Important Considerations and Necessary Requirements
You must be a practicing Roman Catholic and 18 years of age and/or have legal permission to marry. If you were previously married, you must provide proof of your freedom to marry (e.g. the Tribunal number of your annulment document, a death certificate, etc.).
Our pastor and parochial vicars can only preside at weddings for Riverview Catholic parishioners. Non-parishioners are asked to select an outside priest/deacon in good standing to officiate at your wedding. Your presider is required to contact our pastor for approval and delegation. The visiting priest is obligated to ensure that all regulations are observed.
Select and confirm a presider and contact St Rose Church AT LEAST six months prior to the desired date of the wedding ceremony. Our pastor and parochial vicars prefer that wedding couples give themselves a full year to prepare for the wedding. This ensures you will have time for a proper preparation period, which includes
pre-marriage counseling
FOCCUS or Engaged Encounter testing and evaluation
completing the required forms for the diocese and the state
planning the rehearsal and wedding ceremony.
Your presider will assist you in filling out the necessary forms for you wedding file, as well as any dispensations that may be required.
Provide your presider with a recently issued copy of your Baptismal Record. This certificate should not be older than one year. This certificate will also list other sacraments you may have received. Contact the parish where you were baptized to obtain this certificate.
Time of Your Wedding
Weddings may be scheduled on Friday evenings after 2:00pm. They may also be scheduled to begin on Saturday mornings or on Saturday afternoons at 1:30pm or 4:00pm. We cannot schedule any weddings on Saturday after 4:30pm (There is evening Mass at 7:00pm on Saturdays.) We do not schedule weddings on Holy Days, Holidays, or on days when there is a special parish celebration. Wedding dates are reserved on a first come, first served basis.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals are usually scheduled the day before the wedding, between the hours of 4:30 and 7:00pm Any exceptions must be arranged beforehand with your officiating priest. A well-planned rehearsal should last 45-60 minutes. Much time can be saved by getting your wedding party to the church on time and by matching up the men and women attendants who will be in procession ahead of time.
Musicians do not attend wedding rehearsals.
Please bring the following with you to the rehearsal:
Your civil marriage license
Programs for the wedding
Printed readings and universal prayers
Your planning sheet for the ceremony
Church Expenses
The donation for the use of St. Rose Church has been set at $1500. This offsets the costs of heating, air conditioning, maintenance of the beautiful sanctuary and altar lighting display (which consists of 147 bulbs), and other incidentals. This will be, in most cases, the cheapest expense of your wedding. We ask you to put down a $250 non-refundable deposit when we reserve the Church for you. You should submit the $1250 balance two months before the date of your wedding.
Our parish music director is the organist for all weddings; guest organists are not permitted. A cantor is required for a wedding Mass and ceremonies with vocal selections. St. Rose maintains a roster of highly accomplished, professional singers. The music director will select a cantor for your wedding from this roster; guest vocalists are not permitted. Included in your wedding fee is one music planning session, rehearsal and preparation, and the wedding ceremony music. Additional musicians (trumpeter, violinist, etc.) may be hired at the family's expense. If additional musicians require organ accompaniment or separate rehearsal sessions, an additional fee may be due to the organist.
For wedding ceremonies that will include Mass, St Rose will arrange to have a server to assist the priest during the wedding. If you have a server in the family, let the St Rose wedding coordinator know ahead of time. It is customary to deliver a small monetary gift to the server. A gift for the officiating clergyman is also appreciated.
Music
Our parish director of music, Stella O'Neill, is responsible for overseeing the music at each wedding and for all decisions in these matters. L,eading up to your wedding, she will assist you with everything concerning music—selecting musicians, choosing music, planning the ceremony, etc.
To ensure the music performed at your wedding is of the highest quality and in line with our standard of musical excellence, we do not permit guest musicians of any kind (including organists, singers, or instrumentalists) under any circumstances. The music director is solely responsible for selecting, hiring, and booking all musicians for your wedding.
It is important that you carefully review the information and documents we’ve provided online at strosecincinnati.org/wedding-music prior to completing any music planning.
Online you will find the “Wedding Music Planning Form.” Use the detailed planning information found under “Liturgical Planning for Weddings” and the “Wedding Music Repertoire” lists to assist you in completing the planning form. Please only choose music from the provided repertoire lists. Most of these musical selections can be found on spotify.com or youtube.com. Write your desired musical selections on the planning form. Please return the completed planning form to the email [email protected]. Please return the form no later than six weeks prior to your wedding or sooner if you are able.
If you wish to engage additional instrumentalists, such as strings or trumpet, please indicate this on the form. The earlier a request for additional musicians is made, the better.
Do not make any final decisions concerning musical selections or musicians until your completed form has been returned and approved. If you would like further assistance in completing your planning, please reach out by email at [email protected].
Photographers
Photographers are not permitted to enter the sanctuary area. Because it is distracting, we urge photographers to avoid using flash, especially during the Mass. Once the procession is over, photograpers should not stand in front of the pews, nor linger in the main aisle. Group photos may be taken after the wedding, but should not take longer than a half-hour after the ceremony. We recommend taking a majority of the single shots before the wedding. Please ask your photographers to be aware of the solemnity of the occasion and of where they are located during the ceremony.
Decorations
Flowers We have a limited supply of stands and stools that can be used to elevate floral arrangements, though the overall height should not be taller than the altar. Traditionally, the flowers used at the altar are left there after the ceremony for use by the church. If you are using flowers or greenery on the pews along the aisle, please use an elastic band or ribbon that will not cause damage to the pews and that can be easily removed after the ceremony. No real or synthetic flower petals are allowed to be dropped down the aisle.
Candelabra If you use candelabras, it is imperative that they be dripless candles and that your florist provides a protective covering underneath the stand to protect the wood flooring. Be sure to remind your florist to bring floor covers on the day of the wedding.
Flower Girls and Ring Bearers We suggest that children participating in the procession be at least five years of age and are mature enough to process down the aisle without fear. The best policy is to assume that things will not go as planned. To help minimize stage fright, we recommend that you bring your young wedding participants to Mass a few times and to the rehearsal. Familiarizing them with the church can alleviate some of the wedding day anxiety.
Unity Candle The Unity Candle ritual is no longer performed at weddings at St. Rose.
Cleanup
We do not have a janitorial service on weekends. Please assign someone in your family or wedding party to remove the flower arrangements, pew decorations, and other debris from the church. The church is closed after the last ceremony of the day, so please be certain that personal items, purses, dresses, shoes, cameras, etc. are removed from the church. No rice, bird seed, flower petals, nor any other similar material may be used or thrown in or on church property. Such material can be extremely slippery on polished floors. Serious injury can result to your guests and our parishioners. If you hire a horse and carriage for the occasion, please insist that the company provide proper cleanup and a receptacle for any droppings that fall on church property.
We do our best to make your wedding a great event—one you can look back upon with fond memories. Communication will ensure that your wedding will be the truly meaningful, liturgically correct, and spiritually uplifting event you want it to be.
Fr Adam Puntel, Pastor and the St. Rose Wedding Staff
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church 2501 Riverside Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 T: (513) 871-1162 F: (513) 871-2851 [email protected] www.strosecincinnati.org/marriage