Weddings during Lent?

[mrs_abbott]

Are you supposed to have a wedding in a Catholic Church during the season of Lent?

 

[jc-servant]

They were never allowed at my parish in year’s past, but our new pastor let some folks have a huge wedding during Lent. It is still the only one that I have seen. Our schedule is filled way out in advance, so maybe they had special circumstances. Even if canon law does not expressly forbid it, Lent is supposed to be penitential not a time for celebration.

 

[mrs_abbott]

The reason I ask was because my friend is getting married on March 24 this year and my cousin couldn’t get married two years ago during Lent because they just weren’t done.
I was just wondering what the Catholic policy was on that.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Yes, a wedding during Lent is permitted.

From the Rite of Marriage:
“11. … When a marriage is celebrated during Advent or Lent or other days of penance, the parish priest should advise the couple to take into consideration the special nature of these liturgical seasons.”
(The Rites Volume One, Liturgical Press, 1990, ISBN: 0-8146-6015-0, page 722).

 

[Fuerza]

I’m getting married during Lent this year, on St. Patrick’s day. I didn’t meet any resistance from my priest or the bishop.

 

[patientone]

My fiance and I will be married on a Friday during Lent this year. We are keeping our mass and reception very simple and solemn; No meat, even for our non-catholic guests, no loud music, no dancing and we will remind our catholic guests in our program of our Lentin obligations.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

When one of the intended parties is a military member and has to either “ship out” or move to a foreign port, a lot of times there will be a Lenten wedding.

 

[BlestOne]

normally the individual churches discourage weddings during lent and if they do allow it, they may have special rules about the adornment of the church such as no flowers on the altar or at the very least minimal floral arrangements.

 

[charmed0723]

If your wedding is on a sat during lent you may serve meat?
Are there any guidelines for drinking on a sat wedding during lent?
Thanks,
charmed

 

[EasterJoy]

If your wedding is on a sat during lent you may serve meat?
Are there any guidelines for drinking on a sat wedding during lent?
Thanks,
charmed

There is no prohibition on Roman Catholics eating meat on a Saturday during Lent. You might, however, have a number of guests who are abstaining from alcohol or even meat as a Lent-long penance. Consider your own guest list, and take the likelihood of that into account when planning your reception.

Many dioceses have written policies concerning weddings. Call your chancery office and see if they have one, so you will know what your bishop does and does not allow. Then talk to your pastor about how things must be done in your parish, and how he would prefer things be done. Of course you’ll want to follow parish requirements, but I’d suggest that if you can even find a way to make your preferences match his, by all means graciously try to do so.

Having said that…do you want your anniversary to fall during Lent every year, or even most years? Sometimes there certainly are compelling reasons for a Lenten wedding, but consider whether or not you might choose a different date.

 

[yinekka]

The Greek Orthodox Church doesn’t permit weddings in Lent or in Advent. I wish that the Catholic Church would do likewise. I think that before VII weddings weren’t permitted in a Catholic Church during lent.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Actually, weddings were permitted in Lent and Advent preVII, at least in the US. They were for usually for two reasons: The couple was expecting their first child, or the young man (and in a few very rare cases, young woman) was in the military and being shipped out. The couple was supposed to keep the celebration simple due to the season. The church was not to be extensively decorated. They could have a Nuptial Mass, but sometimes no music. They were even told how to have the reception after the wedding (no heavy-duty drinking, nothing too extensive or expensive on the menu, sometimes no music or dancing). In these circumstances, brides did not often wear wedding dresses, but suits, and the young men their uniforms. There was often a wedding breakfast after being married at the early morning Mass on a weekday. So, there would be coffee, juice, eggs, maybe sweet rolls at a local restauant.

I know this from only reading about it in several books on WWII, the Great Depression and the like, but because my various older relatives were in both circumstances, and talked about it at family gatherings.

 

[CB_Catholic]

My daughter got married during Lent 10 years ago. The church was simply decorated and she chose beautiful classical music with an organ and a string quintet and a full Nuptuial Mass. The only request was that she did not have elaborate floral or pew decorations. Nothing was said about the reception. It was a very lovely solemn ceremony.

 

[AJV]

The Greek Orthodox Church doesn’t permit weddings in Lent or in Advent. I wish that the Catholic Church would do likewise.

I think that before VII weddings weren’t permitted in a Catholic Church during lent.

Before the 1917 Code, marriages were generally not contracted during the whole of Advent and Christmastide (i.e. Sunday I of Advent to 13 January) and Lent inclusive of Easter (i.e. Ash Wednesday to Sunday I after Easter) which was known as the “closed time”.

The 1917 Code shortened the closed time to Advent only (i.e. Sunday I of Advent to Christmas) to Lent (Ash Wednesday to Easter). However, it allowed bishops to dispense and permit restrained (in terms of festivity) marriages during this time.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

My daughter got married during Lent 10 years ago. The church was simply decorated and she chose beautiful classical music with an organ and a string quintet and a full Nuptuial Mass. The only request was that she did not have elaborate floral or pew decorations. Nothing was said about the reception. It was a very lovely solemn ceremony.

Well, ten years ago was after VII (Vatican II).