All About the Wedding: The Ceremony

This past Sunday, Jonathan and I have been married for 6 months! It's hard to believe because it feels like the wedding was a few weeks ago. Jonathan took me out on Saturday to a restaurant called Artisans and we had a great meal and celebrated 6 months of marriage. We're half way to our first anniversary!

So it's seems appropriate to continue the wedding recap and post about the ceremony...

We got married at St. Michael Catholic Church which is in the Galleria area in Houston. We had been going to church there for a few years since it was kind of in between our two places. It's a beautiful church and I don't think we realized how beautiful it was until our wedding day. Guests told us that it was the perfect time for a wedding in that church because the sunlight shone through the stained glass beautifully.

Look at all that stained glass!

Fr. Michael Grey C.S.Sp. married us who Jonathan knew from the Catholic Center at his college. When we asked Fr. Mike if he would marry us he said that he doesn't do weddings often but he would be honored to. We felt so blessed! He met with us often to see how the marriage preparation was going and made sure that we were ready. He was a huge support for us and it was great to have someone close to us perform our wedding.

Fr. Mike marrying us!

Of course my father walked me down the aisle but first both of our mothers lit a candle that we would use to light our unity candle signifying our two families coming together. It was a very special way to have our families involved in the ceremony. The procession in was a very excited time and the photographer caught everything so beautifully.

Hiding before we process in.

Walking me down the aisle!

Almost there!

We made it!

We had a full mass for our wedding which meant two readings from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament and Communion. The first reading was read by my Aunt Jolene.

Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a

Jolene walking up to the altar

Hark! my lover-here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
My lover speaks; he says to me,
"Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!
"O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely."
My lover belongs to me and I to him.
He says to me:
"Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm;
For stern as death is love,
relentless as the nether world is devotion;
its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
nor floods sweep it away."

This is reading sounds a little crazy because it sounds so lovey-dovey. A lot of people think it's cheesy to use as a reading in a wedding because they think it's meant to reflect the love between the couple. However, I felt that this passage is actually about God's love for us and how He loves us. We wanted this as one of the readings because it shows us how passionately God loves us and that we are called to love each other the same way.

The psalm was "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord" and it was sung beautifully by our cantor Laura.

Laura leading everyone in the psalm

Then my Uncle Tom read the second reading:

Colossians 3:12-17

Tom reading from the New Testament

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one Body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We both loved this reading because we thought it was kind of a guideline for how we should act in our marriage. There will be times when we have to have compassion, kindness, humility, patience, etc in our marriage and there will definitely be times when we will have to forgive each other. This reading is essentially a how-to for that and reminds us that God is what is important and we need to remember to turn to Him for peace in our marriage.

The Gospel was of course read by Fr. Mike:

Matthew 5:13-16

Fr. Mike giving his amazing homily after the gospel!

You are the salt of the earth,
but if salt has lost its taste,
how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything
except to be thrown out
and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp
and put it under a basket, but on a stand,
and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way,
let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Jonathan and I pretty quickly agreed that we wanted this reading to be the Gospel at our wedding. We both feel that we are called to use our marriage as a light to the world. We have to use our marriage to bring more of Christ into the world. What Matthew means about "salt" is that we always have to strive to do God's will and never forget it. It's not easy and it will take work but that is what God has called us to. Sometimes it's hard to remember what's important in life so it's great to have a reminder.

We really wanted the readings in our wedding to be applicable to everyone attending our wedding and not just about us. All of these readings can be applicable to everyone's life and situation. Not just ours. I'm really happy with the ones we chose and now that they're posted on our blog we can come back and be reminded of these messages through the years.

After the readings it was time for us to get married!!! We decided to do the traditional vows because we both love them so much and thought that they say exactly what we wanted to express to each other. It was such a special moment. Neither of us cried but we were definitely grinning from ear to ear. After the vows it was on to the rings which Michael took very good care of. Following the rings we lit the unity candle while Laura sang "Set me as a Seal" (Clausen), and then we were married!

Getting hitched!

Time for the vows!

Lighting the unity candle

My Aunt Sandra read the prayer petitions

Next was communion where the gifts were brought forth by Jonathan's cousins Daniel Armando and Luis Ricardo Nassar. Poor Fr. Mike had to run back and forth from the sacristy because the church hadn't already been set up for communion. He was really on the ball though and a great sport about it. Right before communion was distributed Fr. Mike gave us the Nuptial Blessing. After we received communion we remained kneeling while everyone else received communion. It was a special moment for us since we got some alone time to pray together and look at each other and mouth "We're married!" Oh, and show each other our new bling haha.

Fr. Mike preparing to receive the gifts

Daniel Armando and Luis Ricardo bringing up the gifts

Our friends Robert and Mercedes served as Eucharistic Ministers

After we finished communion was the big finale! Fr. Mike said the final blessings, announced us as husband and wife, and said "You may now kiss the bride!" We were grinning from ear to ear and it was amazing as we processed out of the church seeing all of our friends and family clapping and cheering for us. Once we got to the back of the church everyone in the wedding party and our parents congratulated us and hugged us. It was a really special moment that the photographer caught on camera which we hadn't expected. It's not a moment you often think about before the wedding so we were glad that the photographer caught it on camera.

Hey look everyone, we're married!

The kiss!

Processing out!

Lots of congratulations!

The ceremony went beautifully and was exactly what we wanted. We felt extremely loved and supported from everyone who attended. It was very special to have so many friends and family there and so many who couldn't make it but were thinking of us.

The wedding party with the flower girls.

The wedding party including the greeters Katie and Allison.

My family!

Jonathan's family!

So I realize that this post is super long and has tons of pictures but it's about our wedding so I couldn't resist! I'll be posting one more post on the reception so I hope you'll come back and check that out.

-Chelsey