Marriage

God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate his love in their relations with each other. Man and woman were created for each other… Woman and man are equal in human dignity, and in marriage both are united in an unbreakable bond. (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, Ch. 21, p. 279)

The sacrament of marriage is a visible sign of God’s love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity.

What is the Sacrament of Marriage?

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people with Abraham and later with Moses at Mt. Sinai. This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.

The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661)

The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. It is this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)

What Now?

We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God’s image for the purpose of communion with another human being.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2205). The Sacrament of Marriage is unitive, indissoluble and calls us to be completely open to fertility.

Costs

• Church: $600 ($100 deposit required to reserve the date; non-refundable)
• Music: $300
• Altar server: $20 — we ask that the altar server fee be in cash for the teens who will be serving.
• Mariachi must be from the approved list of the Diocese. The music fee remains the same due to usage of the church sound system and equipment.

What is Next?

1. The office will reach out to make an appointment for the initial interview, and the marriage preparation process will begin.
2. Right after your first meeting you will be able to choose a date and make the deposit to save it.
3. You will then be given the packet with information on flowers, photographers and more.
4. The Wedding Coordinator will reach out one month to one or two weeks before your wedding to schedule your rehearsal.
5. Start gathering paperwork. Bride and groom will each need copies of Baptism, Communion and Confirmation certificates.
6. Bride and groom will each need two people to sign witness forms.
7. If you have been married previously, you will need to obtain your civil marriage certificate.

Registration

Call the parish office at (714) 525-2500 to begin. Magda Vasquez, Wedding / XV Coordinator, can be reached at (714) 310-4975.