Marriage

God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate his love in their relations with each other. Man and woman were created for each other…Woman and man are equal in human dignity, and in marriage both are united in an unbreakable bond.
(United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, Ch. 21, p. 279)

General Information

Registered parishioners, sons and daughters, and grandchildren who have been registered and are active parishioners of the Cathedral for a minimum of six months may reserve a wedding date. 

Tell me more about celebrating my wedding at the Cathedral

Wedding Fees

Your wedding fee assists in covering the expenses incurred by the parish in helping you to celebrate your wedding day, such as the maintenance (including heating and air conditioning), cleaning of the church and grounds before and after your wedding and rehearsal, and the many staff hours needed to preapre the many aspects of your wedding. 

Tell me more about wedding fees at the Cathedral

General Guidelines

Because of the sacredness of the wedding ritual, and out of respect for God and the Church, you are agreeing to all parish wedding policies as presented by choosing to be married at the Cathedral. 

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Required Documentation

You have chosen to witness the Sacrament of marriage in the Catholic Church. The Church is responsible for discerning your intentions and capacities for making this promise, and is required to assemble various documents. 


Approximately three to four weeks prior to your wedding, you will both meet with a priest or deacon to assemble your file, complete the "Together for Life" liturgy form, prenuptial questionnarie, withness affidavits, and be interviewed to determine your freedom and intention to marry. 

Tell me more about what required documents I will need

Flowers and Environment Guidelines

A basic rule for the Cathedral regarding your wedding environment is that "less is better."  Keep in mind the grandness of the Cathedral.  In many cases forral arrangements tend to get "lost" within the Cathedral environment. 

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Photographer and Videographer

Photographers and Videographers are welcome to film or livestream the liturgy, but may not impeded or interfere with the cermony. They will respect the sacredness of the religious event, and the church as a house of worship. They will act and behave discreetly and reverently, taking care not to damage the environment by standing on pews or with their equipment. Pleae give copies of thise guidelines to each photograper and or videographer. 

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Wedding Music

The Sacrament of Marriage is a liturgical celebration. Therefore, one of the basic principles that should underlie your selection of music is whether the music is indeed liturgical music. Popular songs and secular music, no matter how meaningful they may be to your, have no place in the liturgy. They may be appropriately performed at your wedding reception. For the wedding liturgy you'll want to ensure the emphasis is on sacred music, which derives its contact form scriptural and liturgical sources, and by its very nature enhances your union within the liturgical rites being celebrate. 


Wedding Liturgy Music Guide with YouTube Links


The parish Director of Music serves as organist and or principal musician at all Cathedral weddings. As principal musician for the wedding, the Director of Music is entrusted with the responsibility of determining the suitability of musical selections within the context of the Roman Catholic wedding liturgy, and must approve all music and musicians chosen for the ceremony. The Director of Music also bears the essential responsibility of ensuring the proper performance and timing of the various musical portions of the wedding liturgy. 


If you are planning a full Mass with communion, a Cantor is required, and only experienced Cathedral cantors are permitted to serve in this capacity at weddings. This helps to avoid disappointment to the couple and their families since it insures a desirable continuity with the church's regular worship life, and protects the parish's mission in terms of high quality liturgy. It also helps guarantee that the service will go smoothly because presider, cantor, organist and instrumentalists are accustomed to working with each other as well as with the specific acoustical demands of the liturgical space. 


Instrumentalists (trumpet, violin, oboe, flute, harp, trio, quartet, etc.) may be used upon approval of, and arrangement with the Cathedral. Due to musical and liturgical requirements, only experienced Cathedral instrumentalists may play for weddings at the Cathedral. If individual instrumentalists are desired, the Cathedral will secure their services. 


Music for your wedding should be planned jointly by the couple and the Director of Music, Stacy Sienko.

The sacrament of marriage is a visible sign of God’s love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity.

Marriage is a Covenant

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people with Abraham and later with Moses at Mt. Sinai. This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.
The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661)
The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. It’s this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.
Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)
The Church takes the lifelong nature of the Sacrament of Marriage seriously. The Church teaches that a break in this covenant teaches goes against the natural law of God:
The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith. (CCC 1665)

Marriage Reflects the Holy Trinity

We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God’s image for the purpose of communion with another human being.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2205). The Sacrament of Marriage is “unitive, indissoluble and calls us to be completely open to fertility.” Christian marriage at its finest is a reflection of God’s self-giving love expressed between the love of two people.
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