Catholic Wedding Rituals, Customs And Traditions

What You Need to Know About a Catolic Wedding

By Nily Glaser
Copyright 2007 – revised 2021 Nily Glaser Gan Publishing All rights reserved,

Marriage is the strongest bond the world has ever known. It is a pledge meant to last a lifetime.
A wedding ceremony occurs when a bride and a groom solemnly pledge themselves to one another for a lifetime, some say for eternity, in the presence of friends and family.
Celebrated today, as it has been throughout history, even to Biblical days, marriage and a wedding have been considered a sacred and solemn yet happiest event. Every culture considers a wedding, when the bride and groom enter their marriage as two individuals and becoming inextricably a part of each other, creating a new family, as the highest of all celebrations.
As the saying goes, Love makes the world go around.
Most cultures celebrate the love, devotion and commitment called wedding, with unique customs and traditions. Because the wedding is a wonderful and touching event, brides and grooms want both ceremony and reception to be personalized and unique to them. Thus, they look for meaningful experiences and often adopt customs and traditions of cultures other than their own.
The USA and recently to many other countries have become homes to people from all over the world. These people enrich the cultures with their Old Country customs, traditions and cuisine. It is not a surprise then, that many of the wedding traditions and wedding customs that are so beautiful, have been adopted by brides and grooms of all backgrounds who found them meaningful. In fact some traditions have become an integral pare of the modern wedding ceremony and reception.

If you are interested in the customs and traditions of a specific ethnic group click on it.

Catholic Traditions

Sacrament of Matrimony

A ceremony that consists, of at least three biblical readings, the exchange of vows, the exchange of rings, the Prayer of the Faithful, the nuptial blessing, prayers and appropriate music. The Sacrament usually takes place during a Nuptial Mass in the morning or early afternoon.

Timing the wedding

weddings are not scheduled for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, or when Mass is read for the general congregation.

Requirements

A copy of the Baptismal Certificate of the bride and of the groom.
A promise to continue observing the Catholic faith
A promise to raise children as Catholics.Candles
The Catholic church often (though not always), discourages the having a Unity Candle ceremony. Therefore, if a Unity candle ceremony is desired, it is often suggested to build a ceremony within the rehearsal dinner celebration.
However, The church does not discourage lighting the candles. In fact, a Candlelight blessing has been used in both Catholic and Protestant churches. It is acceptable because of the spiritual context of the blessing. In the Catholic tradition, the candle (flame) is a symbol of Christ, the light of the world and the Scriptures given confirm this concept.

Flowers

Churches permit floral decorations for a wedding with the understanding that the flowers remain in the church. In other words, the flowers may not be transfared from the church to the reception location.

Kneeling – Sitting

When the wedding ceremony takes place during a Nuptial Mass, the bridal party normally kneel, stand or sit during the entire ceremony. A kneeling bench is provided for the bride and groom but the kneling pillows are not. Usually, the bridal party uses the first pews in the congregational seating.

Bridal Part
The Church may prefers both Best Man and Maid of Honor be Catholic. The other attendants who are not Catholic, will be instructed in and expected to follow the required courtesies and reverences.

Personalization
Brides and grooms may personalize their marriage ceremony by choosig particularly appropriate readings from the Scriptures, prayers and hymns and music that have been selected by the church thus may be used.