No hymns at all in church ceremony

No, as far as I believe, church services always incorporate hymns. If you are not comfortable with this aspect - perhaps look at having a civil ceremony where you don't have to have any hymns.

It depends on your priest. Sounds like he's expecting some hymns so this is a question you need to ask him. Have you made your expectations clear to him? I.e. have you been honest and said that OH is not religious?

What's your OH's concern about the hymns?

We actually had to think about this too but for more personal reasons. Two of our children are autistic and we're not sure how they'll cope with the noise and atmosphere of it all but in the end we decided that hymns are a part of the church service and if we wanted to escape those, it was maybe best to have a civil ceremony. I'm not telling you not to have a church wedding but its one day in your life, a few hymns are not going to make a massive difference in the grand scheme of things.

Btw we are still going ahead with the church wedding with hymns, we are just providing our kids with ear defenders and someone to take them out and sit in the limo if it gets too much.

I think a church ceremony with no hymns would feel odd. Given that the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes music (by which it means hymns) as necessary to help prayer, I doubt you'll be allowed to skip them altogether.

In my personal opinion if you are not religious then I don't feel it is right to marry in church, if just one of you is religious then that's fine but you should respect the traditions of a church service by incorporating hymns, readings and prayers into your ceremony. My best friend is Catholic and her OH is not religious, they decided to marry abroad as a church ceremony would not have felt appropriate to them as her OH has never attended church or believed in God. I think hymns are as much a part of a church ceremony as the vicar! I guess it depends how laid back the priest is but I would feel rude asking him.
Please not these are only my personal opinions..?

We attended a COE wedding in July where they had one hymn (all things bright and beautiful) and two normal pop songs which people sang along to so it must be do-able. Not sure if all churches would accommodate this but worth an ask!

We are also having a church ceremony and i'm planning of also asking if we can replace the hymns, not asked yet though so time will tell!

x

We attended a COE wedding in July where they had one hymn (all things bright and beautiful) and two normal pop songs which people sang along to so it must be do-able. Not sure if all churches would accommodate this but worth an ask!

We are also having a church ceremony and i'm planning of also asking if we can replace the hymns, not asked yet though so time will tell!

x

Hmm ok good to know. I have no problem with hymns and have done all the church steps up to confirmation and have long attended church. Same goes for all my family. OH hasn't sung hymns since primary school. He said he'd rather wasn't hymns as he'd be at the front mumbling and be awkward in front of priest.

The older side of his family would also know all the words being catholic themselves, so singing wouldn't be a problem for most of the guests. It's purely an idea for an aspect he's not too fond of, as the church was my wish for where to get married. It's a comfortable church, very 'no pressure', so i may broach the subject dependent how the next meeting goes, else stick with upbeat hymns such as Lord of the Dance.

As catholic, I believe you can but the best person to ask would be the priest. You can definitely ask the priest about this Good luck!

Sounds like OH just worried about embarrassing himself.

I don't think him knowing the words to the songs will impress the vicar in all honesty. There are so many guys who never sing at the services that the vicar will probably just assume he doesn't like singing.

I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Just pick really well known ones and he'll probably sing along happily.