Ok, I am a converting catholic. I am in RCIA right now. My fiance is a cradle catholic. Our wedding was originally going to be in October but we have several other weddings 3 that month actually. Well we want to get married sooner anyways so we have been looking at all the options. We want an affordable wedding and my question is if we would fly away or elope is that a state of sin? would that not be acceptable to the church then?
First, congratulations on your upcoming wedding and on being enrolled in RCIA!
Catholics are married in Catholic Churches by Catholic priests. That being said, there’s no reason why you can’t fly away to be married, but the hassel of arranging all the details (finding a Church, choosing a priest, getting the marriage license for that location, etc) may not be worth it. At least, it wasn’t for me and my fiance.
I’m also a convert and my fiance is a cradle Catholic. Our wedding was going to be a big event, but after a month or so of preliminary planning, we decided a small ceremony was more than adequate for the two of us! We’re celebrating Mass with 10 friends/family in the chapel of my fiance’s home parish, and then heading out to eat afterwards. Total cost of everything (gown, shoes, veil, precana, marriage license, rings, photographs, Church donation, announcements & reception) will be under $2500. We looked at eloping/destination type things, but it was a huge hassel (for us) and would have ended up being more expensive. Another major factor for us was that a destination wedding would have to be in a Church we had never been to, celebrated by a priest we had never met - but that was just our personal preference.
Anyhow, good luck with your wedding planning & may God Bless your future marriage!
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