Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Monumental Love: Liturgy of the Eucharist and Recessional

After the vows, the ceremony proceeded more or less as normal for a typical mass.  For that reason, I won't be typing out every prayer that went on for the rest of our ceremony, but I'll share some of the details that I think make it a bit more special to me - and of course some of my favorite pictures.  If you're a Catholic bride who wants to know the breakdown of a nuptial mass, I believe the inside of our programs (from this post) gives a through guideline.

I will say, this mass absolutely flew by.  I know that probably wasn't the case for all of our guests, but from where I was kneeling, it was over in no time!  Did any other brides with a long ceremony feel that way? 

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
I asked my brother, GM Lil Bro, to read the prayers of the faithful, because he has a very great speaking voice. 


 For our world and its leaders. May all people be treated with the dignity they deserve as God’s children. We pray to the Lord.

 For Lauren and Evan, May they live long, blessed lives together, may their love grow stronger each and every day, and may they build a family rooted in faith and unconditional love. We pray to the Lord.

In the prayers for the deceased, of course we included our grandparents, but we also included Sphinx's boss, who passed away a few months earlier.  She was a wonderful person, and when she offered Sphinx a job, he felt comfortable with his new arrangement to plan our trip to Disney World where he would propose.  I feel so grateful to her that she chose my (now) husband for a rewarding job that allows him to be happy every day, which was the catalyst toward making these big changes in our lives. Including her in our prayers and our program was the very least we could do, although she was very missed that evening, along with all of our family members.

Proud big sisters looking on. 
PRESENTATION & PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS


I saw this idea from a friend's wedding photos and knew that I'd love to use the idea: the godparents of the bride and groom bring up the communion gifts.  Just a little extra way to honor those who have held a special place in our lives.


I remember Nanny had a tear streaming down her cheek, and I wiped it away before giving her a kiss and taking the dish from her.  

But a big ole grin from Uncle G, of course.


I remember Sphinx's Aunt V and Uncle M had big, beaming smiles on. 

EUCHARISTIC BLESSING & COMMUNION RITE








What are Curls and I smirking at? The world may never know...



THE LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

This photo not in the right category because everyone is seated, but just ignore that, I'm trying to make the post visually appealing!
NUPTIAL BLESSING

 At this time, Father Philip gave a special blessing over the newly married couple.

Let us pray to the Lord for this bride and groom, 
who come to the altar as they begin their married life, 
that partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ
they may always be bound together by love for one another. 

Graciously crown with your blessings your daughter Lauren,
so that, by being a good wife and mother,
she may bring warmth to her home with a love that is pure
and adorn it with welcoming graciousness.

Bestow a heavenly blessing also, O Lord,
on Evan, your servant,
that he may be a worthy, good and
faithful husband and a provident father.


Grant, holy Father, that, desiring to approach your table 
as a couple joined in Marriage in your presence, 
they may one day have the joy of taking part in your great banquet in heaven. 
Through Christ our Lord. 
SIGN OF PEACE


At the sign of peace, we brought flowers to both of our mothers (you can see them sitting on the banister with my bouquet in most of these pictures), which I thought was a nice touch. We opted out of corsages for the moms, so the roses subbed in as a little something special to carry. Although Momma P said she lost hers by the end of the night! Ah well, it was pretty while it lasted.


COMMUNION

We had asked Cousin Who, who is an accomplished singer, to perform a song at our mass.  We figured that one during the distribution of the communion would be best, because she wouldn't have to worry about cues or timing that went along with the service.  I showed her a list of some of the recommended songs from the organist, and she chose "Panis Angelicus."


It was just absolutely breathtaking, so I had to to include a clip here.  I was just so honored to have her do that for us, and so excited for her to share her talent with so many people.


Okay, so do you want to know the funny side of this, where I kind of made a fool of myself (thankfully edited out by our videographers)?  Of course you do!  We originally thought Cousin Who would be singing at the front of the church, so obviously the photographers would capture it - but she decided at the rehearsal it would be better for her to be closer to the organist.  After we received communion, I started worrying that they didn't know she was up there and that we'd want a picture.  At that point, Sam was at the corner of the altar getting close-ups of us and I tried to signal to him that someone special was up on the balcony.

He got a really worried face and thought that he had made a Catholic no-no being in that area, so he rushed away.  I realized my mistake and started gesturing more fiercely (thus looking more foolish), but I was doing a terrible job because he was still confused.  Finally, GM Lil Bro stepped over and explained that I wasn't asking Sam to steal third, and he was able to get us a photo.

All's well that end's well, but I can't even describe how silly I felt for accidentally shooing our photographer away from where he was working!  Note to future brides: tell your photographers every little thing you might want captured.  And maybe plan some hand signals.

I spent most of this time looking behind me: at Cousin Who singing and the guests lining up to receive communion. So I saw Sandra was behind the bridesmaids and figured this was as good a time as any to flash my new bling.

I mean, I was focusing on the mass and everything, but those were some bright lights and my rings were shining like crazy!

PRESENTATION OF FLOWERS TO THE BLESSED MOTHER


Right after the last guest was offered the host, Father Philip brought us one more rose and the cantor switched to "Ave Maria" while Sphinx and I walked over to the statue of the Virgin Mary.



We did as our coordinator suggested - Sphinx stepped up to place the rose on the altar, and I stood still making sure my feet were planted firmly (since I was warned about falling on my butt here at the rehearsal).  We stayed there for a moment and prayed for our new marriage and the blessings of family to come.


From Mary, we walked over to the altar table to sign the marriage certificates and licenses.  Our priest had everyone else sign at the rehearsal so we just had to fill in a couple of important signatures during the actual ceremony to make everything official.

FINAL BLESSING & PRESENTATION OF THE COUPLE
After a final prayer, the priest finally announced us as Mr. and Mrs. Sphinx! 


And we got to kiss again.  More clapping, cheering, and general revelry.  

RECESSIONAL
So with that, the trumpeter blasted some more music through the rafters (this time the Wedding March), and we were headed back up the aisle!

Maybe a teensy bit excited.  Just maybe.


Of course our bridal party fell in line behind us.




Followed by our parents - including their roses.


Ladies and gentlemen, the Pyramids had left the building!  


I mean, technically we left, but we just walked around to the side door of the church so we could enter in after all the guests had left so we could a couple more formal shots.  The feeling of being newly married, sneakily hiding out of sight from the guests, and seeing that it wasn't raining had us a bit giddy.   Add on top all of our bridal party filtering around to tell us congrats - and we were just over the moon standing on the side of our church.    



Previously on the Pyramid Wedding:
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