Who may marry in our parish church?
Generally speaking, only registered members of the parish may celebrate their weddings at St. Peter's Church. Roman Catholics who live within the geographical boundaries of the parish, but who are not registered or active in the parish, may speak to one of the priests or deacons about registering and participating, with a view to eventual marriage at St. Peter's. Former members of the parish may be married in St. Peter's only if their parents are still members of the parish or if a priest from their current parish conducts the preparation and the ceremony.

If one of you is divorced, you are not necessarily excluded from marrying at St. Peter's. However, you will have to obtain a decree of nullity before setting your wedding date -- a requirement that applies to divorced non Catholics as well as Catholics. There are many myths circulating about annulments in the Church, so please talk to a priest before jumping to conclusions about this complex and sensitive topic.

Setting the wedding date
You are required to contact one of our priests or deacons at least six months in advance of the date on which you hope to marry. This requirement is vitally important in order to provide sufficient time to prepare spiritually for this vast change in your lives. Wedding dates will be scheduled only after the priest or deacon has met with both of you, received the necessary documents from you (e.g., a new copy of baptismal record, letter of freedom to marry), and arranged for your participation in the marriage instruction programs. You should secure a date with St. Peter's before making commitments with caterers, reception halls, etc.

Weddings are usually scheduled on Saturdays, though they may also be scheduled on weekdays. Please note weddings are never scheduled on Sundays and should not be scheduled during the penitential season of Lent. If you must schedule your wedding during Lent, please note that flowers in the church are strictly forbidden throughout Lent with the exception of solemnities and feasts (e.g., the feast of St. Joseph on March 20).

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Music
Music can certainly add to the joy and sense of holiness surrounding your wedding ceremony, though it can just as easily be a source of distraction and embarrassment. The following music guidelines are designed to insure joy and holiness rather than distraction and embarrassment:

After securing a wedding date and time, you should contact Mr. Craig LeDoux, our parish Music Director, at 301-638-7799. You must coordinate all music for your wedding with the Music Director.

The music director must approve all music selections. Only liturgical songs and music are permitted in the church before, during, and after the wedding ceremony. There are no exceptions to this policy.
St. Peter's music ministers will provide all wedding music with the following possible exceptions you may choose: 1) singers; 2) musicians playing instruments other than the organ or piano; 3) your relatives who play the organ or piano. Please note that prerecorded music is never allowed. In all of these exceptions, the music director must approve all musical selections and must be paid the standard fee.
Please contact the music director for a current schedule of fees. The organist will attend your rehearsal. All music fees must be paid to the musicians prior to the rehearsal.

If there are any questions, please contact Craig LeDoux at 301-638-7799 or leave a message at the rectory.

Wedding music must be submitted no later than two months prior to the anticipated date of your wedding.

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The time of the wedding
Saturday weddings are scheduled at 10 a.m., 12 noon or 2 p.m. There is usually more flexibility on the scheduling of weekday weddings. Weddings may also be scheduled on evenings other than Saturday and Sunday.

Please understand that there may be other ceremonies following yours, so the church and parking lot must be clear no more than ninety minutes after the ceremony is scheduled to begin. Because of these and other time constraints, it is of the utmost importance that your ceremony begins on time. Be forewarned, if you are late, the priest or deacon may start the ceremony without you, or he may cut out parts of the ceremony. Please, save everybody embarrassment, and be on time!

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Marriage preparation
You are required to take two courses of instruction in order to aid your spiritual readiness for the sacred commitment of marriage. The first is "Evenings for the Engaged," which involves five, two-hour classes. The second is a course on natural family planning, which has two, four-hour classes. To assist with the cost of materials for both classes, we ask each couple to pay a $55.00 registration fee. If this cost is too burdensome please inform the priest or deacon who is working with you so that an alternative arrangement can be made.

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The officiating priest or deacon
Ordinarily, one of the priests or deacons of the parish will officiate at weddings in St. Peter's. Exceptions are permitted if you have a priest friend or a priest relative, whom you want to officiate at your wedding, or if you are a former parishioner of St. Peter's and your current parish priest will conduct your ceremony. In such cases, permission of the pastor of St. Peter's is required before inviting the priest. Visiting priests will be required to adhere strictly to Church law and all parish policies on the celebration of the liturgy in general and of weddings in particular.

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Nuptial Masses
Weddings may be celebrated with a Mass or in the shorter Liturgy of the Word. When one of the parties is not a Catholic, the second option is highly recommended, as it avoids the note of disunity associated with giving the Holy Eucharist to the Catholics while withholding it from the non Catholics present.

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Lectors
Reading Sacred Scripture is a sacred ministry, not an honor you bestow on friends or family. Also, your wedding day is too important a day to have a nervous friend try to read in church for the first time. For these reasons, only trained lectors, from this or another parish, are permitted to read at weddings.

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Eucharistic Ministers
Distributing the Body of Christ is also a sacred ministry. Accordingly, only Eucharistic ministers who are certified and active in this parish are permitted to be ministers of the Eucharist in nuptial Masses.

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Flowers
Normally two containers of flowers are placed on the floor in front of the altar for the wedding ceremony. These flowers are left in the Church after the wedding ceremony as a way of sharing the joy of your wedding with the entire St. Peter's community. Stands for the flowers are discouraged. If you choose to place the flowers on stands, they must be situated so as not to obstruct anyone's view of the altar or pulpit, and they must be in pots that can be removed from the stands and placed on the floor in front of the altar after your wedding.

Flowers or bows on the pews are allowed as long as they are attached with clips that will not mark the wood in any way. Flowers or bows may never be tacked or taped to the pews, and you must arrange for anything you attach to the pews to be removed from the church immediately following your ceremony (perhaps by your ushers).

Flower girls or other participants in the wedding are not allowed to strew flower petals. They leave a mess for ceremonies following yours and invariably end up trampled into the carpet.

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Aisle runner
You must arrange for its removal from church immediately following your ceremony.

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Throwing rice
Throwing of rice, birdseed, etc., anywhere in the vicinity of the church is not permitted out of regard for others who will be using the church later. You should inform all of your guests of this policy.

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Photographs
Your wedding is a sacred ceremony involving the whole congregation; it is not primarily a "photo op." In order to minimize distraction, your photographer/videographer will not be free to roam around the church during the wedding ceremony. Once the ceremony begins, he or she may shoot from just one vantage point. No flashes or additional lighting are allowed in church during the wedding ceremony. You must inform your photographer/videographer of these policies. You should also ask your guests to refrain from taking photos during the ceremony.

Remember that the church and the parking lot must be cleared no later than ninety minutes after your ceremony is scheduled to begin. Please make sure your photographer understands this policy so that you don't put the priest or deacon in the unpleasant situation of having to ask your wedding party to leave before you are finished with your pictures.

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Rehearsal
If there is a rehearsal, all members of the wedding party must attend. Rehearsals must begin promptly at the time scheduled, because the priest or deacon probably has other obligations -- perhaps another rehearsal immediately after your own. The priest or deacon will guide the wedding party through the steps of the ceremony only once.

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Offering to the church
It is customary to leave an offering with the church at the time of the wedding. This offering goes for the maintenance of the church building and is therefore expected even when a priest or deacon from outside the parish conducts the ceremony. The standard offering is $250.