Planning your Wedding at

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church
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CONGRATULATIONS!

 The community of St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church congratulates you on your forthcoming marriage. We are happy to make our parish staff and facilities available to assist you. We hope and trust that the occasion of your wedding will be one of joy and happiness, providing you with a lasting treasure of memories.

 We would like to assist you in making your wedding ceremony one with a profound sense of reverence, beauty, and dignity, and that the period of your engagement will be a time of serious and thoughtful preparation for married life. With all this in mind, we have prepared this brochure, which is designed to give you some helpful facts as you prepare for both your ceremony and your life-time of marriage together. 

Marriage Is A Sacrament

Marriage in the Roman Catholic Church is more that a mere contract, more that a recorded understanding between husband and wife, or between two families. We believe it is one of the seven Sacraments given to us by Jesus Christ. Since your plan is to make a life-long commitment to each other, a period of serious preparation during your engagement period is both desirable and necessary.

 In order to help you live a full and enriched married life and appreciate the sacred nature of your love, you are asked to participate in a process of preparation for engaged couples. This process involves:

1.  meeting with the priest or deacon who will celebrate your wedding ceremony and

2. the two-step inter-parish preparation program.

Meeting with the Priest or Deacon

The priest or deacon who is to witness the wedding will consult with you concerning the DIGNIFIED way in which your wedding is to be conducted; but his greatest concern is for you, your forthcoming relationship, and the family you are going to establish through the commitment of married love. The priest or deacon will meet with you at least FOUR months before your wedding so that adequate time can be given to marriage and wedding preparation. Since the bride and groom are the ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony, your help will be invited in the planning of the ceremony.

PLEASE NOTE: If either person has been married before, special issues may need to be resolved, which will take time. Invitations should not be ordered until priest has agreed to a definite date and time for the wedding, and until the deposit has been paid.

Documents Required

Baptismal Certificate:

You will need to provide a recent copy (no more that six months old) of your baptismal certificate from the parish where you were baptized.

 Prenuptial Testimony:

This informational questionnaire is to be completed with the priest or deacon, in the rectory by each of you individually.

 Prenuptial Witness:

This questionnaire is to be completed with the priest or deacon, in the rectory, with a close friend or relative of the bride and groom (one witness for each). These witnesses may or may not be the same as the official marriage witnesses.

 Marriage License:

Please remember to bring your marriage license to the church at the time of the rehearsal. You can secure a marriage license from the county clerk of any county in the state; it is valid for ninety days. Please bring the license, and an addressed envelope for the county recorder.

Two-step Inter-Parish Preparation Programs

1. FOCCUS Workshop- Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding, and Study. In this workshop, held from 9:30-11:30 am on the first Saturday of each month, (except January and July) a pre-marriage inventory is given to help you communicate on topics that are important to your relationship as a couple.

2. Marriage Preparation Program. After you have completed the FOCCUS Workshop, you may register for either of the following marriage preparation programs:

   1. St Vincent/ St. James Inter-parish Marriage Preparation Program. Consists of a Friday night and all day Saturday, and is conducted 3 times each year for couples planning to be married in either parish. Please call Sue Kokke, 765-9699 for more information.

   2. Engaged Encounter is a weekend retreat conducted by a team of married couples and a priest. It is a weekend specifically designed to give couples the opportunity to honestly look forward to their lives together, to face their strengths and weaknesses, desires, ambitions, goals, attitudes about money, sex, children, family life, and their role in Church and society. Please call (707) 566-3347 for more information.

 The ideal time to attend either of these programs would be three to six months prior to the wedding date. You are responsible to arrange for these programs.

Preparing Your Wedding Day

1. Day and Time

Dates and times that the Church is available for a wedding are as follows:

 To be considerate of other wedding parties and to Church services, you have only 30 minutes before and after the scheduled time of your wedding tomake arrangements for flowers, photographers, etc. To avoid any delays, please keep to these times.

2. Rehearsal

Since there may be as many as two rehearsals scheduled on the same evening, it is important that each wedding party have sufficient time to practice the ceremony in the church. We ask that arrangements be made to be ON TIME for the rehearsal. A maximum of forty-five minutes is allowed for each rehearsal.

In order for the rehearsal to be conducted in a timely fashion, we ask that only those actually in the wedding party attend. Others are welcome, but we ask that they sit quietly off to the side or in the back of the church so that the rehearsal can run smoothly.

 3. Wedding Coordinator

We have our own wedding coordinators at St. Vincent's Church who will conduct the wedding rehearsal and coordinate the ceremony on the day of the wedding. Lea Ray Schultz or Kathy Ballard will be assigned to your wedding and will help answer question that may arise. Their fee is $100, payable on the night of the rehearsal. Please call the rectory at 762-4278, Lea Ray Schultz at 763-0297 or Jeannine Dalton 762-7033 if you have any questions.

Please see our guidelines on decorating the Church for your wedding.

4. Music

Marriage in the Church is Christian prayer and worship which calls for dignified action, special dress, and music expressive of the Catholic Faith and Tradition. It is your responsibility to arrange for your own music; in this regard you can contact Marilyn Thompson, our parish organist (762-1190). There will be a fee for her service.

5. Pictures or Video

These may be taken during the wedding, provided this does not detract from or interfere with the ceremony; ask the photographer to see the priest before the ceremony. You may pose for pictures at the altar after the wedding, but please observe the time constraints mentioned elsewhere.

6. Financial Arrangements

Church Donations: It is appropriate for a donation to be made to the parish on the occasion of your wedding, as a special thanks to God who has brought you to one another, and to the Church, which has ministered to you for your life together. The following are what we consider appropriate donations:

 All fees should be paid before the wedding date.

 In addition, it is customary to make a personal offering to the priest or deacon who officiates at your wedding.

PLEASE NOTE: A $100 refundable cleaning deposit is required to reserve your wedding date and time. This will be refunded to you if the Church is left in good order.

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