Holy Wedding

When Eric and I first started planning our wedding people often asked what was the theme we were going for (garden, beach, fancy, elegant, etc.) and the one word we both kept coming up with was holy. We want our wedding to at every moment reflect God. We want people to leave realizing they just witnessed a great sacrament. From the sacredness of the mass to every element of the reception we constantly asked ourselves what would most glorify God. We thought we might share a few elements that specifically reflect that so you can notice them at the wedding.

1. The Mass
We are having a full Catholic Mass because the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and Jesus himself. We firmly believe that our marriage will get all of its strength from the Eucharist and so we will begin our new life together with a celebration of that powerful sacrament. The music at the Mass was carefully selected to signal that this is a sacred event. The readings were selected because they represent three key aspects of marriage: that it has existed since creation, that male leadership is designed by God and is key to a good marriage, and that Mary must be present in marriage because as our mother she will be interceding for us and taking care of all our needs.

2. Attire
My dress and the dresses of the bridesmaids all reflect the dignity of woman desiring to reflect the holiness of a woman of God. We also asked our guests to observe the Church's dress code in order to maintain the sacredness of the space. <more on this in a later blog>

3. Music at the Reception
You will notice that all of the music is clean! We will not be playing any songs that use profanity, degrade women and the sexual act, or are all around dirty. We will also not be playing any music that would make someone want to dance inappropriately. The reception is a celebration of a holy sacrament and we do not want a single element of the festivities to be an offense again God. Don't worry, our music is amazing! There are plenty of songs out there that are great for dancing and still clean. We have a new found love of the 80s!

4. Alcohol
The only alcohol you will find at our reception will be wine. We opted away from an open bar because we did not want to encourage drunkenness at our wedding. Of course an open bar doesn't automatically equal drunkenness but we decided to just remove the temptation. We are opting to serve wine because it was served at a wedding where Jesus performed his first miracle and it has been a long Catholic tradition to serve wine at a wedding and other celebrations.

5. Our Lady of Fatima
We are getting married on the feast day of the final miracle at Fatima. Because of this you will find special ways that we are highlighting our Mother Mary on her special day!

6. Bouquet and Garter Toss
Instead of throwing my bouquet we will be doing an anniversary dance in which little by little married couples are eliminated from the dance floor based on years married until one couple remains who has been married the longest. That couple will receive the bouquet. We are doing this to honor life long married love! Eric will not be tossing my garter because I did not feel comfortable having him take something from under my dress and throw it into a crowd of single men.

Disclaimer:
Please do not take this blog as judgment. These are ways that Eric and I have opted to focus our wedding on the holiness of the sacrament. Please do not assume that if your wedding reception was different that we would say it was unholy.

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for this amazing sacrament in which we desire to be a reflection of the love of God for the world!