But wouldn't you know it that we had found our church before all of this research and calling had even occurred?
To fully explain, I need to back up to December to the week of the engagement...
We stayed in Disney World for the week, and I looked up some of the churches I had in mind to drool over pictures and share them with the new fiancé. But we were celebrating our proposal together in Disney World, so we didn't do much planning in that first week (ok, except for lots of pinning on Pinterest).
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| "I'm pinning our wedding - get used to it!" - a direct Miss Pyramid quote in that first week. Actually, this (posed) photo is from the year before, doing all the things I was not allowed to do as a Disney Cast Member, but the visual is good all the same./personal photo |
As soon as we got home on Friday evening, we had dinner with our immediate family to celebrate, and then went out to meet some friends for drinks -you know, for more celebration.
After we shared some of the mushy details, Friend M (who would become GM M) said that we could come check out the church he worked at. Oh yea, he works for an office of an uptown catholic church, and his uncle is the pastor there! He was giving the details of the church, but I was searching my memory for what this church looked like and couldn't remember. He even offered to give us the parishioner rate on the ceremony fee! Awesome! We agreed to come check it out soon, but I was worried. What if this is a small, plain church? Was this the location that we wanted? Were these preferences enough to offset the discount he was giving us? And if I decided I loved one of the other churches more, how do we turn down his kind offer?
The night continued, and a certain excited bride-to-be may have partaken in too many tasty beverages in the French Quarter...but that was no excuse to sleep in! I rose early and pulled out my computer to look up the church, and I was so happy with what I found! I started shaking Sphinx awake, excitedly exclaiming "Look, look, the church is so pretty! The church is SO pretty!"
Enough of my gabbing, let's check it out! I give you St. Francis of Assisi Uptown:
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| Can I get an ooooh?/St. Francis Uptown |
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| The gold alter, the baby blue ceiling, the raised pulpit, the stained glass windows!/St. Francis Uptown |
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| The dark wood ceiling, the stained glass above the organ, those engraved arches!/St. Francis Uptown |
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| Just one of the beautiful stained glass panels. |
So all worries of this not being a beautiful church completely evaporated once I looked up the pictures. We went to check it out in person and loved it even more. I looked into all those other churches in case a date didn't work out here, but it all came together perfectly.
Ultimately we went with St. Francis because it met so many of my demands qualifications. It's gorgeous, obviously. It's light and bright and full of immaculate details. It's the perfect size for us - not so big that our guests are rattling around, and not so small that we lose out on some grandness. The price was right, and friend M said that his uncle would be happy to perform our marriage. Overall, the rules seem to be pretty loose - you know, for a Catholic church. Not too restrictive in the photography (later confirmed by my photographer, always a good feeling), and no strict dress codes for bride and bridesmaids. One less thing to worry about, right? They also had a great handbook online for details of readings, church requirements, and FAQs, which was very handy and now resides in my wedding planning binder.
And the timing was great for us. Our ceremony will begin at 7 PM, and we will have no Catholic gap! (I'm actually not sure if the Catholic gap is a thing here. NOLA weddings, even at churches, seem to start pretty late). The only problem was that the church was uptown and the reception venues and hotels we were considering were downtown*. But the drive is only about 15 minutes and the church has a parking lot. Totally reasonable!
And as far as a connection with the church - apparently this was the church my paternal grandmother was married in twice! Her first husband passed away a few years into their marriage, and then she married my grandfather. Okay, that's a pretty cool connection! She did warn me that the aisle feels forever long..
Let's end with some pictures of weddings at St. Francis, shall we?
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| Photo via: Studio Tran |
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| Studio Tran |
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| Babs Evangelista Photography |
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| Babs Evangelista Photography |
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| Babs Evangelista Photography |
And with that our first wedding venue was booked!
Did a friend lead you to any of your wedding choices? What kinds of qualifications were important to you in a ceremony site?
*I'm actually glad that it worked out that our ceremony and reception are on two sides of the city. The feel and the architecture are so different, and I like that our wedding will span both of those. Plus, we'll get pictures across all of New Orleans, instead of just one area.
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