Wedding Planning Update #39 - All the ceremony details
Last night I was able to talk to Judy, the church wedding coordinator. We talked about the basics for the ceremony, and the details for the rehearsal. There are no other weddings scheduled for the same day as us, but there is one the next day, and unfortunately that couple had already taken the timeslot for the Friday night rehearsal I wanted at 6pm. So now we have to decide whether we want the rehearsal at 5 or 7 instead. She did give me some good advice about bringing as many items as possible to the church that night so we wouldn’t have to remember them on the big day - the programs, the ring pillow, and any other items we may be using in the ceremony. She also told me that we may be able to throw flower petals if we have a runner, which I’m really excited about.
Our first meeting today was with our Pastor. We had to finalize some paperwork with him, and go over the selections we have made for our readings and vows. The whole thing only took about 15 minutes, so we had lots of time for everything else.
After our meeting with Fr. John, we met with Paul Milan, the music director. First he wanted to know the same details of the reading selections, more importantly the alleluia and responsorial verses we’d selected, since he has to get the right musical pieces to go with those items. We talked about who we might like to select as our cantor, but I know my mom had someone specific in mind that I’d forgotten to ask her about - so I’ll have to email him that later. He also had some leftover programs he said we could use as examples, which was great. Then he took us into the completely empty church - was which was little weird but very cool at the same time - to play us a few pieces on the piano and then on the organ. We made our selections pretty quickly for the processional and resessional, and then which “Alleluia” we wanted. It was pretty easy, and again did not take a lot of time to finish. The last thing he did was to tell us about his experience taking pictures in the church’s prayer garden, and that he and Judy had a bunch of bows we could use for decorations, which is fabulous because that will save us a little money on the florist, or allow for an extra two centerpieces, which we may end up needing.
We had so much time that we decided to stop by the library. There weren’t really a lot of people there - and especially my friend Lynn who I haven’t seen in two years - but we were told they would all be there tomorrow. That’s great - except Kris had already been recruited to go move all my sister’s belongings out of her apartment in Delaware. At least I’ll be able to stop in, since I’ve got an appointment to get my hair done, and I don’t want to miss it.
Even after going to the library, we still had a lot of time, so we agreed to take the trip up to the Buck Garden again and take a look, since I was so disappointed yesterday that they were closed when we got there. Well, I guess I should have known that this garden wasn’t going to be good either, since the hours were so short. The first thing we realized (after getting a map of the place) was that to get any place decent enough to take pictures, we’d all have to hike through the woods - literally - which is not cool with me, aka “Mrs. White Dress and White Heels.” The second thing I realized, since they had a flyer for the wedding photo permits, is that you have to make an “appointment” for your permit, and the last one on Saturdays is at 3:30pm. With our ceremony scheduled for 3pm, we would never make the garden appointment. Finally, the price of the permit was actually also listed on this info sheet, and at an exorbinant $75, we decided to forego the park idea completely. At least we know, and to me that was worth the extra trip. So we’ll be taking the majority of our pictures inside the church in the santuary and in the church prayer garden, which is beautiful. We’ll also be able to take some pictures at the hotel, because the back garden area is also quite lovely (which I was actually able to see for the first time yesterday - all the other times I’d been there it was barren and cold!).
