Ceremony Compromise

I talked about the search for our venue, but never really touched on our ceremony venue. Even though I think getting married on a beach or a boat is extremely romantic, I always knew that I wanted a church wedding.

When the mister proposed, I immediately thought of getting married at my parish church, but the mister was not overly excited about the prospect. He's more open to the idea of an outside ceremony than I am. I've always wanted a Catholic wedding, which means we have to get married in a church. The reason why I wanted to get married at my parish, and not a random Catholic church, is because it means a lot to me.

See, when I first moved to Illinois, one of the things I wanted to do was find a Catholic church and (finally) get confirmed. In my first month here, I found St. Gilbert Parish. The wonderful people there immediately made me feel welcomed and I found a great sense of community, something that really helped me through the first few months of moving away from home. I felt like I belonged. I also really wanted the parish pastor to marry us, especially since he confirmed me a little less than a year ago.

Source - St. Gilbert Church

While the mister was open to a church ceremony, he wasn't thrilled with my church of choice. See, St. Gilbert's architecture is modern, and the mister really loves cathedral-style churches. He loves the stained-glass windows and beautiful marble arches and columns.

He suggested several Catholic churches, but they were too far away. I'm going to have family flying in and the last thing we need is for any of them to get lost while going from the ceremony to the reception. St. Gilbert was the top choice, being so close to my place and to our reception venue of choice.

As luck would have it, St. Gilbert doesn't only have a church, but also a small, cozy chapel. When I first walked in there, it was for one of the sessions I was attending for my confirmation. It was beautiful. I loved it! I mentioned it to the mister and he eagerly agreed! I was surprised to say the least. After all, wasn't he pushing for a cathedral? It turns out, not only does he love cathedrals, but he also loves small, cozy chapels. Who would have thought?

 Source - St. Gilbert Chapel

I know the picture is not the best but it's all I could find. I promise to take some nice shots of the chapel to share with you!

Where do you want to get married? Did you and your mister compromise on a ceremony location?