Marriage: How to get married in the Church?
Sacrament of Marriage
We recommend that you contact the Parish Office a.s.a.p. to begin this marriage process, at least seven to nine months before the desired date for the wedding.
Please do not reserve any party room, without first having advanced in the marriage process and having received a precise date for the wedding in the parish calendar.
1.- Documentation required: the updated Baptism Certificates of both spouses (dated on the current year). First Communion and Confirmation certificates are also welcome, but the most necessary is the updated Baptism certificate.
We will also need the Civil Marriage Certificate, if you already have it. Many couples obtain a Civil Marriage License at the City Hall and celebrate their religious and civil wedding on the same day. Check more details of this, with the priest.
2.- Appointment with one of the parish priests: Once you have obtained all this documentation, you can call the parish office to set up an appointment with one of the priests. After a first brief meeting, you will meet a second time with the same priest to fill out the paper work: the marriage interrogation forms and the testimony of two family members as witnesses of your conviction to marry.
3.- Previous Marriages: If one of the parties was previously married (civilly and outside the Church), you will need a dispensation from the Archdiocese, so you need to mention it to the priest during the first meeting.
4.- Marriage Preparation Classes: These classes are six, and consist of one-and-a-half hour talks, on a Friday in between (or every two weeks) at 7:00 pm in the afternoon.
These talks are very important to help the bride and groom get prepared for married life. The themes revolve around communication, cell phone & money in the couple, etc.
The Coordinators of these classes are the couple of Cuauhtémoc & Sonia Alvarado, members of the Archdiocesan Marriage Ministry. At the end of the classes, there is a wedding rehearsal with the groomsmen and relatives (generally, on the eve of the wedding day) and after the rehearsal, the bride, groom and groomsmen will have an opportunity to do Confessions.
5.- Fees: The couple must pay a fee of $ 500, namely: a deposit of $ 100 at the beginning of the process (which is non-refundable if the marriage is canceled). Then they can pay the additional $ 400 in installments if they want, but the entire fee must be paid one month before the wedding.
6.- Wedding music: You can propose your own musicians or eventually consult with the parish office that has a list of authorized musicians and choirs. The musicians' fee must be established by mutual agreement between the bride and groom and the musicians.
7.- Marriage preparation with celebration in another parish: couples who wish to continue marriage preparation in our parish, but who want to celebrate their wedding in another parish in the USA or in some other country, can count on our assistance and help. In this case, the fee will be only $ 200 and we will send all the necessary documentation to the other parish.
8.- Community Wedding Program or Convalidations: The parish also offers a Convalidation program for those couples, already with many years of life in common and with several children, who wish to regularize their Christian life and receive the sacraments. If this is your case, please consult with the parish priest.
All Souls Parish
Marriage
The sacrament of marriage is a visible sign of God’s love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity.
Marriage is a Covenant
The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.
The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661).
The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)
Marriage Reflects the Holy Trinity
We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God’s image for the purpose of communion with another human being.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2205). Christian marriage at its finest is a reflection of God’s self-giving love expressed between the love of two people.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
Matthew 28: 18-20 (RSV-CE)