Eloping & getting married in the Catholic church

Re: Eloping & getting married in the Catholic church

• professorscience member

  

  July 2012 edited July 2012

  I don't really know much about the process for getting married in Rome, so I would suggest contacting a local parish about that.

  
  

  A cursory Google search shows that you need about 6-8 months to complete the process, which is actually the same in the US.

  
  

  Edit: Basically the requirements are the same as if you were going to get married in the US outside of your home parish.  You're going to need to complete all the same pre-marriage requirements and get a dispensation to marry outside of your parish.

  
  

  A wedding in Rome sounds beautiful!  Good luck!

  

  
  

  
  

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• Riss91 member

  

  July 2012

  Just wanted to clarify: Are you getting married in a Catholic Church at the destination where you are "going away"? If so, I wouldn't call it eloping, but more a "destination" wedding. You would just need to contact a parish in the city where you would be married and try to understand their rules. Then you would need to have the married recognized in the U.S. For that, I would speak to a priest here that you know - he might be able to put together the paperwork for you.

  
  

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• professorscience member

  

  July 2012

  Haha, yeah, I was going to comment that I didn't think "Catholic elopement" was a thing.

  

  
  

  
  

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• newlyseliski member

  

  July 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_eloping-getting-married-in-the-catholic-church?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:8b51525c-2fa2-4df6-9e65-cdc58b2ffeb8Post:58ec11c8-593f-48b7-8dca-f568a0dce816">Re: Eloping & getting married in the Catholic church</a>:
  [QUOTE]Haha, yeah, I was going to comment that I didn't think "Catholic elopement" was a thing.
  Posted by professorscience[/QUOTE]
  
  <div>I know of a couple that did a Catholic elopement in Mexico because they didn't want to wait for 6 months as was the policy in our diocese... but in that instance, the bride was pregnant!  I think they just did a low-key dessert reception in the church basement when they got back...</div>

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• BTCarolus

  

  July 2012

  Make sure you find out all of the American legal requirements for a marriage taking place outside of the country, as well.
  

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• bibliophile2010 member

  

  July 2012

  I have a friend of a friend who had a Catholic wedding in Florence.
  
  She and her husband actually had a legal ceremony in the US before they left, because the legal requirements to get married in Italy, from what I understand, are pretty tough to meet. That said, I do not believe that they lived as husband and wife until after the Italian ceremony.
  
  They completed all of their marriage prep in the US, and their home priest basically sent an English "script," including the homily, to the priest in Florence. The weddinoreg there was a small, but nice destination wedding (with a ginormous nice dinner afterwards). The couple also had a big party when they got back to the States. I am pretty sure they worked with a wedding coordinator who does Italian destination weddings. They had an extensive guest list for both events.
  
  Just some rambling info, take it as you will.

  

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• ElisabethJoanne member

  

  July 2012

  I'll echo PPs. You should contact your parish Priest and a Priest in Rome and make a timeline of the requirements. I know it's possible to do this, but I've only heard about it as the story of friends-of-friends.
  
  Basically, you'll likely have to do everything your local parish would require and anything the Italian parish requires (though you can try to get them to coordinate), plus everything the civil law requires. Working backwards...
  
  Civil law - I think you'll want a document called something like "certification of foreign marriage." You get this from the US consullate or embassy in the place where the marriage took place. It certifies that your marriage in Italy meets all of Italy's requirements for a wedding, and should be recognized by the US government.
  
  Italian parish - I don't know about Italy, but in a lot of European nations, the Church requires a civil marriage before the sacramental marriage. I know this is the case in Monaco and Austria. Some friends of mine did get married in Austria and had a full "courthouse" wedding in Arizona months before. Also, banns may have to be published in the foreign parish
  
  local parish - Again, same deal with pre-Cana or its alternatives, banns, etc, as though you were getting married there, usually, from what I understand
  
  Nothing prevents you from doing this as a "destination wedding" with no invited guests. That's still an elopement of sorts to me, but that's symantics.

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• ootmother2 member

  

  July 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_eloping-getting-married-in-the-catholic-church?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:615Discussion:8b51525c-2fa2-4df6-9e65-cdc58b2ffeb8Post:78a05fc7-107c-4107-a54e-7f863a8e02d2">Re: Eloping & getting married in the Catholic church</a>:
  [QUOTE]I have a friend of a friend who had a Catholic wedding in Florence. She and her husband actually had a legal ceremony in the US before they left, because the legal requirements to get married in Italy, from what I understand, are pretty tough to meet. That said, I do not believe that they lived as husband and wife until after the Italian ceremony. They completed all of their marriage prep in the US, and their home priest basically sent an English "script," including the homily, to the priest in Florence. The weddinoreg there was a small, but nice destination wedding (with a ginormous nice dinner afterwards). The couple also had a big party when they got back to the States. I am pretty sure they worked with a wedding coordinator who does Italian destination weddings. They had an extensive guest list for both events. Just some rambling info, take it as you will. :)
  Posted by bibliophile2010[/QUOTE]
  
  
  This^
  
  I also have friends who were married in Italy but they had to have their civil ceremony here.  Legally, they would have to spend over 6 months living in italy if they didn't have a civil marriage certificate from NYS. This could vary by state laws though so ask

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