Catholics Married/Marrying in WDW?

[lfama]

Upon researching for my upcoming wedding, it was brought to my attention that you cannot have a Catholic ceremony performed by a Catholic priest in WDW. The marriage will not be recognized by the church. I did find Rev. Tim online, who, according to his website, can perform a Catholic ceremony; however, I still would have to have a blessing at a church. Has any Catholics ever had a Catholic ceremony at WDW performed by a non-Catholic minister, and then had a blessing afterward? I am concerned that my church will not accept this and will refuse to marry us in the church after the fact. I really do not want to have two ceremonies, but I have to have my marriage validated both legally and religiously.

 

[JandJ]

I suggest speaking with your diocese. Some will allow you to have a ceremony (like at Disney) and then have the marriage blessed afterward, but some say you have to be married in the church first, so basically your Disney wedding would be a vow renewal.

 

[CharacterFan]

I also know that Rev. Jack Day will do Catholic ceremonies. He sent me his information and it had wording for a Catholic wedding inside.

 

[Anna2984]

We are having Rev Jack Day and having a Catholic 'type' ceremony

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

We went through this becuase I have a family friend who is a priest, and I wanted him to officiate. He gave me this gygantic list of possibilites - the easiest of which seemed to be to have DF convert to Judiasm

All kidding asside - I did a ton of research on this, and the options boiled down to:

finding a catholic church in FL that would allow us to use their facility (and in our case bring our priest - which was tricky)

Getting married by a JP or other minister, and then going through the process of having the marriage "validated" This sounded like it was just a matter of paperwork and going through the motions and classes to get the marriage "approved" in the eyes of the church.

Get married quitely at our church before we leave for Disney, and then have him preform the VR as the ceremony.

If either the bride or groom is Jewish - you can have a normal Jewish ceremony, and the Catholic Church recognizes that as legal.

We chose option #3 because it was the easiest for us, and we were more concerned with the person doing the ceremony rather than the ceremony itself.

It really doesn't seem as though it should be this complicated does it

HTH

 

[RachaelA]

Convalidation is a lengthy and in depth process. its more then just a simple blessing.

There may be someone who peforms a "Catholic-like ceremony" but it will not be recognized by the church.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

DisneyFairy19 did this... Had the most 'Catholic' Ceremony possible but also worked with her parish on the details...

Also Camara381 is having her Ceremony at a Church in Orlando and then her Reception at Epcot - that's another possiblility

 

[camara381]

First off there is no reason why the church would have any problem blessing or validating your union. Most diocese have set up a special program called Convalidation, it is actually very common.

We are actually having a convalidation ceremony because we had a civil one back in 2005. Convalidation is for couples that are already married civilly or are living together and it is not as in depth, lengthy and complicated as it may seem. You do have to take marriage prep classes but they are shorter and cheaper than for those whom do not qualify for the convalidation. You can have the ceremony as simple or as elaborate as you want. I have seem some where it is just the couple and the priest they get their blessing and they are out the door in 30 minutes. You can have anyone preside over your "Catholic type" ceremony and in the end they will give you a civil marriage license that you take to the church.

If you have any more questions feel free to send me a PM

 

[kcampbell]

Upon researching for my upcoming wedding, it was brought to my attention that you cannot have a Catholic ceremony performed by a Catholic priest in WDW. The marriage will not be recognized by the church. I did find Rev. Tim online, who, according to his website, can perform a Catholic ceremony; however, I still would have to have a blessing at a church. Has any Catholics ever had a Catholic ceremony at WDW performed by a non-Catholic minister, and then had a blessing afterward? I am concerned that my church will not accept this and will refuse to marry us in the church after the fact. I really do not want to have two ceremonies, but I have to have my marriage validated both legally and religiously.

I had Rev. Tim Herring perform our ceremony and what he can do is a "Catholic wedding outside of the Mass". He gave us a booklet with various readings and types of vows and a lot of information on what each reading meant in terms of the Catholic faith. I found it very helpful when trying to decide on the readings and which ones spoke to us as a couple.

You will not have to be married again after the fact. Our wedding by Rev. Tim was legally binding and he brought our Marriage license with him to the ceremony and mailed in the appropriate paperwork on our behalf afterward.

As far as the Catholic church's view: you'll have to go to your Pre-Cana classes (just like you would if being married in a Catholic church), but will then just have your marriage blessed by your home priest either during or after mass (each church does it differently).

Take us and my brother and his wife for example. Jim and I were married in WDW and my brother and his wife were married in an outdoor wedding in upstate NY. We all are planning on taking our pre-cana classes and then are hoping to have both our marriages blessed at St. Pat's in NYC.

You can always email Rev. Tim with your questions-- he's very good and will most likely be able to answer all of them. Beyond that, talk to your own priest and make him aware of your plans- it'll all work out .

After all, marriage is still a blessed sacrament regardless of where it takes place.