The outdoor wedding, stuff of girlhood fantasy and bridal-magazine photography, has long been off-limits to most Catholics.
No beachside ceremonies or mountaintop nuptials: The code of canon law, straight from the Vatican, says that marriages performed by a priest are meant to be celebrated in the bride or groom’s parish church. But some U.S. dioceses are starting to test the boundaries of that law, which says that with permission of the proper Catholic authority, a priest can perform a marriage in “another suitable place.” The Archdiocese of Baltimore began testing a new policy in February that allows priests and deacons to request to marry a couple somewhere other than their parish church.
Archdiocese Chancellor Diane Barr said priests have asked to marry 50 couples in venues such as hotels and museums, and Barr’s office has approved all the requests. About a third of the requested venues are outdoors, she said. “There are some really beautiful wedding venues,” she said.
Barr said the archdiocese still urges couples to consider their parish church first. “That’s the center of our church activities. You would like them to get married, essentially, in the church’s living room,” she said.
