Roman Catholic Weddings

The Roman Catholic Church requires the posting of banns, the public announcement of a couple's intentions to marry. The banns must be announced from the pulpit or in the church bulletin three times before the wedding. The traditional posting of the banns was the forerunner of today's wedding announcements.

Catholics can be married in a simple wedding service or in a Nuptial Mass. A Nuptial Mass is a wedding ceremony performed as part of the Catholic Mass (or service). When the wedding ceremony will be a Nuptial Mass, the invitations should mention that a Nuptial Mass will be performed. Nuptial Masses are about an hour long. Placing the phrase "Nuptial Mass" on the wedding invitations alerts guests to the fact that the wedding will take a little longer than what they might be accustomed to.

Nuptial Masses were once performed only at or before noon but are now performed in the afternoon as well. Unless special permission is granted by the bishop, Nuptial Masses may not be performed during Lent or Advent.

As suggested by the invitations, the bride and groom are joined together in holy matrimony. Therefore, "and" is used instead of "to."