catholic wedding abroad please help

paul2louise

I am wondering how easy would it be to plan a catholic wedding abroad, I havent got a lot of family to invite nor does my fiance. He would like to get married abroad but i really need to have a catholic service. Does anyone know any good places or an contacts that could help me plan it.

thanks

louise

Bear_family

Hi,

I don't know how helpful this will be, but I know if you want to get married in a catholic church abroad or on a beach or other place like a hotel, but it is customary to get a 'dispensation' from your parish priest.This isn't usually a problem if you attend mass regularly. I can't help anymore I'm afraid. I don't know if most places just offer a civil ceremony?...

BF

alba37

I have only known of civil weddings abroad, but I am not sure if that's cause a religious service is more difficult? (sorry not much help!) I do know though different countries have different rules, some you need to be resident for a certain period of time before getting married.

What countries were you considering? I would get in touch with their consulate, as my first port of call.

Have a read here.

Just found lots of info here... on many different countries and requirements.

shirlgirl2004

Hi Louise

I was looking at getting married in Italy and this is on the website I lookd at.

"Foreign citizens can be married in Italy according to the Catholic rites. In this case, the ceremony must take place in a Catholic Church. Having a Catholic wedding in Italy is an easy process with our assistance. The Catholic documents and pre cana classes required are the same all over the world. You will need to obtain the NIHIL OBSTAT from your local diocese, signed by your bishop to be married in an Italian parish. You have plenty of time to obtain these documents as they can not be received any earlier than six months before the wedding and usually by one month before.We can also arrange weddings according to Protestant, Jewish or Orthodox rites. In these cases, it is possible to be married in a sacred location (church or synagogue) or in a villa, castle or garden, and in any case before a celebrant who is officially recognized by the Italian State. Religious weddings in capri on a breathtaking terrace in Anacapri ."

Maybe you need to decide where you want to get married and then find out the local legislation.

Savvy_Sue

I think that's a very helpful post from shirlgirl, I was just going to say that I thought in this country you were generally expected to attend pre-marriage classes before a catholic wedding and wondered if it would be the same abroad. Sounds great if you can do your classes here then marry in Italy!

An alternative you might consider is to have the wedding abroad, and then ask for a service of blessing afterwards. I don't know if your priest would do this, don't know how common it is in the Catholic church, but I've known a number of couples who for various reasons have had to be married in a civil ceremony but have considered their blessing to be their actual wedding!

carol_a_3

I married in a catholic church (many moons ago) and we had to arrange to have the local registrar there to make the marriage "legal" as the Catholic ceremony didn't count. My friend who is French said that in France (may be the same in Italy)they do get married at the Marie (Town hall) first for the legal part then go to church for the blessing as mentioned above. We had to attend classes first as my husband was not catholic and also the "banns" had to be read for a few weeks before in the church. They don't actually read them out but just post the names in the porch in case anyone knows of any objections etc.

Justie

as Carol says check the legal aspect as only some services mean you're married in the eyes of the law. A friend of mine will get married in a Polish church and everything will be in Polish (her and OH are both Poles so it's fine for them) but it means all their English friends like me won't have a clue what's going on.

Gingham_Ribbon

Try asking your priest. You may be able to have the marriage lessons here.

And double check that the service won't be in Latin when you find somewhere.

Congratulations!

Ellie2758

carol_a wrote:

I married in a catholic church (many moons ago) and we had to arrange to have the local registrar there to make the marriage "legal" as the Catholic ceremony didn't count. My friend who is French said that in France (may be the same in Italy)they do get married at the Marie (Town hall) first for the legal part then go to church for the blessing as mentioned above. We had to attend classes first as my husband was not catholic and also the "banns" had to be read for a few weeks before in the church. They don't actually read them out but just post the names in the porch in case anyone knows of any objections etc.

I'm guessing this was pre-1982. That was the year the registrars went on strike. I was maid of honour at a friend's wedding and the priest had to register as a registrar so that her marriage could go ahead. I assumed all RC churches had done this to avoid future problems.

carol_a_3

Yes, you're right it was 1976, I didn't realise it had changed. Think they still do the two ceremonies in France though as my friend went to her cousin's wedding in France last year.