Cana is a new wedding platform designed to provide a Christ-centered alternative to conventional wedding websites. The platform aims to guide Catholic couples through their journey from engagement toward eternal commitment. Cana currently supports almost 2,000 engaged couples. The service offers meaningful prompts, such as questions for couples aspiring 'to raise saints.'
12 days ago
Cana, launched in September 2025, is a free wedding-planning website for Catholic and Christian couples.1
It serves nearly 2,000 couples with tools for registries, guest lists, and RSVPs.1
Co-founders Gabe Gessler and James Reichert created Cana as a Christ-centered alternative to platforms like Zola and The Knot.1
These mainstream sites focus on the wedding day and promote views conflicting with Catholic marriage teachings.1
Gessler, a wedding photographer, incorporated Catholic imagery like the Sacred Heart and Cana wine jars.1
Sites include engagement photos, love stories, and prayer intention sections for guests.1
Users like Rachel Hoying and Sage Francis praise its alignment with faith values and avoidance of secular platforms.1
Sabrina Torres and Elizabeth Fulbright highlight customization, multilingual RSVPs, and evangelization potential.1
Cana earns revenue via a 4% commission on registry gifts, avoiding fees for couples.1
Organic growth reached 1,000 couples in the first month through Instagram, managed by Nina Schaefer.1
The six-person team built it over a year on nights and weekends.1
Developing data-intensive features like RSVPs posed technical hurdles.1
Schaefer brings "feminine genius" to social media, posting daily while staying authentic to Christian values.1
By March 2026, Cana plans a marketplace for Catholic vendors like photographers and caterers.1
Long-term goals include financial planning, baby registries, post-wedding support, and enhanced marriage preparation.1
The team consecrated the company to Mother Mary at launch, crediting her for success.1
It aims to shift focus from wedding performance to lifelong covenant.1
How should Catholic couples navigate pre‑marriage formation?
Catholic couples preparing for the sacrament of marriage are called to undertake a comprehensive, faith-centered formation process that fosters spiritual maturity, mutual commitment, and openness to God's plan for their union. This preparation, often structured as a "marriage catechumenate," emphasizes phases from remote discernment to post-wedding accompaniment, incorporating prayer, liturgy, community, and doctrinal instruction to ensure a free, responsible, and fruitful "I do."
The Church insists that preparation for marriage is of prime importance, as it builds solid human and Christian foundations for the spouses' consent and lifelong covenant. Marriage is a sacramental and liturgical act that integrates couples into the ecclesial order, creating rights and duties toward each other, their children, and the Church—hence the requirement for the ecclesiastical form with witnesses to ensure certainty and fidelity.
"So that the 'I do' of the spouses may be a free and responsible act and so that the marriage covenant may have solid and lasting human and Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance."
This preparation counters contemporary challenges by promoting chastity, self-control, character formation, and sacrifice, informing consciences about divine law on marital love, procreation, and stability. Dioceses are urged to develop tailored programs, drawing from papal recommendations like Pope Francis's call for a "true catechumenate of future spouses" encompassing preparation, celebration, and early married life.
Drawing from the catechumenal model, preparation unfolds in distinct phases, allowing time for reflection and growth. These are not rigidly imposed but adapted with discernment to local contexts, ensuring flexibility for exceptional cases.
| Stage | Duration | Key Elements and Rituals |
|---|---|---|
| Proximate Preparation | About 1 year | In-depth formation; concludes with Rite of Betrothal and brief retreat. |
| Final Preparation | A few months | Intensive discernment; short retreat days before the wedding. |
| First Years of Marriage | 2-3 years | Ongoing accompaniment for integration into family life. |
This phased approach, inspired by pre-baptismal catechumenate, includes rites of passage celebrated in community to mark progress.
Every program must integrate essential components without exception:
The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life provides guidelines for these programs, linking to institutions like the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for unified study on marriage and family.
Bishops and conferences are tasked with promoting these pathways, ensuring accessibility especially for the marginalized.
In summary, Catholic couples navigate pre-marriage formation by committing to a phased, Christ-centered catechumenate that builds lasting foundations through formation, sacraments, and community support, as directed by the Church's Magisterium. This journey transforms natural love into a sacramental vocation, equipping spouses for faithful family life.