Catholic Ceremony

I was raised Catholic and my fiance was not raised with a religion at all. My mother really wants me to be married by a Catholic priest but we were planning on an outdoor ceremony on the beach. I heard that Catholic priests do not perform marriage ceremonies outside the church. Is this completely true? Has anyone run into this dilemma? Any suggestions welcome.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

A priest will only marry you in the church. Sorry.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

If you have a priest you know maybe you can work out a deal.
Go to the church early that day and do a quick ceremony - just a few people. Then have your beach wedding and the priest can perform an 'anniversary ceremony' in front of all your guests on the beach.
A friend of ours that is a priest told us that trick.
You are already married at the church but you can have your beach ceremony with the priest present.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

Or have a minsiter and a priest at the ceremony. Techincally the minister performs the ceremony but the preist can 'assist' ... they can do that too.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

In order for it to be recognized by the Catholic church, it has to be in a Catholic church. From what I've heard there are some 'rebel' Catholic priests that will perform marry you outside. I guess it depends on how official you want it to be. Of course if you want a mass, then you have to have it in the church.
My FH and I are both Catholic, his family more so than mine so we are getting married inside the church with a mass.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

if one of you is not catholic you can get married outside of a Catholic church, but you have to get permision & special paperwork. However, it has to be in another church.
Not outside.

I like the idea of the secret church wedding, before the beach one.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

An uncle of mine is a preist, and yes the rule is, it has to be in a church, one way around is, to have a small sacrasty (sp?) wedding, usually a side alter in the church, either the day before, or that morning.. and then the you can ask the priest to 're-play' the ceremony at another location.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

although we are having a mass in a catholic church, i posed the same question recently.

check out the thread. there were a ton of responses.

http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=125841

Re: Catholic Ceremony

Thanks so much for all of your replies.

The next obvious question is: does anyone know of a Catholic priest/church on the eastern end of Long Island that will perform a wedding outside of the church? I am Catholic and my FH is of no organized religion.

Re: Catholic Ceremony

My friend's sister, who is Catholic, married a Jewish man and they had their ceremony at the hall with a Catholic priest and a rabbi. If one of the parties is not Catholic, there are many more options regarding the location of your ceremony. If you belong to a church, you should start there by asking them questions. Make sure they know all the details because if they think that two Catholic people are getting married, they will not perform the ceremony anywhere but a church. Good luck!