Catholic ceremony in Mexico - is it allowed to have a catholic marrying non-christian??

[chickky311]

I don't know why that went through twice, sorry!

[JessiTaylor]

Its bizarre. i really thought id replied to this and yet...doesnt seem to be there

 

Can you explain how your Catholic ceremony will be legal? I get that a Catholic ceremony in Mexico is recognised by the Catholic church everywhere...but it isn't normally recognised as being legal - as in, you're married by the church but not by the law. So it's called symbolic but far more important culturally. Are you bringing a judge to sign papers outside the church, or bringing a marriage certificate from home or how does it work?

 

Originally Posted by LCB803 

Hi ornxoxo!

 

We are having a Catholic ceremony next November that will be legal (not "symbolic"). To have a legal, religious ceremony, we are required to 1) be married by a priest, and 2) be married in a Catholic chapel. (You can also have a legal marriage in Mexico by filling out a lot of paperwork, submitting blood tests, and paying some administrative fees... I've heard going this route is a lot of work!). 

 

I do not believe that the priest will marry you in a truly "Catholic" ceremony unless you are both Catholic and unless the ceremony is in a Catholic chapel. It's my understanding that these are Church requirements (i.e., from the Vatican), not local ones. You can probably have a symbolic ceremony performed by a priest though, at the venue of your choosing. However, if you're going to go the symbolic route, having a priest seems unnecessary to  me... 

 

We are actually bringing our own priest from our local parish. This is apparently will require a lot of coordination between the Mexican parish and our own, back home; but it's worth it to us because we feel very strongly about our officiant being someone we know. It is also helpful that we are bringing our own priest because our wedding date is a Sunday since my photographer was already booked for the Saturday, and local Mexican Catholic priests are not available to do weddings on Sundays, as they must attend to their own parish duties. So, something else to think about. 

 

Finally, if it is your intention to have a Catholic ceremony, Mexico is the right place! In researching where in the Caribbean we wanted to have our destination wedding, it quickly became clear that it would be very difficult to find a Catholic chapel elsewhere in the Caribbean. Mexico has definitely solved that problem! Available options abound. If you do plan to have a Catholic ceremony and your resort doesn't have a Catholic chapel available, contact me and I'll send you a list of good options that we found while looking for our own ceremony/reception venue. 

 

Good luck!

 

Lydia

[LiveLoveLaugh]

Ornxoxo,

 

We are having the ceremony and reception both on Sunday.   The ceremony will be in the Catholic church about 5 minutes from our venue, which is a beach club.   

 

 

Sorry I have been away from BDW.  Any other questions, let me know!

[JessiTaylor]

Originally Posted by LiveLoveLaugh 

 

Ornxoxo,

 

We are having the ceremony and reception both on Sunday.   The ceremony will be in the Catholic church about 5 minutes from our venue, which is a beach club.   

 

 

Sorry I have been away from BDW.  Any other questions, let me know!

 

which priest are you using by the way, fr bernard?

[LiveLoveLaugh]

I think his name is Father Loren.  I'll have to double check.

[Yazmin De La Mora]

Hello,

The only legal ceremony in Mexico will be the Civil Ceremony.

 

If you are catholic but your FI is not, it can be a bit more complicated than if both were but nothing impossible.  The catholic Church is very well organized all over the world so you should only put in contact your Parish and Priest from home with the Church or Priest from here (Playa or Cancun).   You will have to accomplish certain documentation that your Priest in your country of origin will request and they will send it directly to the Church here in Playa, it is very simple.

 

If someone gets a legal catholic ceremony in Mexico, it could be perhaps because they are bringing a foreign Priest from another country where catholic ceremonies are legal in their country but not here in Mexico, so do not get confused.

 

Hope it helps and happy planning!

[ornxoxo]

ok....I just want to share with the fellow brides here - so here is the final answer for me and this is what we will be doing.

 

My FI is non-Christian and I am a Catholic.  The priest in Mexico would allow me to have a ceremony in church if my parish in the US gives me permission to do so.  So, we went to my parish and do all the paperwork and pre-cana.  Ta da.....everything is fine.  I was sweating for nothing.  I am able to get a permission letter from my parish and the church in Mexico will perform a Catholic ceremony there.  I hope I can help the future brides here.

[Yazmin De La Mora]

Originally Posted by ornxoxo 

 

ok....I just want to share with the fellow brides here - so here is the final answer for me and this is what we will be doing.

 

My FI is non-Christian and I am a Catholic.  The priest in Mexico would allow me to have a ceremony in church if my parish in the US gives me permission to do so.  So, we went to my parish and do all the paperwork and pre-cana.  Ta da.....everything is fine.  I was sweating for nothing.  I am able to get a permission letter from my parish and the church in Mexico will perform a Catholic ceremony there.  I hope I can help the future brides here.

 

So happy to hear that it was very simple.  Like I told you.. the catholic church is very good organized all over the world.  I got married with a non catholic person and it was very simple too!

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

Happy planning!

[jtarverdi]

LYDIA, 

 

CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME THE CHURCH NAMES/ VENUES TO HOLD A CATHOLIC CEREMONY IN MEXICO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.

 

JENN