Civil Wedding ok for the K-1?

[PATOS 0]

Hi folks, I need some advice about marriage once the fiance' arrives into the US. I have a speed bump in the road that I didn't learn about until today.

My fiance is from the Philippines and she is Catholic. I am Christian and grew up in a baptist church but consider myself as non denominational Christian now. I gave my fiance the choice to get married where ever she wanted, (Catholic church, non denominational, Vegas style chapel, where ever)

My fiance wants to get married in the Catholic church and I said Sure no problem. Here's the speed bump... I called the Catholic church we have attended 2 times since she has been here in the US with me to find out what we need to do about reserving a date.

I learned from the Sister that my fiance first has to register with the church and then go through some sort of preparation course BUT the earliest we could be married is 6 months because of the prep course \ things we have to abide by under the Catholic rules.

She said that as far as she knows ALL Catholic churches have those same rules and 6 months is the quickest we could be married unless we are military, which we arent.

Now everyone here knows we have to get married within 3 months so I am guessing there's NO way my fiance will be able to get married in the Catholic church right?

The sister said we could do a civil wedding and then be married 6 or 8 months later in the Catholic church but is a Civil wedding good enough for Immigration and then later we can do the Cathoic ceremony in the church?

Thanks for the advice.

[JenT 0]

The simple answer is yes. Have the civil wedding to fufill the legal requirements and then marry in the Church once you are ready to do so.

Jen

[kitkat1 5]

The sister said we could do a civil wedding and then be married 6 or 8 months later in the Catholic church but is a Civil wedding good enough for Immigration and then later we can do the Cathoic ceremony in the church?

Thanks for the advice.

Her advice is correct - follow it.

[raymaga 25]

Lots of VJ couples just had civil services. You can have the big Catholic wedding after you finish the church requirements.

Best wishes.

[zyggy 9]

This is exactly what we did... We did a Civil Wedding to meet the K-1 requirements and than had the Catholic wedding 10 months later. Doing it this way is completely valid in the eyes of the church.

[PATOS 0]

Hey All Thanks for the replies! That is what we'll do then. Thanks again!

[iceyspots 0]

Wish you good luck on your wedding!

[ramos96 1]

My current plan is to be married within 72 hours of my fiance entering the US

or tie her down til she says yes

Ramos

[crew1980 1]

That's what we're going to do!! Getting married in NYC and obtaining the marriage cert the day he gets off the plane!! Then waiting the required 24 hours and then doin' the deed!!

Toria and Salvador

[Carlawarla 1]

Not trying to throw a nix in here but....my first marriage was in the Catholic Church, I was Catholic, my partner was not. I was already part of a "home" parish, but we weren't allowed to marry in the Church, until we had attended classes. Part of the ceremony also included that any children of this union would be raised Catholic. Just something to think about. You yourself might be required to take classes in the faith for about 6 months before they would approve a wedding. Maybe each region/country is different. I'm sure your finance is pretty "liberal" since if it was of utmost importance, or something that she HAD to do, you'd probably have to be Catholic in the first place. I'm certainly not defending this practice! I'm divorced from my first marriage, so I'm goin' to hell....and not even allowed to participate in sacraments. Oh well.

Carla

[Craig2006 0]

We are having 2 weddings. The first one was here (in Vegas) so we could meet the requirments of the K-1. Next year we plan to have the big church wedding on Brazil for her family.