The institution of marriage is a beautiful vocation, the beginning of family life and a great adventure. The Catholic Church rejoices in your decision to marry and wants to journey with you in your preparations and assist you in growing in your love for each other as well as in your relationship with Christ. Each person is called to prepare as well as possible to live our faith in our marriage and in our lives.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton takes your marriage very seriously, and wants to help you as you begin this process. As such, Catholic marriage preparation is mandatory for marrying in The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, and it is strongly recommended that the marriage course be taken at least 4-6 months before the wedding date.

If you are planning on getting married in the near future and you require the Marriage Preparation Course please visit Catholic Marriage Prep - Pre-Cana Online and take the “Premarital Inventory” and the “Pre-Cana” courses. 

Edmonton Catholic Engaged Encounter is a weekend live-in marriage preparation program offered at Star of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert. For more information visit ceewest.com or call 780-466-0090.

For couples wishing to get married at St. Joseph Basilica, and not their local parish, please contact the Basilica office at 780-488-7295 to explore potential dates. 

During the marriage preparation process, you will receive:

• Information about what the Church believes and teaches about Catholic marriage and family life.
• Advice and practical assistance for your daily married lives together.
• An introduction into Natural Family Planning, a method of planning your family that is both reliable and in harmony with God’s design for sexual intimacy and Church teaching. Natural Family Planning not only assists with planning or spacing births, but is also extremely effective in working with any infertility issues.
• The witness of married couples to the sacrament of marriage and how it is lived in their lives.