Booking/finding the Church

View quoted message Really? Marriage courses first? That’s really interesting. We were able to book and were told that we need to do our marriage courses 6 months before the wedding.
I hope you’re able to book your church and the time you want! Good luck with your marriage courses

I am living in a small community and my fiancé is Catholic so we chose a Catholic Church that they go to for special events (Easter, Christmas, etc). We had two choices and we went with the church that was bigger and had a slightly more elegant feel to it. I wanted to book it right away but the priest wouldn't let us until we finished our marriage course so make sure you do that first if necessary!! Most of the churches have their own version so I'm not sure if they are too sticky on whether you do another denominations course. Our price was $300! Very reasonably priced in my mind- $200 for the church and $100 for the priest. We booked ours about 13 months before, but wanted to about 16 months in advanced but had to finish our course first. Hope this helps!

I and a huge advocate for planning early. We got engaged June of this year and we’re getting married May 25th of 2019. We already booked our venue and this week we reserved our church and priest. Church is called la visitation (longer name than that) in Montreal. It has a Really nice ethereal fairy tale pastel feel to it and there’s a lot of great places to take pictures later outside. The fee is 1100$ and it includes the organist and singer... we needed to find our own priest though since it is a French Catholic Church and we are English/Italian and Catholic. So we booked my cousins priest who married them may 2017. His fee is around 400$. Were actually the second people to book the day we wanted which makes me happy and we got the time we wanted! So I highly suggest booking and feeling relaxed after

View quoted message I'm not sure I'm handling it too well tbh, lol. I'm definitely overwhelmed by it and trying to find a church that will work for us, or another venue that won't be too expensive and an officiant is driving me nuts! I'd like to have it figured out soon but I'm having a hard time finding somewhere 😅

View quoted message Definitely, but we just need to make sure that it will be affordable, because we have to consider the price of an officiant as well. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by it and I don't even know where to start looking. Lol.

How are you handling the stress? Have you had any leads on a good venue? I booked my church right away, some churches have a limited number of services they can do it a day so if a particular venue is important to you I'd go ahead and make booking enquiries.

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You might due to these reasons. Call around to different churches. Have you thought about not doing your ceremony in a church?

View quoted message We're both baptized (he's Catholic, I'm Anglican) but we don't practise. So since we don't go to church I'm a little lost, lol. We also might have some problems because some Catholic churches won't marry me since I'm Anglican 👎. I'm just hoping we don't have a super hard time finding a church.

It's never too early to start booking. Is there a church that you and your future spouse go to regularly? I can't really speak much on the topic as I'm atheist but I'd go with whatever church you have been going to for years.

I think it is never too early to start booking things. We did our ceremony at our home church because we are familiar with it and feel most comfortable there!

View quoted message Interesting. Well good luck in your search.

View quoted message It would've happened anyway, I stress easily. Lol.Honestly, I'm not totally sure. But we both talked about it and we feel that it will be a better option for us.

View quoted message Sorry to stress you out! Not my intention but as you said, best to be prepared. If you don't mind my asking, if you guys aren't religious, why get married in a church? As long as you have a certified officiant you can get married anywhere.

View quoted message I don't mind music limits, I'm sure we can find good songs to use . I also don't think I want to do any readings. My fiancè and I aren't religious, so we don't really have anywhere. I didn't even want to get married in a church, but it might save us some money as well. But thank you for pointing out the other stuff like the marriage course and maybe needing to attend church. I mean, I'm a little more stressed about it now but at least I'll be a little prepared if it is mentioned or required. Lol.

I don't think it is too early to book but as for what church to book that is a total personal preference. If you already attend a church, I would suggest starting there. If not, maybe find one that you have always thought looked interesting or pretty. Keep in mind that there will probably be the added cost of having to do a marriage course and that some churches require you to be a part of the congregation for a certain amount of time before they will let you marry in their church. You also might be limited in your options for your ceremony (i.e. music, readings etc).

View quoted message Makes sense! Thank you for not maling me feel crazy, lol. And, thank you, congrats to you too!

We got engaged October 2016, booked our venue December 2016, and are getting married in August 2018.

I'm exactly the same way. I've been trying to get as much done in advance as possible. A lot of people were telling me it was too soon to book, but it's your wedding and I think you should plan it in a way that lets you enjoy the process

Congrats!!
Sarah