Mr. Burger and I both are Catholic. While neither of us are super-religious people, I consider myself a spiritual person; I pray regularly, and I believe in God. I had always imagined a church wedding—complete with the Catholic wedding mass—as I never really knew anything different. After the decision to marry in State College was made, I started worrying about finding a church that would marry us.
Being that we are in school, during our clinical years at that, we really were at the mercy of our rotation schedules when picking a wedding date. We had the choice between two weekends—one in December or one in March—and we went with the date in spring for a few reasons (our dating anniversary is in March, and we are hoping for winter to be over – fingers crossed!). Complicating our selection, however, is that the date falls during the season of Lent. Lent, as some of you may know, is a very solemn time in the Catholic church; a time for reflecting on the sacrifices made for us. Traditionally, weddings during Lent are frowned upon in the Catholic church, however, in more recent years they have been occasionally allowed. Sigh.
In State College there are a few local Catholic churches. I had heard from family that getting married in a Catholic church that you are not a parishioner of can be difficult (often impossible). Then there was the whole Lent thing. Oh yeah, and the fact that we aren’t exactly super Catholics. Sure, I went to Catholic elementary school, but I haven’t been to confession in about 10 years. :/
Being busy on a rotation during rectory business hours, I recruited Burger to make the (dreaded) phone calls, wquipped with a list of specific questions to ask:
He spoke with representatives from the churches and the answers were YES all around! Phew! What a relief. He also got the scoop on the costs, ceremony times, and their availability on our date (check!). We were officially go for launch! It was a good day.
We decided on a church based on location (it’s closer to campus), cost, and good reviews (we have a second cousin who is a parishioner), plus it’s quite pretty! Here, have a look:
pictures courtesy of Cheeseburger Mom
Were you nervous about choosing a wedding date or a ceremony location because of your faith?
Very nice! I had about half a minute of nerves picking a Saturday wedding, realizing how hard it would be to find a rabbi to perform it before sundown (and how much I didn’t want to have a later ceremony than we were already planning), but we were able to resolve it. 
I feel like i’m reading about my own experience! We’re getting married in our college town and finding a catholic church that would marry us wasn’t easy. I too had my fi do the calls. Oh and our dating anniversary is in March! I was so worried about getting a catholic chruch to marry us, when we finally did it was a huge relief! I’m sure you felt the same!
It took us a while too since we wanted to join AND marry at a new church. We found one perfect for us too! PS we are both March… I wonder if we’ll be wedding date twins!?
Glad you found something! Just a fun little factoid: my parents had their ceremony during Lent (37 years ago!) and had to get a dispensation from the Bishop to do so.
I totally want to do a simple ceremony underneath the big oak trees at my parents home. My parents refuse to let this happen with the belief that because FI is a pastor that we must be married in the church. FI doesn’t really care either way as long as it is a service that recognizes God.
That church is SO pretty! A good friend of ours got married there about 3 years ago in May! You should be good to go, but somehow she missed the fact that it was Graduation Weekend until we all needed hotel reservations! Oopsies!
One of my friend’s got married there as well, it’s loverly! Her issue? Being desperate for a fall wedding and having to schedule around the football schedule. Thank goodness they were playing away that weekend, or hotels would have be a nightmare.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for clear weather!
Just a heads up, a lot of Catholic churches decorate for Lent, and the decorations are often not very “happy”. Although the traditional colour for Lent is purple, so this might be a plus in your case!
I had the family priest back home, but I was really nervous about asking a local priest for the wedding preparation packet. We non-super Catholics sure do fear priests. Love the church, the inside is so interesting.
First, beautiful church and congrats on finding it! Second, I am also catholic and getting married in March. I had a very difficult time finding a Catholic church that would marry us during lent. I pretty much called every church in my area (phoenix) and finally gave up after hearing “no” so many times. It was hard at first to give up the idea of my church wedding, but I have since adjusted. love reading your posts!
@Newport Nuptials – totally feel you, so glad everything worked out in the end!
@Miss French Fries – that is crazy! I was honestly worried we would have to go down the same route. The funny thing is, the other date we were deciding between was during advent which is no better! Oh religion
@pvaulter718 & @lolo7835- ROUGH. State College is a nightmare during ANY other event. The only thing that has the potential to be going on during our wedding weekend is part of the march madness tournament
@Miss Pudding – we have super restrictions on our church decor, you’re right but that’s for another post!
@Miss Moonbeam – being a non-super catholic is a rough life, huh?!
@Ms. Mojito – I am so sorry about your disappointment, no worries, I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic ceremony regardless!
We aren’t religious but in England you have to be married in church if you want to have any music that has Christian themes or words. So, for the sake of the music we wanted at the ceremony we decided to get married at a church that my family used to attend about 10 years ago, but none of us live in the parish any longer. We went to the vicar to explain the situation and he said we could get married there…if we go to church every Sunday for the next 18 months. Also we wanted to get married the day before Palm Sunday because then we would be able to use my fiancee’s three week Easter break from teaching as a honeymoon – but no luck, we were told firmly that there would be no weddings happening in Lent. So we’re getting married on April 10th (weekend after Easter) and we’ll have a 2 day minimoon – then straight back to work! Thanks, Church of England.
I love the fountain outside! It took us awhile to find a ceremony location, too, since most wouldn’t marry non-members.
@Miss Pudding: excellent point! and thankfully lenten colors agree with the cheeseburger wedding
i lucked out at my own with leftover Easter decorations in our Catholic church ceremony (white draping that everyone thought i arranged). we had super strict restrictions on church decor as well but it all worked out beautifully.
@tyelperion: Bummer! Sometimes I don’t understand why churches are so strict. Can you take a full honeymoon later? In the summer perhaps?
@Jesso: yes my dear your church was amazingly, perfectly gorgeous! I never would have known you had restrictions!
Hey Burger!
Ugh…my FI and I have not chosen a wedding date yet (even though our wedding will be in 2010), because we have not contacted a church yet. We figure we can’t set a date until we find out that the church will marry us.
We are both Catholic (done all our sacraments up to this point)…both believe in God, and pray…but we have not actually been to church in a long time!
I too am terrified of making that call to the church to set up our date. But until we do, we can’t move forward with anything. I’m hoping we can do it within these next few weeks and that by the start of the year, that we will have our date!
[...] the BEST time and place to get married, right? Yeah, I thought you’d agree. You might remember why we’re getting married in March. It really wasn’t negotiable, so we’ve tried our best to [...]
[...] that huge green dot, you say? Ah, the drama of meat. Yes, meat. You see, we’re Catholic, and we’re getting married during lent, which means no meat on Fridays. Originally, our priest had told us that we weren’t even allowed [...]
Mrs. Cheeseburger, Baltimore, MD/State College, PA Age and Occupation: 25, Medical Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical Student Engagement Date: June 28, 2008 Wedding Date: March 2010 Venue: Catholic Church Ceremony & Hotel Reception About Me: I'm a passionate girl from Pittsburgh, currently living in Baltimore for school, who loves Penn State, seeing movies, football, thunderstorms, black and white photos, Christmas, good beer, my amazing friends and family, and of course, my mister! We met, fell in love, got engaged, and will be married at our alma mater (go lions!) in a traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a hotel reception with lots of DIY details. It means so much to have our families and friends meet at our favorite place on earth to celebrate our love for one another - I truly couldn't ask for anything more!
Latest Gallery Pics