This union, then, is most serious because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate, that it will profoundly influence your whole future. That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. You know that these elements are mingled in every life and are to be expected in your own. And so, not knowing that is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death.
– excerpt from The Exhortation Before Marriage
Your marriage is first and foremost a sacrament. Through your wedding vows, you will make known the loving presence of God as revealed through Christ and His Church.
Of primary importance is your commitment to each other and through the sacrament of marriage, you are “no longer two, but one flesh” (Mark 10:8).
St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica is a very active and vibrant community and we receive many requests from couples who wish to be married here. Please note the following:
- Those who live within our parish boundaries, where at least one of the parties is Catholic, have the right to be married in the Cathedral.
- Couples who do not live within the boundaries of the Cathedral must be registered and contributing to the mission of the Cathedral for a minimum of 2 years or demonstrate some prior personal or familial connection to the Cathedral. These cases will be reviewed by the Rector and must receive his approval before a date may be set.
To begin the process, please download and complete the Marriage Information Form and submit it via email to [email protected].
Please do not book a venue for your wedding reception until the date for your wedding has been set.
Archdiocesan guidelines require that the couple contact the parish at least one year in advance of the proposed date of the wedding. However, scheduling a date is still subject to the Rector’s discretion. Availability of dates at the Cathedral can be limited, due to other Archdiocesan events and celebrations, and by the volume of weddings that we have. In addition, adequate time must be allowed to meet the requirements for marriage. Many couples have booked the Cathedral a year or two in advance of their proposed wedding date.