What is the difference between a Catholic wedding ceremony and a Christian wedding ceremony?
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by admin
I don’t want religious differences, I want to know what happens differently on the actual wedding day. How does a Catholic ceremony happen? What happens at a Christian ceremony?
i know…Catholics are Christians. But my point is that the weddings aren’t the same and i wanted to know the difference. couldn’t think of another way to phrase it. don’t have to be rude!
Wow am I glad someone said that before me.
Not all Christians are catholic but Catholics ARE Christians. The whole, following Christ thing is a billboard advertising to that effect.
I do wonder where the author of the original question conceived the actual query. Does it stem from each partner having religious differences?
The biggest will be the traditions, there isn’t usually the cups of sand being joined together or unity candles. Although most priests will often allow one or more of these to be used, but prayers are said oveer the couple, a blessing, some kneeling in prayer, some incense and some vows and you are through. Adding the mass and making the wedding sacramental can increase the time considerably to often times more than just an hour. While your ordinary Christian wedding is a short, sweet vow… The catholic church takes marriage incredibly serious and uses the same traditions they have… Since… Well a veery long time.
August 27th, 2010 at 3:55 am
In my experience, Catholic ceremonies are much much longer, about an hour, with a lot of praying, kneeling, etc. of the bridal couple and the congregants.
A typical non-Catholic/Christian ceremony is generally 15-30 minutes.
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August 27th, 2010 at 4:08 am
First of all….Catholics ARE Christians!
Second, I don’t know what you mean by "what happens differently." Some of the large (mega-church) Christian weddings can be very long.
Not all Catholic weddings include a Mass. If it IS a Mass…then, yes, it will be 1-hour long. If there is no Mass (and this is optional), then it will be about 20-30 minutes. There are all the traditional elements (walking down the aisle, the vows, ring exchange, 3 readings, a sermon, some music, etc.) at a Catholic wedding.
I have also been to many Lutheran weddings and they are exactly the same as the Catholic non-Mass ones. The same elements that I listed above.
I have never been to another Christian wedding other than Catholic or Lutheran, so I cannot help you with that. Again, some of the large Christian churches I would assume would be lots of singing and lots of preaching.
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August 27th, 2010 at 4:19 am
A Catholic wedding is officiated by a priest.
Christian (non-Catholic) weddings are not officiated by a priest.
That is the biggest thing I can think of. The rest of it is up to the couples that hires the people to perform the ceremony.
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August 27th, 2010 at 5:01 am
Catholics AREN’T Christians. There’s a big difference.
Catholics repeat a million things over and over.
Christians repeat the I do’s and say their vows and if the Minister is asked to give a word then he will usually take about 15 mins doing so…if not then the ceremony is rather short.
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August 27th, 2010 at 5:51 am
My fiance is catholic and I am full gospel Christian. We have been to weddings for both families and the only real difference is Catholic ceremonies have mass and they have specific prayers they use and are performed by a priest. I will admit though I have been to some crazy christian weddings that were longer than catholic weddings! and they did things way different than I am used to. Almost every church is different. lol. and I do have to agree with another post. Catholic and Christian is linked together and Catholicism is a form of Christianity.
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August 27th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Ummm…Catholics ARE Christians? Why don’t you know that?
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August 27th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Wow am I glad someone said that before me.
Not all Christians are catholic but Catholics ARE Christians. The whole, following Christ thing is a billboard advertising to that effect.
I do wonder where the author of the original question conceived the actual query. Does it stem from each partner having religious differences?
The biggest will be the traditions, there isn’t usually the cups of sand being joined together or unity candles. Although most priests will often allow one or more of these to be used, but prayers are said oveer the couple, a blessing, some kneeling in prayer, some incense and some vows and you are through. Adding the mass and making the wedding sacramental can increase the time considerably to often times more than just an hour. While your ordinary Christian wedding is a short, sweet vow… The catholic church takes marriage incredibly serious and uses the same traditions they have… Since… Well a veery long time.
References :
August 27th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Because Catholic’s are Christians, there really isn’t much different between a Catholic Ceremony & Another denomination’s ceremony.
HOWEVER, there is a Catholic Ceremony and a Catholic Wedding Mass. If you have a wedding mass then you are taking up a bit over an hour’s time because you are including mass – readings, sermon, communion – along with the wedding ceremony.
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August 27th, 2010 at 7:32 am
A Catholic wedding ceremony is almost exactly like a Catholic mass. The biggest difference you’ll notice is that at most Protestant weddings, Communion is not served. However, at a Catholic wedding, the bride and groom and Catholic guests will take Communion. Non-Catholic guests or those who don’t wish to take communion are welcome to stay seated – no biggie.
So basically, if you’ve ever been to a Catholic mass (with the chanting, the singing, the kneeling, the standing, etc), you know pretty much what happens at a Catholic wedding, with marriage vows in there after the homily.
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