Getting Married At St. Mary of False River
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Basic Information
If you'd like to begin preparation for marriage, please arrange to meet with our priest at least six months prior to the proposed date of the wedding.
Please call the office to schedule an appointment.
Here are some other things you'll need to keep in mind:- You'll need a recently certified baptismal record (within the last 6 months). You can get this by contacting the church parish where you were baptized.
- Due to the nature of the discernment and preparation process, any date is considered tentative until meeting with the priest and he has assessed readiness for marriage.
- The date of the wedding is reserved once you've met with the priest and confirmed it with the parish office.
- For full details, including fees and planning forms, please download our marriage preparation packet to begin your planning.
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A word about Confirmation
The Code of Canon Law makes this statement:
Why? Because this Sacrament is an outpouring of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the person who receives it worthily, the strength and supernatural help from God to live as a Christian in the midst of a difficult and spiritually dangerous world. With confirmation the gifts of the Holy Spirit are strengthened: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. Receiving these gifts in their fullness help each spouse to live the responsibilities of marriage.“Catholics who have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation are to receive it before being admitted to marriage, if this can be done without grave inconvenience” (Canon 1065.1).
If one or either spouses have not received Confirmation, then preparation to receive the Sacrament will be built into the overall marriage preparation process.
It can be done at any point before the marriage, usually by the priest receiving delegation by the bishop to confer Confirmation at a Sunday (or any other) Mass. -
Weddings for Non-Parishioners
If you are not a registered parishioner, you'll need to arrange for suitable pre-marital preparation in your own parish.
Due to the volume of weddings that occur at St. Mary's non-parishioners will need to make accommodations with their own priest and/or deacon to celebrate the Rite of Marriage and/or Nuptial Mass at St. Mary's.
As a Catholic Church, St. Mary of False River is exclusively available for our parishioners and other Catholics who are not registered parishioners who have sufficiently fulfilled the above obligations.
Marriages between Catholics in good standing and non-Catholic Christians are permitted by The Catholic Church and may take place at our parish. -
Exclusively Non-Catholic or Non-Christian WeddingsAt this time we do not allow exclusively non-Catholic couples for weddings.
While St. Mary's recognizes the presence of several event facilities nearby, we do not "rent the church" for any Non-Catholic religious ceremony.
Non-Catholics are encouraged to contact clergy and churches in their own denomination(s) or ecclesial community. -
Dates and Times for Weddings
- Weddings are ordinarily celebrated on Friday evenings, but they may occur any day of the week.
Saturday Weddings
- Because of our regular Saturday Mass schedule, weddings may take place before noon or from 6:30pm. Weddings are not celebrated on Saturday between 12:00pm and 6:30pm.
- To accommodate our parishioners and allow for suitable time for prayer before and after the Saturday Anticipated Mass, decoration of the church cannot take place before 5:30pm.