Wedding Help for a Convert

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MissMichal

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Hi all,

Being a convert with few Catholic friends, the first Catholic wedding I attend will be my own. I keep hearing about the bride’s devotion to Mary during the ceremony, but details have been hard to come by. What happens when this is included in a wedding? Is it the same every time? Please advise.

Thanks,
-MM-
 
It varies from region to region. Your parish should have a wedding coordinator to help you plan your Catholic wedding, if not then ask the presiding priest. :cool:
 
The only thing I know of regarding showing devotion to Mary during a wedding ceremony is, the bride will place a bouquet of flowers by a statue of Mary at some point in the Mass.
 
I had not seen it done much. At one of my friend’s weddings she did take a bouquet and place it at Mary’s feet and then prayed for a bit. If I remember correctly this came after their vows but can’t remember when exactly.

When I was getting married the wedding coordinator for our parish asked if I was planning on doing it and I told her I wasn’t familiar with it. She said then you shouldn’t do it if it doesn’t have significance to me as it was not a “required” part of the wedding mass.
 
Davina100 said:
I had not seen it done much. At one of my friend’s weddings she did take a bouquet and place it at Mary’s feet and then prayed for a bit. If I remember correctly this came after their vows but can’t remember when exactly.

When I was getting married the wedding coordinator for our parish asked if I was planning on doing it and I told her I wasn’t familiar with it. She said then you shouldn’t do it if it doesn’t have significance to me as it was not a “required” part of the wedding mass.
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No, that’s true. I think it must be an American/region thing.

I have attended quite a few weddings as a sacristan, amd have never seen this done at weddings in the UK.
 
paperwight66 said:
No, that’s true. I think it must be an American/region thing.

I have attended quite a few weddings as a sacristan, amd have never seen this done at weddings in the UK.
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It’s not something I’ve ever seen done in my area of Canada either.
 
Our priest asked if we wanted to do it, but I had never heard of it, and my husband hadn’t either (and he grew up Catholic.) I think it was a common thing at the church where we were married (the Catholic church in our college town; the priest was the Catholic chaplain at our college), but he had a similar attitude to some of the PPs - if it wasn’t significant to you, probably not something to do.
 
I did it at my wedding. Placed a bouquet of flowers at the statue of Mary, prayed a bit and then walked back to stand in front of the priest. We had the organist play one of the renditions of “Ave Maria” during that part. My husband escorted me over to the statue (helped me with my dress, had a long train) and then stood back while I prayed and then escorted me back to stand before Father to continue the ceremony.
 
MissMichal said:
Hi all,

Being a convert with few Catholic friends, the first Catholic wedding I attend will be my own. I keep hearing about the bride’s devotion to Mary during the ceremony, but details have been hard to come by. What happens when this is included in a wedding? Is it the same every time? Please advise.

Thanks,
-MM-
Click to expand...
At my nanny’s wedding, like at the time in the Mass when they normally pass the collection, the singer sang Ave Maria, my nanny and uncle bought a rose to each of their mothers, then to the statue of Mary and they prayed for a little bit

-Jeanne
 
Thanks for your replies! Actually, I was quite sure it was optional since it’s not in the Rite of Marriage, but a few of the older ladies in my parish started asking me what I was going to do and recommending the florists in town who would make you a breakaway part of your bouquet for the ceremony. I didn’t want to expose my ignorance by telling them that I had no clue what they were talking about…

This would be a very sweet part of the ceremony if I were having a big nuptial Mass with our Catholic families, but as it happens both families are Mormon and would be quite alienated by such an addition. While I don’t believe in editing my religious practices for anyone else’s sake, I don’t especially want to add an optional part to the celebration that would have that sort of effect.
 
I definitely wouldn’t do it then, if both families are mostly Mormon. It was important to me because I had prayed upteen rosaries to Mary for my discering if marriage was to be my vocation and if so, to guide my future spouse in his faith journey.
 
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