Question

[Honour]

Hi all,
Just wondering, do Catholics do destination weddings, it's a dream of mine to get married on a beach on a Caribbean island. Is that possible for Catholics? I mean, I know if you are a Catholic, for your marriage to be recognized you have to be married "in the Church"....but is that literal? Can a priest do a wedding on the beach? Random I know, just wondering.

[CatherineM]

You can get a dispensation to have a wedding outside the norms. Our priest got permission for our wedding to be on a Sunday morning. I had thought about getting married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at the church with the big gold crown on top. All they required was a letter from your pastor back home that you had met all the requirements to be married in the church. Getting married outside is frowned upon most of the time unless you've got a good reason. We should desire to be married in church. If you have your heart set on something like that, you could go through all the requirements your pastor lays out, then have your destination wedding wherever, and come home and have your marriage blessed in your home church.

[Ephrem Augustine]

A wedding is a Sacramental covenant before God, through and in the Church. If we are Church together, it doesn't make sense to do a wedding purely on our own individualistic terms, but on God's terms.
I mean, I hope to get ordained, but I would hope to have some sort of beach party. It might be possible to have a reception near a beach, who knows, it could be possible to incorporate it. The wedding is not just a fancy day to show off and get a lot of applause, but a day to commit oneself in love forever before God, to a life of service to their beloved. Its a sacred thing.

Anyways, any more help answering this would be greatly appreciated.

[HisChildForever]

I believe you have to be married in a Church. Why not go to a nice beach for your honeymoon?

If I ever get married, I would like to have the ceremony in a beautiful Church during a Mass. Then off to a nearby reception hall for the party.

[Veridicus]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='08 February 2010 - 09:56 PM' timestamp='1265687806' post='2053878']
If I ever get married, I would like to have the ceremony in a beautiful Church during a Mass. Then off to a nearby reception hall for the party.
[/quote]

That's exactly what I did last summer. We had the reception in the Church/school's Hall. it was a 30second walk form the Church...it was really warm outside so the short walk was a very good thing.

Litany of the Saints being chanted during our Nuptial Mass. (The candelabras were my idea )
[IMG]http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss172/Veridicus21/LitanyoftheSaints.jpg[/IMG]

Edited February 9, 2010 by Veridicus

[dauntingknight]

We have all of these very beautiful Churches...
so why would we want to get married outside?

This is the church I go to on a semi-monthly basis and if you look very closely I'm the server on the right.

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2237/2531081110_5a2293bf64.jpg[/img]

[Veridicus]

[quote name='dauntingknight' date='08 February 2010 - 10:13 PM' timestamp='1265688814' post='2053897']
We have all of these very beautiful Churches...
so why would we want to get married outside?
[/quote]

To be fair, beautiful churches aren't exactly a ubiquitous phenomenon in the Latin Rite these days. They still exist, but are rather rare in suberbs...have to go downtown or rural to find many beautiful Churches in my area.

[cappie]

Canon #1118 §1 A marriage between catholics, or between a catholic party and a baptised non-catholic, is to be celebrated in the parish church. By permission of the local Ordinary or of the parish priest, it may be celebrated in another church or oratory.

§2 The local Ordinary can allow a marriage to be celebrated in another suitable place.

§3 A marriage between a catholic party and an unbaptised party may be celebrated in a church or in another suitable place.

In Australia the Bishops have issued a Pastoral Statement as a guide to priests, among the recommendations are: The Presider should not be too hastily conclude that every request is motivated by a desire to water down the religious content of the ceremony, there can be other reasons. If a couple ask for a wedding outside a sacred place the presider should first of all discuss with them, in a kindly and co-operative way, the reasons for the request. If they insist, presiders may not refuse them, but must refer their request to the local Ordinary.

[Veridicus]

If you HAVE to have your wedding at the beach...[url="http://www.parishesonline.com/scripts/hostedsites/Org.asp?ID=21326#"]Our Lady of the Assumption, Pensacola[/url]...this church in Pensacola is literally on Pensacola Beach. I would guess you could somehow manage to have a reception on the beach in the surrounding area. I've been to Mass there on vacation before. Its a 10min walk from the main public beach area. "They are Church"

Edited February 9, 2010 by Veridicus

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='09 February 2010 - 03:56 AM' timestamp='1265687806' post='2053878']
I believe you have to be married in a Church. Why not go to a nice beach for your honeymoon?

If I ever get married, I would like to have the ceremony in a beautiful Church during a Mass. Then off to a nearby reception hall for the party.
[/quote]
That's what we did. Went to the Bahamas for the honeymoon. A beach wedding the day of wouldn't have worked, seeing as it stormed all day (we were in FL, fairly close to the beach).

[Honour]

Wow, I forgot how haughty Phatmassers can be. I suppose I should have prefaced this with, "Oh, by the way I'm not Catholic, I'm considering converting, and just realized how that may effect my future wedding plans"

I don't think, as someone who is not even a member of the church, that there is something wrong with me for not having a lifelong strong desire to be married in a Catholic church, and the fact that I am asking proves I am not trying to have a wedding on my "own individualistic terms"

Thanks Cappie for the reference, I should have posted in the Q and A area, I forgot what Open Mic can be like.

::Scurries back over to Transmundane Lane::

Edited February 10, 2010 by Honour

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Honour' date='09 February 2010 - 09:21 PM' timestamp='1265768515' post='2054471']
Wow, I forgot how haughty Phatmassers can be. I suppose I should have prefaced this with, "Oh, by the way I'm not Catholic, I'm considering converting, and just realized how that may effect my future wedding plans"
[/quote]
If a decision as major as a conversion to another religion hinges upon something as inconsequential as whether or not one can be married on the beach, perhaps the prospective convert ought to reconsider his reasons for conversion.

[zunshynn]

I don't see how anyone was haughty or rude. You asked if it was done. People explained the reasoning why it is not commonly done, but also that it might be possible under certain circumstances. What kind of answer were you expecting?

No one was accusing you of wanting a wedding on your own individualistic terms. If you interpreted it as such, maybe that's an issue you need to square with God, not us.

Edited February 10, 2010 by zunshynn

[Honour]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' date='09 February 2010 - 07:29 PM' timestamp='1265768953' post='2054473']
If a decision as major as a conversion to another religion hinges upon something as inconsequential as whether or not one can be married on the beach, perhaps the prospective convert ought to reconsider his reasons for conversion.
[/quote]

[Honour]

SERIOSLY, IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO MAKE ME NOT WANT TO LOG IN TO PHATMASS. I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING CONVERTING FOR A LONG TIME, IT HAS BEEN A JOURNEY. I DID NOT SAY THAT I WOULD NOT CONVERT IF I COULDN'T GET MARRIED ON A BEACH. I WAS INQUIRING ABOUT THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH, FOR MY OWN UNDERSTANDING BECAUSE I DO CARE ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS!

::DISGUSTED::

[Honour]

AND BY THE WAY, GETTING MARRIED ON A BEACH IS SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING FOR A PERIOD OF TIME FAR SHORTER THAN I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING CONVERTING, AND CONVERTING IS CERTIANLY A DESCION THAT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO ME. AND YES I KNOW I'M YELLING. YOU MAD ME MAD.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Honour' date='09 February 2010 - 09:35 PM' timestamp='1265769323' post='2054479']
SERIOSLY, IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO MAKE ME NOT WANT TO LOG IN TO PHATMASS. I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING CONVERTING FOR A LONG TIME, IT HAS BEEN A JOURNEY. I DID NOT SAY THAT I WOULD NOT CONVERT IF I COULDN'T GET MARRIED ON A BEACH. I WAS INQUIRING ABOUT THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH, FOR MY OWN UNDERSTANDING BECAUSE I DO CARE ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS!

::DISGUSTED::
[/quote]
No need to be upset.

[zunshynn]

People like what? Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?

[mcts]

[quote name='Honour' date='09 February 2010 - 09:35 PM' timestamp='1265769323' post='2054479']
SERIOSLY, IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO MAKE ME NOT WANT TO LOG IN TO PHATMASS. I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING CONVERTING FOR A LONG TIME, IT HAS BEEN A JOURNEY. I DID NOT SAY THAT I WOULD NOT CONVERT IF I COULDN'T GET MARRIED ON A BEACH. I WAS INQUIRING ABOUT THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH, FOR MY OWN UNDERSTANDING BECAUSE I DO CARE ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS!

::DISGUSTED::
[/quote]


[quote name='Honour' date='09 February 2010 - 09:37 PM' timestamp='1265769463' post='2054480']
AND BY THE WAY, GETTING MARRIED ON A BEACH IS SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING FOR A PERIOD OF TIME FAR SHORTER THAN I HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING CONVERTING, AND CONVERTING IS CERTIANLY A DESCION THAT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO ME. AND YES I KNOW I'M YELLING. YOU MAD ME MAD.
[/quote]


I'm going to have to suggest that you step back a minute and chill. I'm almost positive that no harm was meant. The way you worded it made it sound like you were mad at people for giving you an answer that you didn't like to your question. Now that you've explained it more, it's different.

Have a good day

[Veridicus]

Not to be dense, but I'm with zunshynn...I didn't think this was a particularly haughty set of responses. You asked what the Church's position was and people explained it and emphasized that as Catholics we should desire to be near the Eucharistic presence of Christ during the our Nuptial ceremony. I am really sorry if we offended you.