Anyone ever hear of THIS (esp for Catholic Brides)

[MelissaSue]

OK.. so I''m NOT catholic.. or at all religious.. but FI is.. so we''re having a catholic ceremony but NOT a mass. I have always been told that there weren''t really any rules for the non-mass type of ceremonies.. and our priest has not really given us any clue as to what the ceremony consisted of up until now (when we scheduled the wedding he said he''d call us in the fall.. and we never heard from him until last week).. but anyway.. he was telling my FMIL about what the ceremony consisted of.. and he told us that we had to have ONE reading.. but then we had to have a Psalm and some gospel thing.. but that those both had to be SUNG.. and that eiether we had to pay the music director at the churh $150 to sing it for us.. or we could pay her $75 for her to "accompany" someone else. FIs sister can sing.. so if we have to have singing.. she can do it.. but I''m not paying the church music director money to accompany her when we are already paying for a string quartet. I don''t want any organ/piano music *barf*
I think that almost every wedding I''ve ever been to was catholic. and never ever ever has anyone had to sing psalms.. In my head it is sounding very tacky.. and I think it is a scam by the church to make us pay this music director lady.. Its certainly not a catholic rule..

 

[moremoremore]

It must be a parish thing. You do not generally have to have anything sung.

 

[Odilia]

"Its certainly not a catholic rule.."

I agree. I''m Catholic, had a Catholic wedding, and we certainly didn''t have to pay someone to sing a psalm or Gospel.

 

[jcrow]

i am having a catholic wedding without a mass. we have 2 readings- which have to be approved. the are read- as far as i know- and not sung. we have to pay for the music director who is also the organist. if we wish for another musical instrument or a vocalist, those are both extra. we are having a volinist and a trumpeter. no vocalist.

 

[XChick03]

Never heard of that either. And just out of curiosity, what''s wrong with piano music?

 

[monarch64]

Yes, what is wrong with piano music, out of curiosity???

MelissaSue, I agree with you, I don''t think it sounds right that the church is requiring you to have "vocal" psalms, but I suppose it could just be that particular church''s thing. Hmm.

 

[firebirdgold]

If they want you to have a vocal psalm, why not have everyone in the church sing? There''s always at least a few ones that everyone knows. Could be alot of fun!

 

[E B]

Date: 4/10/2006 11:01:31 PM
Author: XChick03
Never heard of that either. And just out of curiosity, what''s wrong with piano music?

I think she just meant (correct me if I''m wrong) the kind of heavy, organ-y sound. You know, the stuff you hear in church.

IMO, a piano creates the most beautiful music on the planet. Other solo instruments pale in comparison. If we had the budget, I''d love to hire a pianist to play at my wedding.

 

[JessesGrl]

I was christened Catholic, made my communion and my confirmation but did NOT get married in the Catholic church b/c I crap like this.....my best friend is getting marriend in september and the church is driving her crazy, that sounds like a money making ploy to me!!!!

 

[lovelylulu]

HI MelissaSue.

my fiancee and i are getting married in a catholic church, but without a mass. we were given this book/pamphlet called "Together for Life" and in it there ceremony is broken down into the various parts and for each part there are a group of readings that we can choose from. like 5 old testament readings and 4 responsorial psalms and 8 new testaments, etc.

There are suggestions that some parts are sung, like the responsorial psalm -- BUT it also says that it can just be recited.

If you are uncomfortable with the idea of singing, I would definately talk to the priest about it and see if he''s flexible. he should be.

good luck!

 

[XChick03]

Date: 4/11/2006 12:58:26 AM
Author: EBree
I think she just meant (correct me if I''m wrong) the kind of heavy, organ-y sound. You know, the stuff you hear in church.


IMO, a piano creates the most beautiful music on the planet. Other solo instruments pale in comparison. If we had the budget, I''d love to hire a pianist to play at my wedding.

I guess I''m weird, I like organ music, too.

I love pianos. I wish I could have piano music at my wedding, but that''d be difficult, if not impossible, with an outdoor wedding. I think I''m going with my second favorite instrument and FIs fave, violins.

And a lot of my family is Catholic and they''ve never had any singing at their weddings. Maybe the church is just trying to get more money for weddings maybe? That would be really strange, though.

 

[eks6426]

Are your invitations printed yet? You could always see if you can change venues. When I got married the first time, my then fiance when Catholic and when we went to the required meetings with the priest he really got on me because I wasn''t baptized. (My parent''s church did not believe in childhood baptisms) The priest pretty much got to the point that he wouldn''t marry us unless I got baptized. He even went so far as to chase me around the church with holy water trying to baptize me. There were a whole bunch of weird rules this guy wanted...but I don''t remember the singing part.

Needless to say we changed locations at the last minute. We wound up getting married at our reception location (local old mansion) by a Prespbeterian (sp?) minister even though neither of us belonged to that church. I had to have invitations reprinted and it was worth it.

 

[MissAva]

That is just bizarre...talk to the priest if he is being unreasonable you might try talking to the deacons as well to see if they can shed some light. Dont do or pay ofr anything you dont want in the wedding.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 4/11/2006 9:12:30 AM
Author: XChick03

Date: 4/11/2006 12:58:26 AM
Author: EBree
I think she just meant (correct me if I''m wrong) the kind of heavy, organ-y sound. You know, the stuff you hear in church.


IMO, a piano creates the most beautiful music on the planet. Other solo instruments pale in comparison. If we had the budget, I''d love to hire a pianist to play at my wedding.

I guess I''m weird, I like organ music, too.

I love pianos. I wish I could have piano music at my wedding, but that''d be difficult, if not impossible, with an outdoor wedding. I think I''m going with my second favorite instrument and FIs fave, violins.

And a lot of my family is Catholic and they''ve never had any singing at their weddings. Maybe the church is just trying to get more money for weddings maybe? That would be really strange, though.

Xchick, I had piano music at my outdoor ceremony--we had a DJ who was able to do all that fun stuff without having the actual instrument there!

 

[AmberWaves]

We''re hoping to do our wedding in one of the Catholic Churches around here (fiance works at a Catholic school with it''s own parish), but the priest is so creepy, with this big ol'' helmet hair. And after working there for 8 years, the father still doesn''t know Paul''s name. He always calls him "Big Guy".

I''m not Catholic, but when I saw at one church this HUGE Christ on a Cross, on a stick they marched down the aisle, I freaked. It was my height. I looked at FI and said, "Our Jesus isn''t going to be that huge, is it!?!"

If we do get married at fiance''s school''s church, though, they''ll do condensed catholiscm classes for me, which is good. Also, anyone know how much it is to get married in a Catholic church? One church around here in L.A. quoted $1,000.00!

 

[kittykat]

I had a Catholic ceremony and the difference between a Mass and a non-Mass is communion. In my church a wedding ceremony without communion is just called a partial Mass. In my ceremony we had a choice as to whether or not the Psalm was read or sung but it may be a Parish thing. We did have to pay for a cantor and an organist though. Hope this helps.

 

[glaucomflecken]

perhaps it is a parish thing? i have never seen a Catholic wedding have anything forced like that.

we had a Catholic service outside of Mass because I am Catholic and DH is not. We also got the "Together for Life" book and had two readings, and the responsorial psalm was sung by the church musician/organist, who we didnt have to hire but did b/c she sang well and knew the church and their weddings inside and out. We also had a bagpiper and did not have to pay extra for him to play at our ceremony.

we also had the choice of whether to have a reader do the psalms or have the musician sing them.

 

[MelissaSue]

Good.. I''m glad I''m not totally nuts.. like I said.. I''m not catholic.. so I don''t have a ton of ground to argue from..
I don''t have anything against piano music.. I just want all the music for my wedding to be from the string quartet.. thats why we are paying them! And.. I also have sort of a bad taste in my mouth about the music from my FI''s church. All times I have gone there they have this AWFUL singer/pianist.. Its a man and he sounds like he wants to be an Irish folk singer.. The way my fiance describes him is "If there was a church singer on South Park, this would be him".. and its TOTALLY true.. Now.. the person that does the weddings is not him and I''ve not heard this woman.. but I honestly don''t want to pay some random music director when I already have a string quartet. And I would honestly rather just have two or three readings.