Clarifying the Reason for the Wedding

I asked Bill about the Catholic wedding thing, to get further clarification.
He said that as a baptized Catholic (which he is), he was expected to be wed in the Catholic Church, or to have the Bishop's blessing/permission for other arrangements. According to the Church, he wouldn't have even been eligible to marry me, since the previous marriage had not been annulled.

When we first started going to MQHR (Bill going back to the Catholic Church), he spoke with one of the priest and the annulment process got rolling. It only took about 2 weeks!! They have what is called "Defect of Form" (or something like that). Since the previous marriage was not in the Catholic Church, it was very easy to get it annulled. Father Noel said that they look at what was happening at the time of the marriage. It's not like a divorce. The "tribunal" examines the case and rules on whether or not the marriage was valid in the first place.
Again, this is for baptized Catholics.

SO- the new wedding thing mostly was an issue involving Bill, a baptized Catholic, who didn't "follow the rules" of the Church he was a part of.
Say, if the UMC said someone could only be married by a UMC clergy, then someone was married in the Baptist Church, then that person would be breaking the rules and may have to have a wedding in the UMC.
Of course we know that's not the way it works, but it's an example.

As we discussed things with Father Joe, he said that Bishop Gainer has the authority to "go back in time" to December 19, 1998 and declare that marriage valid (see above: Bishop's blessing). However, we decided to exchange vows again before a priest anyway. Terry was the Best Man. :-) Bill chose him. Chris, of course, was my Matron of Honor. That's all that really needed to be there. ta da (Fredda, Bill's Mom, Jill & Angie-my sponsor were there as well).

Hope that helps clarify the situation a little bit.