Can be a touchy subject but still need to know...

[Sccrmnky2005]

Has anyone that is Catholic been married at Disney? I grew up going to church every once in a while as Christian/catholic. My DBF is Catholic, I have been going to church with him for the past 5 1/2 years. I'm no way against getting married in a church but I WANT MY DISNEY DREAM WEDDING. Now that I have convinced him this past weekend to have a disney wedding I need to know. I've grown up in FL since I was 2 and have lived as disney my whole life. It only makes since to have my dream come true like many others. Me and DBF go to disney often and are about to be on our third DCL soon. Disney is ideal for us both. I know catholics aren't supposed to marry outside a church, but have heard of it happening. I just wanted to know if anyone is catholic and has gotten married at Disney. Who did you use? What was the process? Thanks for anyone that many be able to help me!!

 

[KingdomHearts]

My DH is Catholic, so I was concerned about this also. The great thing is that Disney gives you a list of officials of all different religions so you can pick. I guess if you had any questions or concern talk to your church and see what the say about it.Good luck in any and all decisions.

 

[jlovesee]

I am catholic, my husband is not and we were married about 8 years ago (Jan 26, 2002) at WDW. I still don't agree with the catholic church's policy, but I am long over being upset about it. I was and am a practicing catholic so my family was in an uproar over the concept of being married outside of the church, I almost was talked out of what I really wanted, don't let that happen to you!

We were married by Rev. Jack Day the day of, and had to wait 1 year after our "wedding outside of the catholic church" for the blessing, which was in February 2003, when our marriage became official through the church. Basically it was like a mini wedding ceremony all over again. It might seem odd to have "two weddings" but it didn't feel that way, Jan 26th is and has always been our real wedding.

The most important thing I can tell you, do what will make you happy. I have never had any regrets.

Jennifer

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

I am catholic, my husband is not and we were married about 8 years ago (Jan 26, 2002) at WDW. I still don't agree with the catholic church's policy, but I am long over being upset about it. I was and am a practicing catholic so my family was in an uproar over the concept of being married outside of the church, I almost was talked out of what I really wanted, don't let that happen to you!

We were married by Rev. Jack Day the day of, and had to wait 1 year after our "wedding outside of the catholic church" for the blessing, which was in February 2003, when our marriage became official through the church. Basically it was like a mini wedding ceremony all over again. It might seem odd to have "two weddings" but it didn't feel that way, Jan 26th is and has always been our real wedding.

The most important thing I can tell you, do what will make you happy. I have never had any regrets.

Jennifer

Thanks this is very encouraging. His mom goes to church every sunday. HIs dad doesn't live in the country only comes to FL once a year. But they are really religious and I'm afraid when we bring this up to her she is going to have a fit. Hopefully time will tell and she will get over it and relize just because you don't get married in church doesn't mean your not faithful to your church. At least that's how I see it. I have a list of a few officiates and will also get the ones from disney. I'm just preparing myself.

Heck he hasn't even proposed but asked this weekend about more informaiton on Disney Wedding and we researched all day sunday about it so... Hopefully it will come soon. lol

 

[Wish on a Star]

There is a bride on here who talked about having a super small ceremony at a catholic church first. (Maybe one witness, just a simple church outfit, no flowers) and then doing the whole big Disney Ceremony after that. It's like getting married twice- but I guess that's what you have to do sometimes if you want to keep everyone happy.

 

[girli565]

I remember reading here that there is a type of simple ceremony, not necessarily a wedding ceremony, done by the catholic church that will make your disney wedding "chuch legal." There was a thread a while back on this same subject... I'm going to look for it now...


Edited to add: Ok, I can't find the thread but I did find out what the ceremony is called, a marriage convalidation ceremony, You can get married outside of the church and then have the marriage blessed and recognized by the church after.

I'm catholic and my DFi is not, so a Disney wedding was perfect for us.

 

[girli565]

I can't seem to find the thread but I did find the bride that had a catholic ceremony and then her reception at WDW. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1807984

I'll keep looking.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

There is a bride on here who talked about having a super small ceremony at a catholic church first. (Maybe one witness, just a simple church outfit, no flowers) and then doing the whole big Disney Ceremony after that. It's like getting married twice- but I guess that's what you have to do sometimes if you want to keep everyone happy.

That's me! We're in a slightly different situation because I have a family friend who is a priest, and I wanted him to be the officiant. But it still was important to me to have the marriage recognized by the church.

For us it came down to our officiant, officially, as a Catholic priest, he can only preform the ceremony in a church. If we wanted someone else to preform, we could have had the marriage "rectified" with the church which is basically a lot of paperwork and another ceremony.

He gave us a whole list of options that we could do to make it possible to officiate. What we ended up deciding to do is have a Church ceremony the Monday before we leave (it happens to be MLK day, so we both have off work). This way the ceremony in Disney will technically be a vow renewal, and the priest can preform that wherever since it's not a sacrement.

We're just having us and a couple who are friends of ours that can't come to the Disney wedding as wittnesses. No flowers, no dress, no tux, nothing. It actually works out nicely, because then our marriage license will be in our home state and just one less thing to worry about on the day of.

We will celebrate our anniversary on the date of the Disney ceremony and treat that like our wedding.

Another option we would have had was to have a church down in Orlando "host" our priest and we'd get our guests to the church and back to Disney for the reception.

It's definately do-able. You'll have a few hoops to jump through... but it's definately do-able.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

thanks for all the great responses!! I'm glad to know that it can be done without crushing my dream also Now just have to figure out what would work out the best for us and what his mom and church would approve of. I'll keep checking back for the other thread that girli565 might be able to find. Thanks again to all you Disers your great!

 

[jlovesee]

I am glad for you to see there are more options available, and more people who have come before to share their personal experiences. Its amazing to me still how much has changed since 2002! Our minimum was only $10,000 for a saturday wedding, and we decided 2 weeks before our wedding to do the in park Magic Kingdom photo session the day after! Wow.

Anyway good luck with your family, I hope everything goes great! Congratulations in advance.

Jennifer

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

With both of you being Catholic, it's harder. The church requires that you get married in the church. The Orlando Diocese has stated that practicing Catholics must get married in the church.

My saving grace is that my boyfriend is Lutheran, which means no matter what I would have to get what is known as a dispensation of form from the bishop. As I am the only Catholic in either of our families, I know that a Catholic ceremony is not the way to go. We actually filled out the dispensation today! I don't think you can do a dispensation of form if both partners are catholic, but it's certainly worth a shot. Talk to your priest.

The option I think I saw the most was people either getting married in a small ceremony at their church and then having a public ceremony at WDW, or have the ceremony at church and the reception of WDW (think of the money you will save!). There is a beautiful church in Orlando called Holy Family. It's just a few miles down 535 from Disney and is where I was converted. You might want to see if they would be willing to allow you to have your ceremony there. It truly is gorgeous.

ETA: I just realized you said your BF is Catholic which means am assuming you are not. If that's the case, you should be able to get a dispensation from form no problem. It's actually easier if the girl is not Catholic to get it. I jsut did some digging on the internet, and it looks like if you get a dispensation from form, you do not have to later have it convalidated. All that is taken care of.

 

[smoof]

If you live in the Orlando area, you could get married at your church and have the reception at Disney. You wouldn't have the wedding pavillion experience, if that is what you want. You could also get married legally at your church in a small private ceremony then do it for everyone else at Disney with an officiant of your choice. There are some former priests that technically can still marry you and they will do it anywhere. I think it is something like rent a priest .com. Yes, tacky name, but you do what you have to do. We were married by Rev. Jimmy Johnson. He is a Baptist minister and he tailored the ceremony to our wants. Most of the officients will do the same.

 

[pixie08]

I am catholic, but my husband is not. We decided to get married at the WP. He is planning on converting so we will have small at home church wedding.

 

[kmg148]

With both of you being Catholic, it's harder. The church requires that you get married in the church. The Orlando Diocese has stated that practicing Catholics must get married in the church.

My saving grace is that my boyfriend is Lutheran, which means no matter what I would have to get what is known as a dispensation of form from the bishop. As I am the only Catholic in either of our families, I know that a Catholic ceremony is not the way to go. We actually filled out the dispensation today! I don't think you can do a dispensation of form if both partners are catholic, but it's certainly worth a shot. Talk to your priest.

The option I think I saw the most was people either getting married in a small ceremony at their church and then having a public ceremony at WDW, or have the ceremony at church and the reception of WDW (think of the money you will save!). There is a beautiful church in Orlando called Holy Family. It's just a few miles down 535 from Disney and is where I was converted. You might want to see if they would be willing to allow you to have your ceremony there. It truly is gorgeous.

ETA: I just realized you said your BF is Catholic which means am assuming you are not. If that's the case, you should be able to get a dispensation from form no problem. It's actually easier if the girl is not Catholic to get it. I jsut did some digging on the internet, and it looks like if you get a dispensation from form, you do not have to later have it convalidated. All that is taken care of.

Can you explain dispensation? I have never heard of the term and figured I could get a quick explanation here rather than look for it on the internet, lol!

I'm Catholic, he's not so I really never thought about what I would need to do to have the marriage recognized by the church!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Basically, a dispensation from form means that even though you are not having a Catholic ceremony of some ilk, the church will still recognize your marriage as valid. It is done beforehand and must be signed off by the bishop in your diocese. On the form there is a list of reasons you can check off for not having a Catholic wedding. They may include things like keeping family harmony. It is fairly easy to do if one of you is not Catholic- particularly the girl.

When we met with the priest, we explained that out of both of our families I am the only Catholic so it just did not make sense to have a Catholic wedding. Plus, his family is much more religious than mine.

If you don't do a dispensation, you have to get a convalidation. I'm not entirely sure of that process, but I believe there is a wait time after the marriage. Also, I'm not sure, but you may not be able to engage in marital relations until after the convalidation and still be in good standing with the church.

By far the easier route seems to be dispensation. You may still have to go through marriage prep or some kind of marital counseling. We are starting ours because at least in my old church it took at least six months and there was a waiting list. If he plans on remaining Catholic, I would talk to his priest just to make sure.

You might also want to talk to whomever your spiritual advisor is to make sure there is nothing you need to do in the eyes of your church. I know Aaron talked to his priest and at some point we are meeting with him as well.

 

[Ember]

Well, I'll be. You learn something new every day. I had no idea Catholicism would create such hoops when it comes to a wedding location. (No criticism in the least meant, I just honestly didn't know.)

I know there would be traditions and such in play, and that those would carry a great deal of wight. But it does seem like one of those issues that needs to be updated... With partners marrying interfaith (is it still interfaith if it's different denominations of Christianity?) I can see, as was previously posted, how things could get complicated very quickly.

 

[kmg148]

I'm the Catholic one, and had no idea!

He doesn't practice a faith and has no affiliation. He believes something is out there, just not sure what it is.

I did not know about the form and I'm glad I know now since I still do practice!

Thanks!

 

[DisneyBrideNGroom]

DH and I are both Catholic and we wanted our marriage to be recognized in the church. What we did was have a small "official" wedding at our church (easier for us because we lived in Daytona Beach at the time), with just immediate family and a few close friends. I just wore a simple white dress and DH wore a suit. Then, the next day, we had a vow renewal at the WP. The same deacon who married us in the church came to the WP and performed the vow renewal. Doing it that way allowed us to have our marriage recognized by the church while also having the big, Disney wedding that we had dreamed of.

 

[crystalllize]

I'm dealing with this same issue as well!

DF and I are both Catholic (and we both work for the Catholic Church!) so not having a Catholic ceremony is an issue. Neither one of *us* find it necessary to get married in a church, but it's something that we know is important to our families and co-workers.

We've decided to have our ceremony at the WP and then have the union blessed in a ceremony in our church when we return home. I know it's not exactly what the Catholic Church thinks is "proper", but as my DF said- This is our wedding, not theirs!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

I'm dealing with this same issue as well!

DF and I are both Catholic (and we both work for the Catholic Church!) so not having a Catholic ceremony is an issue. Neither one of *us* find it necessary to get married in a church, but it's something that we know is important to our families and co-workers.

We've decided to have our ceremony at the WP and then have the union blessed in a ceremony in our church when we return home. I know it's not exactly what the Catholic Church thinks is "proper", but as my DF said- This is our wedding, not theirs!

Exactly what I'm thinking!!


Yes I'm having the same delima. I think his mom might flip out when he tells her were getting married at Disney. I'm not baptised as Catholic, I go with him to church when he does go. If I wanted to do a favor and do the smallest ceremony at the church (just me and him) before our actual wedding I would have to get baptised in the Catholic church.

Having the union blessed after the ceremony sounds like a good idea also! I willalso look into that.