CATHOLIC CHURCH WEDDING REQUIREMENTS

Lhia Ubaldo | June 1, 2020

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A CATHOLIC WEDDING

Marriage is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. When we say ‘wedding’, what automatically comes into mind are the theme, color, venue and the gown. But little did we know that as much as those things have important parts in our wedding, so are the requirements to get married. So today, let’s talk about the things you’ll need for a Catholic Church Wedding.

New Baptismal Certificate and Confirmation Certificate

You and your partner may get these certificates from the church you were baptized from. The new certificates must have a validity of six months, as well as a “FOR MARRIAGE PURPOSES ONLY” annotation. These must be submitted 2 months before the wedding.

CENOMAR

The Certificate of No Marriage Record or CENOMAR is a certification issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) stating that a person is single or not married. Also called a certificate of No Record of Marriage or Certificate of Singleness, the CENOMAR is one of the requirements for obtaining a marriage license. So make sure you and your partner must get this certificate before moving on to the next step.

Marriage License

This can be acquired from the city or municipality hall of any city where you or your partner currently live. The Marriage license has a validity of one hundred twenty 120 days or 4 months. If civilly married, you must bring a certified true copy of your marriage contract from the National Statistics Office (NSO) two months before your wedding.

Canonical Interview

As you arrange your wedding requirements, you will be asked to schedule a canonical or pre-nuptial interview. This initial interview is required by the Catholic Church to find out any possible impediments to your forthcoming wedding, to ensure the freedom of both parties, and to determine your knowledge of the duties, responsibilities, and doctrines of a Catholic marriage. This must be conducted two months before the wedding date.

Certification of Attendance in the Pre-Cana / Pre-Marriage Seminar

After the Canonical interview, the next step is to attend the Pre-Cana or Pre Marriage Seminar. You and your partner will be given a schedule to attend the said seminar. If either you or your groom are based abroad, a certificate of attendance from your local parish will suffice.

Wedding Banns & Marriage Permit

The church will provide the forms for the marriage banns. You will give these to your respective parishes where you currently reside. They will announce it for three (3) consecutive Sundays to clarify if your planned marriage has no impediments. After that, you will get back the form and submit it to the church where you plan to get married.

List of names of Sponsors

According to the new requirement, you only need two (2) principal sponsors but you can add more if you want to. Make sure to include their full names and addresses when you submit this to the church. Take note that some church may have maximum number of sponsors only. Better ask the church you plan on getting married at.

Confession

Now, this is not a mandatory requirement, but some priests require both you and your groom to go to confession at least one week before your wedding. This is so that both of you will be in a state of grace when you wed each other.