For couples who wish to be wed in a Catholic church, there are certain requirements that must be met first.
Weddings of all sorts take proper planning, and a sacred ceremony is no different.
If you and your future spouse choose to get married in a Catholic church, give yourselves at least six months to prepare, Kevin Pesek, director of RCIA and marriage preparation at St. Mary's Catholic Center in College Station, Texas, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.
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Although that is the bare minimum time you need, Pesek said nine months to a year is the ideal time frame to aim for.
While guidelines from church to church may differ, it's important to understand the specific requirements at the church where you wish to hold your ceremony.
That said, there are certain steps you can expect.
Before all else, the couple need to have an interview with the priest or marriage coordinator at the church.
During this initial meeting, the couple will be asked a series of questions to make sure there aren't any pre-existing conditions that will prevent them from getting married in the church, such as having been married before.
Pesek told Fox News Digital that this initial interview really serves two main purposes.
This first one is to make sure that the couple is able to get married in the Catholic Church. The second is to verify that the couple knows what they're signing up for when they opt for a religious ceremony by gaining an understanding of what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage.
While the requirements can vary from church to church, documentation such as proof of baptism is something likely to be asked of you no matter which parish your ceremony is held.
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You will also likely need to turn in something called a "witness affidavit," according to Pesek, which is a questionnaire verifying information about the couple to make sure that they can get married in the Catholic Church.
"They have to have someone that has known them 10 years actually fill it out," Pesek said. Opinions given in the affidavit, such as that a couple is too young, won't prevent them from getting married.
Marriage preparation, or Pre-Cana, is a series of courses or consultations that couples must complete before getting married in the Catholic Church. These courses are designed to help the couple grow their relationship with each other and with God.
Not all marriage preparation courses are going to look identical from couple to couple.
"We do ask for a willingness and an openness to grow throughout the process," Pesek said. "For some couples, that's work[ing] on communication with each other, or other couples, working on communication with God, with prayer, with going to church."
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If there is a difference in religion between the couple, that does not prevent them from being married in a Catholic church, but that is a discussion that will be had during marriage preparation.
"The difference of religion is something that's going to be talked about, additionally, as part of their premarital counseling," Pesek said.
For example, during premarital counseling, discussions will be had about how the difference in religion will affect children in the future.
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"In the presence of the non-Catholic, the Catholic spouse will make a solemn promise to do all in his/her power to baptize and raise the children in the Catholic faith," Pesek explained on St. Mary's website. "This does not mean that the non-Catholic spouse has to convert, or that they have no role to play in the religious upbringing of their own children."
As far as the ceremony itself goes, many churches will give the couple certain personalization options.
"Couples are always able to choose their music and they can choose the different readings. They can choose which priest they have," Pesek noted.
The couple can also choose how many people are part of their wedding party and what they are going to wear to the ceremony, although more modest attire is the typical dress code, Brides.com notes.
If the bride and groom are both of the Catholic faith, there is usually a wedding Mass, Pesek said, which includes Communion.
If one of them is not Catholic, ceremony components change slightly.
"If one of them is not Catholic, it's normal for them to have [what's] called the Liturgy of the Word service," Pesek said.
"They have the readings, and they have the homily. They exchange the vows, and the priest gives the blessing, but there's no Communion, it's not Mass, because one of them wouldn't be able to receive Communion."
