Sacrament of Marriage Procedures

Congratulations on your Engagement to be married! We are happy to assist as you prepare for the Sacrament of Matrimony. Be sure to call your Parish Priest and make an appointment so that he can give you the Engagement Blessing and begin Marriage Preparation, with you (also known as Pre-Cana). But first, please read the following to determine how to proceed: 
 

• For Saint Lawrence Parishioners:
  • For a Wedding to be scheduled, one party must be a Catholic who has been an active parishioner of the Basilica for at least one year at the time of inquiry.
  • To begin the process, complete the Wedding Inquiry Form, located in the sidebar, and to read the additional notes below. 
    • Additional Notes:  Before submitting the Wedding Inquiry Form you should completely review our policies, which follow the requirements of the Diocese of Charlotte. Complete review includes all Sub-Menus, Documents, Links, and Forms contained in the Sacrament of Marriage portion of our website. Due to a small staff, the quickest way to obtain answers to the most common questions is to become thoroughly familiar with this site. 
  • Date availability and rates will be emailed in our reply to your Wedding Inquiry.
  • No arrangements for a reception venue should be made until you have received a reply to the Confirm Wedding Date form from Basilica staff.

 

• For Non-parishioners WITHIN the Diocese of Charlotte:
  • The Basilica does not provide priests or deacons to be celebrants for non-parishioner weddings. You must have a priest or deacon at your own parish agree to assist in your marriage preparation and agree to celebrate your wedding at the Basilica. 
  • For a Wedding to be scheduled for a non-parishioner:
    • One party must be a Catholic who has the permission of the Pastor of your Parish to be married at St. Lawrence rather than your Parish Church.
    • The Pastor of your parish or his delegate must agree to prepare the couple for marriage completing all necessary Marriage Preparation and documentation. Your Pastor will need to send the completed documentation to the Chancery of the Diocese of Charlotte for approval two months prior to the wedding date..
    • As soon as you have received a tentative hold on a date from the Basilica the Pastor of your parish is required to complete and send the Pastor of St. Lawrence a Letter of Approval and Pre-Cana Preparation for a Wedding at the Basilica of St. Lawrence. Basilica staff will send this documentation with instructions to your pastor. A Sample of this letter is located in the sidebar.
  • To being the process, complete the Wedding Inquiry Form, located in the sidebar, and read the additional notes below.
    • Additional Notes:  Before submitting the Wedding Inquiry Form you should completely review all of our policies and agree to follow them. A complete review includes reading all Sub-Menus and Documents of our Wedding website. Due to a small staff, the quickest way to obtain answers to the most common questions is to become thoroughly familiar with this site. 
  • Date availability and rates will be emailed to the couple soon after the Basilica Pastor has given his tentative approval for the wedding. Full approval depends upon receiving the commitment from the Pastor of the couple's parish in the form of the above mentioned letter of approval.
  • No arrangements for a reception venue should be made until you have received a “Confirmation” of wedding date from the Basilica.

 

• For Non-parishioners OUTSIDE the Diocese of Charlotte:
  • If approved by our pastor, we can offer a limited number of weddings in this category provided the couple follows the same stipulations listed above for non-parishioners that reside inside the Diocese of Charlotte.

 
Please be sure to read the rich teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church concerning the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony beginning at paragraph 1601: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P50.HTM

We recommend adding the program provided on Formed.org to your personal preparation if it is not already part of your Pastor's pre-Cana program:

• Beloved
• Amado (Spanish Version)