We have been talking about having a church wedding since before our civil wedding. Having hopes of this for our 1 year wedding anniversary, that obviously did not happen. Then every year after that we kept saying it was going to happen. After a few years we started to attend mass less frequently and really only went when it was a major holiday/event.

Then we had Graysyn-Jade. When Graysyn was born we discussed having her baptized in the Catholic Church. This took some research and conversations as we needed to become parishioners at a local parish, something we never did since we would just attend Catholic Newman Center at ASU whenever we needed to go to mass since we already knew it from school.

After a conversation with Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale, we chose to become parishioners there. We attended their New Parishioners luncheon, met their staff, Fr. reg, and other parishioners. We started off with Baptism Prep. Having Graysyn brought us back to the church and renewed our faith in a way.

Once Graysyn was Baptized, it was time to go all in and Convalidate our marriage with the Church. We began our Catholic Marriage Prep. We want our marriage to be recognized by the Catholic Church as we were raised Catholic and we are raising our daughter Catholic.

Even if we are already married, as Catholics we are bound to observe a certain form of marriage ritual in order for our marriage be valid in the eyes of the Church. Since we did not observe Canon Law, to the Church, our marriage is invalid. A convalidation is not merely a renewal of promises made previously but is a new act of consent by each spouse. Essentially, a completely new wedding/marriage..