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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How long is the ceremony?
A. The length of
the ceremony depends on your selection of readings, type of liturgy and
other optional parts of the ceremony. Most wedding ceremonies, however,
last between 25-35 minutes.
Q. Are the ceremonies
performed by clergy listed on this site legal?
A. In general in the USA an ordained
priest (in the Roman Catholic Church or other legally recognized Catholic
church, such as the American Catholic Church, Polish National Church, Old
Catholic Church, etc.) does not need any additional license to perform
weddings. However, some cities may require in addition to valid
ordination also an additional license in order to consider marriage legal.
Some places may also require that the clergy person be affiliated with a
church or another faith or wedding related association.
To be sure you'll need to verify the
situation in your state.
Typically, the couple needs to
obtain a marriage license from a County Recorder’s office. After the
wedding ceremony the priest along with two witnesses (usually the best man
and the maid of honor) will sign the document. Then the officiant, as
required by law, must
mail the document back to the County Clark/Recorder within a few days after
your wedding.
Q. Will the Roman Catholic Church recognize
our marriage?
A.
The answer is no. The only way
to have a valid Roman Catholic marriage is to have your wedding ceremony in
the Roman Catholic Church after following and fulfilling all their requirements.
You may consider priests listed on this website as the closest possible alternative
to the Roman Catholic jurisdiction. There are some individuals who
either claim or imply that their ceremonies will be recognized as valid by
the Roman Catholic Church because they are "retired priests," "chaplains"
or because they have a "valid apostolic ordination," etc. This is
simply not true. Should such a claim be coming from any clergy listed
on this website please notify us immediately.
Q. Do priests listed on this website perform same-sex marriages (commitments)?
A. No, WeddingPriest.com does not endorse same-sex marriages.
Q. How much is
the fee?
A. The fee depends
on the several variables:
- Distance to your wedding location. Thus the fee is influenced by the
mileage and the type of access to your wedding location, or the expense of
airfare and
accommodations
in
some cases.
- Type of the ceremony (nuptial ceremony or full wedding Mass)
- Day of the ceremony (Mon-Thu or Weekends).
- Sometimes officiant's fee may vary depending on the season, that is in
many places wedding season is between May and October. Outside the
wedding season some clergy might give you a discount but many officiants
have the same fee throughout the year.
- The State you're living in and the general cost of living in that region.
For example, while in Southern California an ordained officiant might be
charging about $700 for a local wedding ceremony including a few sessions
for the marriage/wedding preparation, the same type of service in New Mexico
might be no more than $300.
- You will need to discuss this issue of fees with the officiant whom you're
planning to have for your ceremony.
Q. Do we have to attend any
pre-marriage sessions?
A. It depends on your officiant and your needs.
Discuss this with him at the first meeting or over the phone before you
get together.
If you have any other questions or
concerns you may contact Fr.
Mariano Tomaszewski
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