1. Getting engaged

2. Contacting your parish

3. Preparing for a lifelong marriage

4. Setting the wedding date

5. Choosing the form of your wedding

6. Choosing Scripture readings

7. Choosing wedding music

8. Choosing vows

9. Choosing roles for family and friends

10. Choosing other liturgical elements

11. Creating a Catholic wedding program

12. Dealing with the details

13. The honeymoon and beyond...

 

 Planning Your Catholic Wedding

After the wedding

At the heart of the sacrament of Matrimony is the promise to "freely and without reservation . . . give yourselves to each other" (Rite of Marriage #24). As most married couples eventually realize, it is a promise that is continually renewed—and, hopefully, deepened. In this sense, the sacrament does not end after the wedding; instead, it is only beginning.

 

The best way to ensure a strong, lasting, vibrant marriage is to be very intentional about investing time in the relationship. Here are some resources that you might find helpful in the coming years:

 

Programs and groups

Marriage Encounter

One of the most popular programs to foster healthy Christian marriages, Marriage Encounter provides couples with a variety of resources for fostering healthy, loving communication between husbands and wives. Marriage Encounter is best known for its weekend programs. From the Worldwide Marriage Encounter website: "Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers a weekend experience designed to give married couples the opportunity to learn a technique of loving communication that they can use for the rest of their lives. It's a chance to look deeply into their relationship with each other and with God. It's a time to share their feelings, hopes and dreams with each other. The emphasis of the Marriage Encounter weekend is on the communication between husbands and wives. The weekend provides a conducive environment for couples to spend time together, away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, while encouraging them to focus on each other and their relationship. It's not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing Marriage."

 

For an exhaustive list of other marriage programs, see the For Our Marriage website's Marriage Programs section.

 

Books and other resources

ForYourMarriage.org

This website deserves a bookmark for its wealth of marriage-building tools: blogs, daily marriage tips, personal stories, videos, marriage inventories, and links to resources in your area, just to name a few. And it's sponsored by the U.S. Catholic bishops' pastoral initiative on marriage.

 

Marriage magazine

Marriage magazine "celebrates the ideal of a long-term, intimate, forever growing union; while accepting the reality of our imperfect and wonderful selves and relationships as they are now," according to the magazine's website. The bi-monthly magazine provides "proven advice, resources and information" for dealing with issues "like communication, dual careers, finances, children, in-laws, sex...."