At least one party of the couple must be a baptized Catholic.

Ordinarily, arrangements for the wedding should be made at least six months before the wedding date.

If you are an active parishioner at the Baltimore Basilica, the fee for weddings at the Corpus Christi Oratory is $2,500 minus your annual donations to the offertory. (For instance, if you contributed $2,000 in the last year to the offertory your wedding fee is only $500).

If you are not a parishioner at the Baltimore Basilica, the fee for weddings at the Corpus Christi Oratory is $2,500.
For both parishioners and non-parishioners, a non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to reserve your date. The balance should be paid at least one month prior to the wedding date. 

The $2,500 fee does not include fees for the organist, vocalist, other musicians, flowers, or your offering to the priest or deacon.

In addition to the preparations involved in any wedding (caterers, venues, photographers, etc.), marriage in the Church involves some extra preparations. Some of this involves gathering documents and obtaining various forms of official approval, which our staff will happily assist you with. Another important part is spiritual preparation for marriage, which involves participation in our Marriage Preparation Program. Finally, there is the planning of the wedding ceremony itself, in consultation with the priest or deacon who will officiate at your ceremony. 

Either of our two deacons at The Oratory at Corpus Christi, Andrew Lacovara and Fritz Bauerschmidt, are happy to officiate at your wedding ceremony. If you wish to have your wedding in the context of a Nuptial Mass, we will work with you to find a priest who can celebrate this. If you know a priest or deacon whom you wish to perform the ceremony, we are happy to host and will help him obtain the necessary permissions.

Because the Church believes that marriage is a lifelong bond that can be dissolved only by death, if either or both parties have been married previously, and the former spouse is still living, we’ll need a decree of annulment from the Catholic Church (even if no Catholic was involved in the earlier marriage). More information on annulments can be found at the Archdiocese of Baltimore Marriage Tribunal. We are happy to help you navigate this process.

No. If only one party is Catholic, you should be aware that the Catholic party will be asked to express his or her intention to continue to practice of the Catholic faith and to raise any children Catholic. The non-Catholic party does not have to make this promise.

Yes. This is called a “convalidation” and we will help you go through the steps necessary to arrange for this.