About to blow a gasket. Priest gave away our ceremony time.

OMFG. Many of you know what a difficult time me and my FMIL have had corresponding with Padre Juvencio at the church in San Jose del Cabo. Like 2 weeks ago, my FMIL had talked to him and everything seemed to be fine, we had been assured we had the church reserved for our date at 6 pm. He wanted us to have our local priest send him correspondence that we had begun all our procedures with the church here. I was very meticulous about having our local priest send this IMMEDIATELY because of all the difficulty we had communicating with the church in Mexico.

My FMIL has not been able to get a hold of the priest on the phone for the last week that she had been trying, and she finally got him on the phone at like 7 am local time in Cabo this morning. He tells her that he has not received anything from our priest. WTF. I know Fr. Joe sent it. So I email Fr. Joe saying hey sorry to bug you but the priest there says he didn't get it, can you forward me a copy so I can resend and also fax it to him. Fr. Joe sends this to me like 10 mins later, so quick, I was so thankful. I call the church (by this time it is 9:45 am in Chicago, so 45 mins since my FMIL talked to him) and speaking in Spanish, I am informed Juvencio has left the office for the day and won't return until 5 pm TOMORROW!

SO I forward the stuff from Fr. Joe to Juvencio with a note reminding him of the date, our names, that he's spoken with my FMIL, here's a copy of the email our priest sent you, here are the details on the time of ceremony. He emails me back like 30 mins later saying ok, I got what you sent, your ceremony is at 4 pm.

I first called my FI and FI's mom to let them know. My FI practically threw a shit fit on the phone because its totally unacceptable. 4 pm in august in cabo is effing HOT. there is no AC in the church, so no way is he getting married at 4 pm. So I email Juvencio back and remind him that no, our ceremony was supposed to be at 6, because 4 is way too early for us. Then Juvencio emails me back and says "Ok, we can do it at 4:30", which I forwarded to my FI and he emails me back instantly from his blackberry that he is done dealing with the idiot priest there and I should haggle with the WC to do our ceremony at the hotel now, I should call his mom to discuss it with her also after 5:30.

I am SOOOOOO freaking irritated that after we went through all this crap to get a hold of the church, and after we thought we already had everything set, the priest gave away our effing ceremony time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I should be breathing a sigh of relief, but I have gone back and forth so much with were we or weren't we having our ceremony at the church. My FMIL is paying for our wedding, so doing it at the hotel will save at least $2,000 because we won't have to provide transportation roundtrip for guests btwn hotel and church. But now what do I do about getting our Catholic ceremony? Because we're already doing all our meetings with our priest/signed up for pre-cana etc etc.

GAHHHHHHHH I AM READY TO FLIP OUT!!!!!!

That is horrible!!! I am so sorry! Would your priest at home consider "blessing" your marriage after you get back? I know it is not ideal but maybe that would work! OMG I am sure you are freaking out! That is just plain not fair at all!!

Oh no Maura!!! I can't believe this ... I'm so sorry! I don't even know what to say. You have every right to be furious!

OK - here's my knee-jerk thoughts ... if you do decide to have the ceremony at the hotel, you have already thought through the pros --- no transportation, no lost time with Bradley, etc. --- so there are some positives.

It sounds like you priest in Chicago is very nice (or at least super-responsive!) - after explaining the situation to him, would you be able to have a smaller ceremony there? I'm not Catholic, but FI is ... and we had to have lots of talks about having my friend (a Methodist minister) officiate at our ceremony. I know that it is really, really important in the Catholic faith to have the ceremony be Catholic ...

On the other hand ... should we start making LOTS of fans now? If I remember correctly, the ceremony can be rather long ... so, I would say if you go with 4:30, then I think that having fans and cold drinks for the bus ride back will keep your guests happy!

Is your FI ok with not having a Catholic ceremony? Or, can you get a Catholic priest to come to the hotel?

oh maura i am sorry. do you speak fluent spanish? did he say that he definitely gave away the time? can you have FI's mom call back until she speaks with him and tell him the situation?

jeeezzz that sucks!!!!

Oh Maura, I can't believe that!!! I don't know what to say....If getting married in the Cathoilic Church is really important to you guys then maybe 4:30 will have to do...or maybe your FI will just have to negotiate harder. I'm so sorry to hear this...I would be sooooo mad too.

We did our Catholic ceremony at home after our Cabo wedding and the priest was totally fine with it. I'm sure if you chat with your priest about it he will accommodate you.

Could I suggest...use the extra money you would have paid to do it in your church and fly your priest down there? He may want you to do a small ceremony in the actual church when you get home to make it official, but you can always consider your Mexico wedding your "real" day.

Wow that really sucks and what a crappy thing to do. Wedding really are being treated like dinner reservations.

Maura I'm so sorry! I'd be going through the roof if I were you.

Will the hotel let you have a Catholic ceremony? I know that we could have arranged it at our resort in Jamaica. Is there another church nearby? Maybe the hotel could let you use the ballroom so you could set up an altar. At least it would be air-conditioned! The money you save could be used to make the room pretty.

I'll send you happy thoughts while you work everything out. Keep us posted!

Oh no Maura! I would be totally PO'ed. Has FMIL spoken with him yet?? Is there another Priest/church that can do your ceremony? I am so sorry you are having to go through this B.S. but I really believe that everything happens for a reason and we just can't see that right now.

Good luck!!!!

OH Maura, can we help checking in other church for your date and time?