Expert: Michael Clark, Ph.D. - 5/10/2009

Question
My fiance is a non-practicing, agnostic Catholic who has always wanted to get married in a church. She claims to be "culturally" Catholic, rather than spiritually. The religious significance is minimal to her; she just wants a pretty wedding in a church. I am a non-believer--an atheist. I'm curious as to what I should expect.

Answer
To save time, this answer was composed with the help of Microsoft speech recognition software .  As a result, some of the punctuation might appear just a little different than usual . Thank you for your understanding .  

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Do you mean she wants to get married in a catholic church ?  If so, the best thing would be to make an appointment with the parish priest at the church where you wish to get married . Although there are rules and regulations , each place might be a little bit different .  

Generally speaking , you would have to notify the church one full year in advance of your wedding date .  But since she is a so-called 'fallen away' catholic , the process of obtaining a catholic church wedding might take a little bit longer .  

You would both most likely be asked to attend the RCIA ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_Christian_Initiation_of_Adults ) and/or a marriage course which would not be too demanding . And whether or not they would want to marry you considering you do not believe in God , this might vary according to locality .  

So again, the best thing would be to seek out the parish priest at the place where you would like to be married , contact him through the secretary , make an appointment , and tell him your wishes .  

I hope this helps .