FI and I are both very proud and active Catholics and we are having a Catholic ceremony. We are planning to have communion at our ceremony, and intended to include a short explanation in our programs of the significance of the Eucharist and how to participate, because many of our guests are not Catholic and some are not religious at all. (I converted to Catholicism in college, so my mom and her family members are not Catholic.) We thought this would be a helpful and welcome guide for our guests.
Well, we were discussing wedding plans and one of them said that it was a pet peeve of theirs when Catholics take communion at a wedding and "everyone isn't allowed to participate". They talked about how it's offensive to prohibit certain guests from receiving communion and made condescending remarks about it before suggesting that many of our guests would be put off by our decision to include communion as a part of the wedding and that it would be "boring" for them to have to sit there while all of the Catholics took communion. They stressed that they would feel insulted if we wrote anything in the program indicating that communion is for Catholics only.
I was stunned. I pointed out that everyone IS welcome to participate - just in different ways. Those who are not in full communion (don't share our beliefs about the Eucharist) are welcome to join the communion procession and receive a blessing instead of the body and blood of Christ. We were not planning to write anything that said people "can't" take communion, only to explain the significance and the Catholic church's belief on this matter.
I feel that marriage is a deeply meaningful religious ceremony that you are inviting your guests to witness, and it should reflect your beliefs. I don't think the ceremony is supposed to be about keeping your guests entertained, so the suggestion that they would be "bored" by communion was absurd to me. I personally don't care for outdoor ceremonies, but as a guest I would never suggest that a couple shouldn't have a ceremony that is meaningful to them because it didn't reflect MY beliefs or wasn't something that I enjoy.
Did any of you encounter similar sentiments from non-Catholic guests? My fiance and I both take great pride in our Catholicism and having a Catholic wedding is extremely special to us. I find my extended family member's attitude offensive. I am tempted to tell my mom that she needs to explain to her family members that our beliefs are very important to us and that if they have a problem with the nature of a Catholic Nuptial Mass, they can choose not to attend. I certainly do not want them there rolling their eyes or making snide remarks about it.