Religious Considerations

Religious Considerations

A wedding is a personalized event. You choose the wedding dress or gown of which you've always dreamed. You order the wedding cake that embraces the theme of the wedding. You find wedding invitations which reflect your own particular style and choose wedding rings that you will love and want to wear forever.

Something important can get lost in all of these preparations and this section will help you focus on the main event - the actual ceremony - where religious considerations of both families about to be joined need to be discussed and met.

The heart of the wedding day is the marriage ceremony itself. That's when it happens, when these two people legally become a married couple and where their married life begins, when their new family is created, when two families become joined.

Whether the wedding ceremony is facilitated by a justice of the peace at City Hall supported by two friends, or by a monsignor at a cathedral in front of 500 witnesses, or anything in between. The couple needs to decide what is important to them and what part religion is going to play in their wedding day and in their married life.

In order to tell you some of the hurdles that may present themselves, let's look at a few scenarios:







Religious Considerations: Scenario 1

We'll start with a straightforward one and say that Mark and Sarah are both practicing Roman Catholics and belong to the same church, as do their parents.

No question here: they are getting married at their church and will heed the instructions of their priest as he tells them what the "rules" are about the actual ceremony and what choices they have.

For example, Sarah wants to walk down the aisle to the strains of a popular romantic song, but the priest tells them that that is not possible since procession and recession music must be sacred music and they must choose from a book of hymns. This is not a deal-breaker - they will not look for a different venue for their ceremony because of it.

Sarah is a little disappointed, but chooses a lovely hymn and all is hunky dory. Sarah and Mark decide to make the music they originally chose part of the reception instead and will use it for their first dance.

Religious Considerations: Scenario 2

Let's change it up a bit and say that Mark and his family are practicing Roman Catholics, but Sarah has no real church affiliation. She was baptized in a United Church and she and her family did not attend regularly during her growing up years.

Most Roman Catholic churches will allow a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic once a marriage course is taken by the couple. Some religious groups may want the non-practicing spouse to formally convert to the religion of the practicing spouse. Some may want an agreement to raise all children as active members of that church.

Note:Check all of this out with your religious institution of choice before you make any wedding plans.

Sarah and Mark decide to get married at Mark's church after fulfilling all of the requirements asked of them.

On this next page we continue looking at scenarios in which religion requires some special wedding planning.







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