Wedding FAQs

FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study)

FOCCUS is a self-diagnostic inventory tool designed to help couples learn more about themselves and their relationship. It is not a test nor meant to predict success or failure in marriage.  FOCCUS reflects the values and ideals of marriage as sacred. It is required that all engaged couples planning a wedding at St. Gabriel complete the process. 

Parish volunteers are trained as Sponsor Couples and paired with engaged couples.  The Sponsor Couples facilitate the FOCCUS tool for all couples planning to get married at St. Gabriel.

Natural Family Planning or NFP is a way of following God’s plan for achieving and/or avoiding pregnancy.  It consists of ways to achieve or to avoid pregnancy using the physical means that God has built into human nature. Please contact the Marriage Preparation Coordinator for more information about NFP orientations.

A wedding liturgy is a beautiful and momentous occasion.  If your wedding is to take place at St. Gabriel, you will also be contacted by the parish wedding liturgical coordinator. The coordinator will meet with you to discuss the details of the ceremony and the physical arrangement of the space for your wedding. This person will assist you with the planning of your celebration and will be present at both the rehearsal and the wedding to oversee all details of the celebration.

At St. Gabriel, we have guidelines for the use of the church and the planning of the celebration that respect the whole community’s need to use the church facilities in harmony.  Attention to these requirements from the beginning will facilitate your planning and make your celebration a blessed and enjoyable experience.

The wedding liturgical coordinator's duties are to ensure that your actual wedding events fall within the guidelines established by St. Gabriel's and the Diocese of Dallas and will be able to answer any specific questions regarding your wedding celebration and the use of the facilities of our parish.  The coordinator is trained to assist you with all of the decisions for the actual wedding ceremony including flowers, ceremony timing, and other particulars for the actual event. The coordinator can direct you to the contact for liturgical assistance and music.  

The marriage preparation coordinator will provide a list of all the necessary paperwork when the engaged couple starts the process, here are examples of items needed (this is not a complete list):

• Documents provided by the engaged couple: Affidavit of free status: This form needs to be filled out and returned by a parent or sibling. It verifies the person’s freedom to marry.
•  Baptismal Certificate of Catholic person(s): This is obtained from the church of baptism and must have an issue date within six to twelve months of the marriage.

Are you civilly married with no impediments but want to be married in the Catholic church?  The ceremony that constitutes the marriage as a true sacramental union is called a Convalidation.  St. Gabriel periodically hosts Convalidation sessions and can assist you and your spouse. Because of the number of variables involved in Convalidation situations each Convalidation case is unique. Contact the marriage preparation coordinator for details.