Finding the Church

So since I have shared how we picked our reception location, I thought it might be helpful to tell the short story of how we chose our ceremony location. (And yes, we chose it second!)

Both Ryan and I have known for a long time that we planned to get married in a Catholic church. However both of us had stopped attending for some time since being raised Catholic. Our deal was that once we got engaged, we would put in the time to find a church we actually wanted to attend and we would get married there.

After determining it was time to begin our search, we used google maps to look at all of the Atlanta area Catholic churches in relation to my apartment. The Cathedral of Christ the King was the closest one. (My apartment is conveniently also in walking distance to Piedmont Park, if I haven't mentioned that before.)

I was uncertain about choosing a Cathedral for the wedding ceremony, let alone to attend on a regular basis. As I think might be apparent by now, I am a fairly casual person and the word "Cathedral" does not sound casual to me. However, as it was the closest we thought we would give it a try.

Sitting in the pew and looking around, I was immediately reminded of England (where I spent three years growing up when my Dad was stationed there). The stained glass and the feel were breathtaking and I felt a strong pull to attend this church. (Look, if you know me, you know that's huge.) Everyone we talked to was super friendly and helpful. It seemed like the perfect place to help us ease back into church attendance.

However, the selling point for getting married at the Cathedral? Ryan whispered during mass, "This aisle is so long! You are totally going to trip down it." Sold.

Unfortunately, it is not cheap to get married at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Not close to cheap. But in the words of my dad, "That is the cost of business." His thought was, if we loved it and wanted to be members of the church, we should get married there. I am very thankful that I am blessed with a family that can afford to do things like this for me.

So when January rolls around, I will be walking down a very long aisle (trying not to trip- but my dad promises to help!) in a very traditional Catholic Cathedral. I never imagined something like this for myself, but it strangely really works for us.

Anyone else have any very surprising wedding-related decisions?