Blogs | Here Comes the Wedding | Making It Official
January 25, 2008
Making It Official
At the risk of being known as the bride who freaks out over everything, I have to share the saga of meeting with our priest for the first time. My fiancé and I will be married in the Catholic Church. A thing which fills my family with joy—but all others somehow react with: “Really? How are you going to fulfill all the requirements? Don’t they ask for your firstborn or something?”
Even Catholics said: “Oh, it was too hard to jump through all the hoops. We got married in this great non-denominational chapel instead. Here’s the number.”
So, my worrywart little mind immediately assumed that because my fiancé was baptized but not confirmed, we’d be forced to do a Vegas drive-thru wedding. It didn’t help that when I called the church to ask, the person couldn’t answer my questions. She had to wait for the wedding coordinator. Then, strangely, all my messages to the wedding coordinator at the church were never returned.
I just knew she was somehow judging us. We weren’t good enough. We weren’t holy enough. Our marriage wouldn’t be blessed.
Of course, all I really needed to do was call her bright and early Monday morning (instead of the Thursday afternoons I tended to call). She got back to me right away and set our first meeting with the priest. Now I was scared—have you ever met with a member of the clergy? Years of catechism gave me this reverential awe—and a slight abject terror of being a terrible sinner and getting the talking-to of my life. Seriously—I broke out in a cold sweat just meeting with a nun to become my nephew’s godmother.
So after a week of stressing out, asking every Catholic married couple I know what to expect, being totally freaked out by my sister-in-law saying: “They’ll ask you about every aspect of your relationship.” We had the meeting.
The priest turned out to be the nicest man with the greatest Irish brogue. He asked us how we met. He put us at ease, he put our wedding date into the official book and told us about the marriage preparation class we need to take. Then he gave us the best piece of wedding planning advice we’ve heard:
It doesn’t matter how much money you spend, what wedding packages you buy or every other little detail that can make you crazy. All that matters is who is there to share your day with you.
I really loved that. We’re using that as our mantra. And of course, my ever level-headed fiancé says: “The little things don’t matter so long as we end up married.”
This is why I need him!
Posted by Nichole at 3:04 p.m.
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