

mercy4

I had a friend who had a ceremony before their child's baptism. Both were outside in a courtyard at the church. I don't remember which church but it was near Scotch Plains.

HobokensFury

Ditto PP. If you want your marriage recognized by the Catholic church it must be performed inside of the church.  A catholic priest in good standing will not marry you any where else.

Giaspo

We did this... we had a Catholic ceremony outside at our venue.  Fr. George Lucey was our officiant.  He left the Roman Catholic church and now is a part of the American National Catholic Church.  Our marriage is not recognized by the RC church, but that was OK for us as we wanted the ceremony that was most familiar to us.  Here is the link to his church as well as a photo... I went to Mass before I reached out to him which was very helpful.  Also, my friend got married outside and eventually was married in the RC church in a small ceremony about a year later, so you could do both.  Feel free to PM me if you'd like more info...KH2012 is right; this was a very stressful thing for me too.

http://www.stfrancisnj.org/index.html

xxstardust

Giaspo, if she was married outside the church, your friend might have had a convalidation ceremony in the Catholic church later (a blessing of the marriage), but it isn't a marriage. Catholics believe you must be married *in* the Church for it to be the sacrament of matrimony. They recognize the VALIDITY of marriages performed elsewhere - it's not that they don't recognize them at all. However, they don't recognize them as Catholic marriages bearing the full blessings of a sacramental marriage, and you're not considered to be in a state of grace if you're married elsewhere.

Convalidation is an option, but remember - the church doesn't HAVE to grant a convalidation to you. They often will, but sometimes won't - if they think you skipped the church ceremony for an outdoor ceremony because you thought it was prettier, or something, they can refuse to honor the marriage with a convalidation.

dsimone43

Hey dcnunes.  So we sort of had this same issue.  My parents are very catholic... and well... we aren't.  We are getting married IN a church, but another option my father posed was to have a very small church ceremony a few days before the wedding.  You could invite your close friends and family... almost like a city hall thing! Or just one witness... and then have your ceremony to your hearts desire outside on the day of the reception.  The rest of your guests don't even have to know.  It just depends on how important your ceremony plans are to you. 

Giaspo

Xxstardust- thank you for the clarification... I didn't know that. She did it for her mom right before she passed away, and I truly thought she was "married" in the church. My apologies for the wrong info!

mbcdefg

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_catholic-bride-with-an-outdoor-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:90Discussion:35fb65af-ae9d-49ac-829e-351ddd1df412Post:33e5cfe8-431f-4acc-8375-b53b6e1459d8">Re: CATHOLIC bride with an OUTDOOR wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Xxstardust- thank you for the clarification... I didn't know that. She did it for her mom right before she passed away, and I truly thought she was "married" in the church. My apologies for the wrong info!
Posted by Giaspo[/QUOTE]



Sometimes they will make an exception for an extreme circumstance, like a dying relative.

shoebie

I am currently in RCIA, to get my confirmation in April and we learned that a priest can not do a ceremony that is not under a roof, our priest did one in a reception hall once and that was fine, most priests will not but it can be done, but the catholic church does nto reconize weddings that are not preformed in a building with a roof. I found this so weird and if it wasent our priest teaching the class i wouldent have believed it. 

[Deleted User]

Question - are you both Catholic or both at least Christian?  If one of you is NOT baptized in some sort of Christian religion, you can have a Catholic wedding outside of the church.  My sister marrried a man who was not baptized and has no intention of converting, and they were able to have a Catholic ceremony outside of the church.  However, if both of you are baptized, you MUST be married in a church for the wedding to be recognized.

This probably doesn't help, but, on the off chance one of you is not baptized, it could.