Choosing a Church wedding?
When you fell in love and decided you wanted to spend the rest of your lives together it was an intensely personal moment. But when you announce your plans, it can be easy to get swept along in the tide of other people’s expectations about your wedding. Maybe your parents expect you to have a Church wedding, or maybe your friends think it’s more romantic to be married in a church. If you think about why you are choosing a church wedding, it will help you be aware of all the different influences affecting your choice.
The choice of where to get married should reflect your own expectation about your marriage. If you want to get married in a Catholic Church, this indicates that your hopes and ideas about marriage reflect the hopes and ideas of the Catholic Church about marriage. Getting married in the Church shows that you believe there is a ‘sacredness’ about your love. It is more than a matter of fulfilling legal requirement of the State. Your relationship has something extra.
Take time to share your feelings with one another and talk about any points which worry you about your future together.
- Do you both want a Church wedding?
- What do each of you mean by a ‘lifelong’ commitment?
- What do you think is special about Christian marriage?
- What do you both think of the Christian faith? Do you respect each other’s point of view on this?
A wedding is a time for sharing. Talk over your ideas about life with your partner. Exchange your opinions honestly. Tell each other what you believe and what you don’t. Discuss what kind of married life you hope for. Resist the temptation to put off discussing sensitive issues where your opinions differ. If you’re honest with each other now, you can avoid misunderstandings later.