Getting married in a church

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Yasa

What's wrong with a bottle of Boone's and Kraft slices?

It's wine and velvetta man. Wine and velvetta. I will settle for Alberta Premium Rye and spoonfuls of Mac&Cheese powder from the bulk bin though.

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Depending on the denomination you may need to take a marriage course from the church before they'll perform the wedding (I know Catholics have to, I'm not sure about others).

"How a man and a woman can have a long and happy marriage"

- brought to you by your local single, celibate and gay parish priest.

[troutman]

My sister-in-law had to "convert" to Catholicism to wed her husband in Germany. The family priest would not do the ceremony because she was not Catholic. The replacement priest got wasted at the reception, and was the life of the party!

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It's wine and velvetta man. Wine and velvetta. I will settle for Alberta Premium Rye and spoonfuls of Mac&Cheese powder from the bulk bin though.

Too rich for my blood. I envy your life, my friend.

[Bigtime]

I went to a wedding at Knox United last summer, heck of a venue for a wedding.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by DFO

Parents & relatives need to step off - it's not their day. We've hurt our share of feelings concerning our upcoming wedding but they'll get over it.

If you're accepting money from either side towards the wedding I think it's only reasonable to allow them to have some input. If you don't want their input, don't take their money.

[Calgaryborn]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

My wife and I got married in a church (St. Stephen's in Connaught/Beltline area) as a compromise for her parents, and also because churches are a traditional place for weddings and it just seemed right to us to get married there. Her family are non-practising Catholics but are also Italian, but because of the non-practising part, we couldn't get married in a Catholic church because my wife hadn't had her confirmation and we weren't willing to do that at that point in our lives.

I was christened Anglican, but again non-practising, but we had a good experience at St. Stephen's and they seemed to understand the situation and were happy to have our business. And make no mistake, it is business. You'll pay for the use of the church, the vicar, the verger, the caretaker, etc. Anglican ceremonies are a little shorter and less elaborate than Catholic, which suited us fine. In all honesty, all that we wanted an old, nice-looking church.

The Baptist church I attend has never charged for the building or the Pastor. Not all churches engage in business. Our Pastor won't even marry a couple if one of them isn't a believer. He doesn't want anyone making a vow before God if they don't believe in him. He would also require a couple take a few counciling sessions. Again he doesn't charge for counciling.

[Knut]

I underwent a similar experience recently. My Wife's family is very Catholic, while mine is not religious. She is a non-practicing Catholic. Her family's only wish during the wedding was that we get married in a Catholic church (they also footed a chunk of the bill). I was in agreeance as long as we found a priest that was ok with my non-belief. The preist also respected our wishes for a short ceremony with minimal religous references. We were very happy with every aspect of it.

We were married at Sacred Heart Church on 14th ST SW in Sunalta. The inside was beautiful and perfect for a wedding.

There was a requirement to do a weekend family planning and communication course. Which IMO was an extremely valuable resource for us. It helped us think about things that we had not thought of, and in the process helped our communication skills. The course, once again, had minimal religious references to it (other than an optional mass on Sunday). I would recommend this course for anyone, even if not getting married in a church.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hesla

There was a requirement to do a weekend family planning and communication course. Which IMO was an extremely valuable resource for us. It helped us think about things that we had not thought of, and in the process helped our communication skills. The course, once again, had minimal religious references to it (other than an optional mass on Sunday). I would recommend this course for anyone, even if not getting married in a church.

I work for a place that does such counselling and sat through part of a session to see what it was about, and I agree that it seemed to be really useful stuff, especially for young people who are just out int he world.

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by Hesla

We were married at Sacred Heart Church on 14th ST SW in Sunalta. The inside was beautiful and perfect for a wedding.

Hey, that's where I got married too! Did you have the Filipino priest? I can't remember his name. Yeah, he was pretty laid back.

Heheheh .. He kept forgetting my wife's name during the ceremony!

Of course, we're divorced now ... so I joke with my ex that the whole thing didn't really count because Baby Jesus never actually heard her name spoken.

[Knut]

^ For us the budgeting and financial planning aspect of it was very basic and we were ok in that regard. It was the communication aspect of the course that really helped us out. We thought we had the lines of communication open, but we really did not. It also was good at outlining things you as a couple need to improve on.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

Hey, that's where I got married too! Did you have the Filipino priest? I can't remember his name. Yeah, he was pretty laid back.

Heheheh .. He kept forgetting my wife's name during the ceremony!

Of course, we're divorced now ... so I joke with my ex that the whole thing didn't really count because Baby Jesus never actually heard her name spoken.

Father Edmund Vargas. He was hilarious.

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by Hesla

Father Edmund Vargas. He was hilarious.

Yep, that's the one. Great guy.

[tete]

Our nephew and his wife got married in Hillhurt United in Kensington last year - it was a very nice venue. Ceremony was 22 minutes long - basically just a few short readings, one song and the vows and a very short sermon by the minister.

[jar_e]

I guess I should have made a few things more clear...

We're both protestant, I grew up in a christian reformed background and my fiance in a luthern background. We're non-practicing but we have no issues at all getting married in a church. Cost truly isn't an issue, so we're not concerned about that too much.

I appreciate the replies and the PM's I've received. Definitely given us a lot more options to choose from. Thanks CP!

[Jayems]

I've got a point-and-shoot. You need a photog?

[North East Goon]

How about using the church in Heritage Park, plus you can get some great pictures there.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

The Baptist church I attend has never charged for the building or the Pastor. Not all churches engage in business. Our Pastor won't even marry a couple if one of them isn't a believer. He doesn't want anyone making a vow before God if they don't believe in him. He would also require a couple take a few counciling sessions. Again he doesn't charge for counciling.

Fair enough. Members of churches are probably more likely to get a lot of those services for free or at a discount, simply because they're not looking for a venue, per se, because they already belong to the church.

I don't find it unreasonable that some churches charge for weddings anyway. They've got bills to pay, just like the rest of us.

[TylerSVT]

I'm keeping God out of my marriage.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by TylerSVT

I'm keeping God out of my marriage.

Not if you love your future wife and she really wants it...

Pick your battles dude.