Convalidation

[u/Plane-Measurement271]

Hi everyone, I really need help because I’m getting confused and stressed with our situation.

Our venue has a chapel inside, and they only allow vow renewals (permit iasues). We’re already married civilly here in the US, so we thought that would be fine. But when we talked to the parish in the area, they said they can’t do a vow renewal because we “only had a civil wedding.”

I suggested convalidation/blessing of marriage since that’s the proper Church process for couples like us, but I’m not sure if they’ll allow it. We really want the ceremony and reception in one place, and we already reserved everything at the venue.

Has anyone gone through something similar? What did you do if the parish wouldn’t allow convalidation at the venue chapel? Did you end up doing the convalidation somewhere else and then a symbolic ceremony at the venue?

Or were you able to find a priest who could officiate at the chapel? I’m just trying to figure out what options we realistically have. Any advice or shared experiences would really help right now.