Can we have a blessing/ceremony after a church wedding?

[jc1234]

We booked our wedding reception at a very nice place. We originally thought we could have a catholic wedding at the reception venue but after doing a little research we found out that this is not allowed in the Catholic laws. Is it okay if we have a small church wedding (with just family) in the morning and later have a blessing ceremony at the reception venue (with all the guests)? Is this something that’s been done before by other couples? Can the blessing be done by a priest?

 

[Matthew_Holford]

We booked our wedding reception at a very nice place. We originally thought we could have a catholic wedding at the reception venue but after doing a little research we found out that this is not allowed in the Catholic laws. Is it okay if we have a small church wedding (with just family) in the morning and later have a blessing ceremony at the reception venue (with all the guests)? Is this something that’s been done before by other couples? Can the blessing be done by a priest?

If you are getting married I wonder what blessing it is you think you could receive later the same day. The Nuptial Mass or Rite of Marriage outside Mass is all you need to be married.

 

[promethius]

We booked our wedding reception at a very nice place. We originally thought we could have a catholic wedding at the reception venue but after doing a little research we found out that this is not allowed in the Catholic laws. Is it okay if we have a small church wedding (with just family) in the morning and later have a blessing ceremony at the reception venue (with all the guests)? Is this something that’s been done before by other couples? Can the blessing be done by a priest?

I’m sorry, i must be missing something… is there a reason you’re not just going to have a church wedding? What’s the hold up here from moving the wedding to the church rather than the reception venue?

 

[SwizzleStick]

I’m sorry, i must be missing something… is there a reason you’re not just going to have a church wedding? What’s the hold up here from moving the wedding to the church rather than the reception venue?

I don’t understand either. OP, can you clarify the issues? If you are able to have a Church wedding with family, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t invite all the guests? Also, what type of blessing did you have in mind to have at the reception? You would be married at Church, so what type of blessing would you be thinking about?

 

[SwizzleStick]

This may not be at all helpful at this point, OP, but the first thing to do when planning a Catholic wedding is to schedule it with your parish and then go from there in scheduling all the other things like reception hall, etc. It appears that you may have done things in reverse order. Also, it appears that since you didn’t know this, you also may not know that you need to attend a marriage prep program.

Here’s a link to a website that may be helpful to you in planning for all the important details.

Catholic Wedding Help
catholicweddinghelp.com/wedding-planning/wedding-planning.htm

 

[Corki]

We booked our wedding reception at a very nice place. We originally thought we could have a catholic wedding at the reception venue but after doing a little research we found out that this is not allowed in the Catholic laws. Is it okay if we have a small church wedding (with just family) in the morning and later have a blessing ceremony at the reception venue (with all the guests)? Is this something that’s been done before by other couples? Can the blessing be done by a priest?

There is no reason you can’t invite a priest to the reception and ask him to bless you and your new spouse. It just can’t in any way appear to be a marriage ceremony. It would be wrong to simulate or “recreate” the wedding ceremony that has already occured with the Chuch wedding. I have been to weddings where just before the priest blesses the food or just before the toasts, the priests asks God to bless the new couple as they begin their life together and confers a blessing. Totally appropriate.

 

[jc1234]

First, thank you for your responses. Yes, I know my original idea doesn’t make any sense. There’s a couple of reasons why I wanted to do a small church wedding followed by some sort of ceremony at the reception venue. One, most of the churches in NYC asks for a church fee and they can be quite expensive. I know it’s considered as a donation to the church but I’m trying to save where I can. So I figured I can do a church wedding with just our family the day before the reception at our church in NJ. Two, the venue is really beautiful and has a great view and they’re letting us have the ceremony there for free. Having a short blessing at the venue will allow us to have all our guests be part of some sort of ceremony and they won’t need to go through the hassle of traveling between church and reception specially with the NYC rush hour traffic.

Does my original idea make any more sense now that I’ve explained the reasons?

And yes, you’re all right that I should have looked at churches first before booking our reception. I didn’t know better. My plan is to talk to a few priests and see what my options are. Hopefully they can enlighten me with an idea on how I can make this happen. If not, I will probably have to do a church wedding with everyone. The guests will just have to bare the travel hassle.

 

[promethius]

First, thank you for your responses. Yes, I know my original idea doesn’t make any sense. There’s a couple of reasons why I wanted to do a small church wedding followed by some sort of ceremony at the reception venue. One, most of the churches in NYC asks for a church fee and they can be quite expensive. I know it’s considered as a donation to the church but I’m trying to save where I can. So I figured I can do a church wedding with just our family the day before the reception at our church in NJ. Two, the venue is really beautiful and has a great view and they’re letting us have the ceremony there for free. Having a short blessing at the venue will allow us to have all our guests be part of some sort of ceremony and they won’t need to go through the hassle of traveling between church and reception specially with the NYC rush hour traffic.

Does my original idea make any more sense now that I’ve explained the reasons?

And yes, you’re all right that I should have looked at churches first before booking our reception. I didn’t know better. My plan is to talk to a few priests and see what my options are. Hopefully they can enlighten me with an idea on how I can make this happen. If not, I will probably have to do a church wedding with everyone. The guests will just have to bare the travel hassle.

Actually, the price of a contribution to the church is negotiable based on your budget. Say you were to go without additional flower arrangements (most churches are so beautiful that you don’t need them), and have your wedding mass in conjunction with a normal mass… the cost would be GREATLY reduced (though you would have to put up with people other than guests being at your wedding in that case). You could go with some combination or whatnot, and you could find a church reasonably close to your reception location. (the option to celebrate a wedding during a normal mass cuts cost because it reduces heating, lighting, and staffing costs for music minister/priest, etc)

Priests will work with you on cost issues and there are always ways to cut back.

 

[Corki]

Actually, the price of a contribution to the church is negotiable based on your budget. Say you were to go without additional flower arrangements (most churches are so beautiful that you don’t need them), and have your wedding mass in conjunction with a normal mass… the cost would be GREATLY reduced (though you would have to put up with people other than guests being at your wedding in that case). You could go with some combination or whatnot, and you could find a church reasonably close to your reception location. (the option to celebrate a wedding during a normal mass cuts cost because it reduces heating, lighting, and staffing costs for music minister/priest, etc)

Priests will work with you on cost issues and there are always ways to cut back.

Good points. If the OP has a Church wedding and invites a priest to give a blessing at the ceremony, the stipends are likely to be the same or more than if she simply had the wedding in the usual way in her parish.

The whole idea of “church fees” usually only comes up if a potential bride is looking to get married in a Church where she is not a parishioner.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

We booked our wedding reception at a very nice place. We originally thought we could have a catholic wedding at the reception venue but after doing a little research we found out that this is not allowed in the Catholic laws. Is it okay if we have a small church wedding (with just family) in the morning and later have a blessing ceremony at the reception venue (with all the guests)? Is this something that’s been done before by other couples? Can the blessing be done by a priest?

You could do so, I’ve even known priests who have done that. However what takes place at the reception has to be careful not to give the appearance of being an exchange of vows. No one at the reception should be under the impression that they are witnessing your marriage. However, yes, you could get married in a small simple ceremony at the parish and then have a nice blessing at the reception by the priest.