Our ceremony will take place in a beautiful 1789 historical church approximately 10 minutes away from my house and from the reception site. To be completely honest, I chose this church because of its beauty. (Hey… you only get to do this once, so might as well have it be gorgeous at the same time… 
The ceremony will only be in French. Even though my family is pretty much bilingual, French seemed the easiest way to go (especially for Mr. Flamingo’s side of the family.) Either way, it will pass by so fast that I won’t remember a thing (unless I find a videographer to capture it all).
Three weekends ago we had our 2nd meeting at the church. This was to explain to us our text choices and how the wedding day will go… but Mr. Flamingo and I forgot to go. I’m serious… it completely slipped our minds. Luckily the wedding coordinator was very understanding and said I could go sometime during the week for approx 15 minutes. Wow what a difference. It went from what was supposed to be a 3 hour meeting to 15 minutes. I like it when it’s quick.
So over the weekend I asked Mr. Flamingo to read the text choices and choose what he would prefer for the ceremony. Wow, to my surprise he read every single passage. Not to mention his choices are what I had considered. It’s nice to know we are on the same page.
Now one thing we aren’t on the same page - would be the ceremony music. We have a beautiful organ… it’s stunning, but Mr. Flamingo doesn’t like organs. I’m still trying to convince him otherwise — especially since I don’t want to spend another penny and hiring musicians can be costly.
What will you be doing for your ceremony music? And are any of you having your ceremony, or a portion of it, in another language?
we do have lots of beautiful churches and this one isnt even in the montreal region. its in the suburbs about 20 mintues away. I love my church… its so pretty =)
Your church is GORGEOUS! So sad - doesn’t like organs? I’m so excited that we have an organ … I’ve made clips of the music choices that I like, and I can’t wait to talk to our organist. I’m using that organ for everything that it’s worth - and if I can have the Widor toccata as the recessional, I’ll be extremely happy.
While we’ll have some foreign guests, most will be English. Of the two francophones who’ll be attending, one will be 9 months old. We’ll stick to English.
An interesting note - I cry at weddings (and movies, and commercials, and at photo slide shows), and I’m comfortable with French. When my brother got married in France, in French, I didn’t shed a single tear. My “translating” part of my brain must have completely overcome my “emotional” part of my brain.
Nice pictures–can I ask where the church is (I’m nearby as well).
We’re having a church wedding, with an organ, and maybe a choir and/or collection of chorister friends (we are also having hymns).
The church is beautiful, congratulations.
We’re not having ceremony in another language, but the processional and recessional music will be the recordings of my FH’s father, which is him playing an oud and singing in Arabic. He passed away 7 years ago and when FMIL gave FH a CD of his dad’s music for Christmas, it just felt right.
We’re both classical musicians, so we’re really lucky to have a lot of friends to choose from for free and awesome ceremony music (probably 4 good friends of mine who play in a string quartet together). I highly, highly recommend contacting your local youth orchestra and asking them if they have an older high-school-aged group who “gigs”… I played a ton of weddings in high school and made a lot of my pocket money that way, but high school kids are a lot cheaper than professionals or even college/grad students. That said, most conservatories have “music for hire” programs through which you can hire a multitude of instrumental combinations for your ceremony and/or cocktail hour. They’re really reliable (I’m thinking especially of New England Conservatory in Boston, which runs a great service). If you have questions about this please post (does WB have a private message feature?) - I’d be happy to talk about it more!
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music does the same thing — they have a very affordable program called Music to Go! Check out their website for more details . . . . http://www.sfcm.edu.
And P.S. . . . That church is STUNNING! Wow. (We’re doing organ music and maybe only organ music for the ceremony — I love it, Bach especially.)
@musingsfromhere: The Church is in Ste-Therese. It is called the Ste-Therese d’avila church.
As for the organ… Im gonna try and make Mr.F truly listen to it. I would find it a shame not to use it especially when its right there… ready for us to use.
beautiful church. your pics are going to be amazing! how exciting!!!
everything will be in English in our ceremony and we are having a friend who is a violist playing at our ceremony. i have not decided whether or not i will be seeking out additional musicians bc we have a small budget. i might bring in a cd and stereo for the prelude….if i can figure out how to do that in a classy fashion.
i just got an email from our minister this morning….i am grinning from ear to ear! lol!
You should play him “Ode to Joy” done on an organ. We had that at our wedding, and it was amazing.
On the few occasions I’ve been to church weddings that didn’t use the organ, my immediate thought has been “what’s wrong with it? Is it out of tune? Broken?” It just seems like a shame to let it go to waste–like getting married in that church, but in one of the side chapels instead of the main one. Particularly a very fine pipe organ like that one. Wow.
BTW, did you know Therese is the patron saint of married couples?
Here’s a little more information on the organ at Ste-Therese d’avila. It’s Brodeur-Casavant Opus 1082, last overhauled in the 1970s.
http://www.uquebec.ca/~uss1010/orgues/quebec/blainvillest.html
It’s got trumpet stops, so you could get all kinds of cool fanfares, and it’s certainly big enough to pull off the Widor symphony, which would be a rockin’ recessional.
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
I just wanted to say that the church is gorgeous and you are so lucky to live in Montreal with so many beautiful churches. There’s nothing even close to that where I live.