Why can't Catholic marriages occur outside a church?

[Sparky]

Follow-up question to the previous one about marriage outside a church building:

Why is it that Catholic marriages cannot occur outside of a church building? I’ve been asked this question many times, and the only answer I can give is that a church is symbolic of the community of faith and that the wedding must be witnessed by the community of faith.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Your answer is perfectly fine. I would only strengthen it to say that a church is where Christians ordinarily gather to worship God and to receive the sacraments. While the sacraments *can *be validly received elsewhere, particularly in emergency situations, it is most fitting for them to be received in a church because a church is a place on earth where God and man ordinarily meet.