Engagement/Wedding

So you think you've finally found Mr./Miss Right. Well, before you get ahead of yourself with daydreams about the decades to come, there are a bunch of Catholic resources available that can help you avoid some problems down the road. This set of pages is intended to list those resources, ideas, and bits of advice from a Catholic perspective.

The list of topics are as follows:

• Cohabitation
  Just because you haven't found Mr/Miss Right yet, doesn't instantly mean you need to be a priest or nun. Likewise, just because you're dating doesn't mean you don't have a calling to something other than the married life. This section will help you on the road to figuring that out.
  
  

• Sacrament of Matrimony
  As a Catholic, you don't just “get married” - you participate in a sacrament instituted by Christ himself. What does this sacrament mean, and what is the difference between “wedding”, “marriage”, and “matrimony”? Click to learn more.
  
  

• Mixed Marriage
  No, we don't mean racially mixed – we mean religiously or “denominationally” mixed. What happens when a Catholic marries a non-Catholic or a non-Christian? What questions/challenges/struggles can they expect among themselves, within their families, and what it the Church's stance?
  
  

• Wedding Planning
  Now that he's proposed, what do you need (and not need) to do before the actual day of the wedding. This section can be broken down to 2 major areas:

  • Wedding Traditions & Customs
    There are many things that take place at a wedding that may require some explanation, from the nearly universal (e.g., why a ring?) to the particularly Catholic (e.g., why a Mass?) or ethnic/cultural. We'll touch on some of these traditions & customs that you may want to incorporate into your wedding.

  • Marriage Prep
    Aside from cake tastings and floral arrangements, there are a bunch of things the Catholic Church would like you to know (and remember) for the rest of your marriage. Here we will touch on some of the ways that the Church helps you to “cram” all that information (e.g., FOCCUS test, Pre-Cana day retreat).
    
    

• Bringing Households Together
  Marriages are often described, in business terms, as a partnership, but it is really more like a merger. We will attempt to provide some advice about how to get all those in-laws to get along better with one another (including when, how, and why to set the proper boundaries).
  
  

• Activities (to do & to avoid)
  Each section will give some suggested recreation activities for each stage of Catholic family life, as well as a brief list of activities that should be avoided as occasions of sin. The engagement period is no different, because it has a whole set of very strong temptations that seem to come with the territory.
  
  

• Prayers for Engaged Couples
  Prayer not only helps us keep the communication lines open to God, but also helps us better ascertain whether our intentions are fully in line with God's will. This section not only lists suggested prayers, but also gives advice on how to structure your petitions, praise, and thanksgiving to God, as individuals and as a couple.
  
  

• Suggested Reading
  Each section of this website will list books that we have found to be helpful for the engagement stage of family life. Some examples follow: