What to expect when meeting with the priest?

Question

My fiance and I have our first meeting with the priest tonight. I haven't got the first clue as to what to expect. What questions might he ask? How can I prepare myself? What's going to happen?

We are going to have a mass with the ceremony, if that matters.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

We already did the pre cana.

Neither of us has been to church for quite some time.

Answer 1

I gather we are talking about a Roman Catholic church wedding. I cannot guess what your priest will talk about but I can you what happened when my wife and I got married.

First of all, relax. There is nothing to study or prepare for. I thought the priest had some weird questions, but nothing that was difficult to answer. For example, the priest asked if my wife and I were related. We got a mini sermon about the church's stance on birth control. We had to promise to accept children, if God gives us any, and to raise the children Catholic. The priest did not ask if we were living together or if we had sex. I believe we had to provide proof that we were baptised and confirmed. This proof was easy, we just had to provide the name of the church and date (year) of baptism and confirmation. The priest asked each of us to provide affidavits that we were free to marry, I cannot remember if it was two or three affidavits. What happens is someone who has known you for years goes to a priest and answers a couple of questions such as "Has (blank) ever been married before?" "Has (blank) ever been divorced" etc. My father and sister did this for me, my mother-in-law and a friend did this for my wife. In talking to other family members and friends I gather not everyone has to do this. I am not sure why, my only guess is that it depends on how well the priest knows the couple.

Much of what we talked about was wedding details such as time of the wedding, do we want a full-blown mass, logistics of delivering flowers etc.

You will be fine.

Congrats.

Answer 2

Well, this depends on the priest and the parish/diocese, but I think generally they are similar.
First of all, I hope you are getting married in the church because you plan to rededicate yourselves to going back to church regularly. That would be important, not just that you want to get married "in a church".
The meetings are painless! He will ask you about your relationship generally, things about you as a couple and as individuals. (I'm going here on the assumption that this priest doesn't know you.) You will have to take pre-marital counselling classes - a series over weeks or a weekend encounter, depending upon the parish. At some point, he will ask about the sacraments you have taken, your baptisimal and confirmation certificates, you will have to state that each of you is single, there are documents to fill out. A big thing is that you must agree to raise the children in the Catholic faith.
Wish you luck!!!

Answer 3

I wish I could be of more help... My husband and I talked with a preacher (which i'm sure is slightly different but with same general preachings?). He just sat down and talked with us about committment and children, communication, all the basics that are important in marriage and how God could make them all better. He asked how we felt about church, God, etc and if were on the same page with it (so if we had children there wouldn't be an argument about what the kids do or learn). He just kind of prepared us for things we might encounter. The weirdest part was the sex part of the talk... I wasn't expecting it at all but he had some good points. I was really nervous at first but it turned out well.

Answer 4

It's no big deal. If you are meeting him because you will be getting married in the near futur, he will talk about married like. He will ask if you attend regularly and expect that for the next 10 Sundays both you and your boyfriend attend mass. They just don't want people jumping into marriage (it is a sacrement in the eyes of the church) and will probably recommend a 3 day course that they offer. Stop worrying

Answer 5

Just relax! Is this your family priest? Many Parishes require a class on marriage before the wedding, he will likely tell you what to expect, and set up a timeline.

Answer 6

He's just going to talk to you about your relationship. He'll ask how long you've been together. It's really no big deal. On our second meeting with the priest we had to fill out a questioniare, our priest gave us really good advise, and pointers. So my advice is to just relax.

Answer 7

RELAX DONT PANIC ALL WILL GO WELL GOOD LUCK.