Sierra + Patrick | Family-Centered TLM Wedding

A classic summer wedding in shades of blue, filled with faith, tradition, and big band swing dancing.

Sierra and Patrick met at Czech Hall, through mutual friends from the Newman Center, where Patrick asked her to swing dance.

They courted for a year before getting engaged on their one year anniversary.

Throughout their courtship, engagement, and the start of their life as husband and wife, Sierra and Patrick kept their faith in Christ as the firm foundation of their life together.

From the Bride:

Patrick proposed on our courting anniversary after Saturday morning Mass in the church where we would eventually get married.

He went down to genuflect and didn’t get back up. 

We had a betrothal ceremony two weeks later and an eight-month engagement. Patrick and I decided to celebrate our wedding in the tradition of the Solemn High Latin Mass, and said our vows on the crucifix we now have in the center of our home.

There is no better way to start off your lifelong journey with your best friend when you have God as the center of your life. Patrick and I tried to emphasize that throughout our wedding day and relationship.

From the Photographer:

I met Sierra through going to Church at Saint Benedict. We have been friends for over 10 years and have attended various mission trips and retreats together. 

After their engagement, Sierra and Patrick had a betrothal ceremony, during which the couple solemnly pledges to marry one another and becomes officially engaged in the eyes of the Church. 

They received a priestly blessing for their engagement and Sierra’s engagement ring was also blessed! It brought the couple many graces and started their marriage on a solid foundation.

Sierra and Patrick celebrated the sacrament of marriage with a Traditional Latin Mass. In this tradition, the Rite of Marriage happens at the beginning, and is followed by the Mass.

They intentionally planned their wedding to honor God, bless their loved ones, and to make their day memorable. They brought the crucifix that would hang in their new home and said their vows over it. 

They shared their first kiss ever right after their ceremony. It was the perfect way for them to celebrate their new life as husband and wife! 

Appropriately enough, the reception was held in the place Sierra and Patrick first met, with a big band, where they had originally enjoyed swing dancing together. 

While they started their first dance slowly, the band then went crazy and the newlyweds quickly transitioned to a choreographed number. They enjoyed seeing the reactions of their parents and guests to this epic first dance.

The foundation of their marriage and the most important part of their day was incorporating their faith. It was incredibly special to them to be able to truly focus on what mattered most to them for their wedding day!

Photography: Constance Photography | Nuptial Mass Location: St. Damien Catholic Church, Edmond, OK | Reception Venue: Czech Hall, Yukon, OK | Catering: Interurban | Cake: You Need a Cake | Floral Design: Kristy’s Flowers & Gifts and the Center of Family Love | Bride’s Dress: Bella Rose Bridal

 
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Vendor Week 2021 | Stress-Free Catholic Wedding Programs

EMILY CONSTANCE

 

This February 20-27  is our annual Vendor Week: days dedicated to showcasing the best of the Catholic wedding industry through Spoken Bride’s blog content, podcast interviews, and social media. Everyday this week, we will share wisdom and expertise of some of our talented Vendors to help you in your wedding planning.

If you are recently engaged, we invite you to browse the Spoken Bride Vendor Guide, specifically designed to connect brides and grooms with planners, photographers, florists, artisans, and more who share the same faith and bring a distinctively Catholic outlook to their client experience.

There are so many little details when it comes to planning a wedding. 

As a wedding photographer, I had some idea what to expect, but it was so different being on the ‘bride’ side of things instead of ‘vendor’ side of things. 

One of the often overlooked, but important pieces for a Catholic wedding is the program. Here are some tips I learned during my own wedding planning experience to ensure that this is one detail you won’t stress about!

Start Early

When it came to my wedding programs, I had planned to create them in Photoshop with gorgeous metallic fonts and floral designs printed on special paper to really create that WOW factor. But in reality, I waited until the last minute so I thought I was going to have to  just eliminate the programs all together. 

With the stress around planning a wedding, wedding programs might not be on the top of your to-do list. But since they are so important, especially with helping non-Catholic wedding guests understand and follow your ceremony, I’d recommend not leaving them until the last minute.

Enlist the help of family and friends

Instead of forgoing a program, my mom came to the rescue! She designed and assembled all 200 of my wedding programs with the help of my dad. I couldn’t have done it without them!

You can easily delegate the task of designing, printing, and/or assembling wedding programs to family members and friends. 

Design first, print later

If I were to plan a wedding again today, I would start the design process for my programs earlier to give myself time to create something beautiful and beneficial to my guests. Then I would print the programs closer to the wedding to allow for any last minute changes.

Find the right template

One of the roadblocks I ran into to was - What exactly do you put in a Catholic wedding ceremony program? There are plenty of non-religious program templates on Etsy and Pinterest. But I wanted our program to reflect our faith and be easy to follow for all of our non-Catholic guests. 

My mom purchased blank wedding programs and designed them in the word editor on her computer.  You can also buy Catholic-specific wedding program templates to make sure that your program has everything your guests need to enter into the beauty of your wedding mass. 


About the Author: Emily Constance is a Catholic wedding photographer serving Tulsa, OK and surrounding areas with 10 years of experience. She loves her faith and uses her knowledge to help guide Catholic couples both professionally and personally through their special day. She loves capturing the joy that radiates from couples, as well as the timelessness and beauty of the Sacrament of Marriage.

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