Hi, I am Catholic and my fiancée is Protestant Christian. We plan to get married soon but we both agree that we want to give respect to each of our own beliefs. With this we agree that we have two weddings. The first one would be Catholic and with families only and the second one would be the Christian wedding will all our friends and guests.

How can we go about this since Catholic Law dictates that the Catholic wedding be performed with the actual signing of the marriage contract? If this is so, what happens to the 2nd wedding which is a Christian wedding?

This is just my opinion based upon the fact that I married a Catholic and I am a Protestant. And, through conversations with a Catholic priest at the college where I attended at the time of the wedding. And, that was a very long time ago. I don't remember everything that he said.

Catholics are Christians, by the way.

I don't know that you have to have two weddings. In my understanding of things, in order for your wedding to be valid in the Catholic Church, you need to have a priest present at the ceremony. What functions the priest will have at the ceremony in order for your marriage to be validated according to Catholic Law, I don't know. I just know that he needs to be present for the marriage to be valid.

It is also my understanding, that you could have both a priest and minister present at the one ceremony. I would think that they could take turns performing the various functions during the ceremony.

I am hopeful that Fr_Chuck will be along to possibly confirm and also clarify.

You are right, Clough. The ceremony can be performed by both the priest and the minister. It can be done in one church, at the same time and be blessed by both churches.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer but I think that is a lovely idea!
I wish you luck!

Hi all, thank you for your responses. However, I have consulted with a priest and He said it it prohibited by Canon Law for a non-Catholic minister/priest to give blessing or be present in a Mass during the Catholic wedding. This is the reason why we opted to have two weddings.

A lot of people I know in this situation had a wedding in a United church.

Hi,
Being a truly Catholic it is very important for us women to marry in a Catholic Church and bring our children to be Catholic. Just invite all your friends from the Protestant Church to witness your special day at a Catholic Church. I am sure you all have a lovely time! God bless, Maria from U.K