Nice Catholic churches in the Northeast?

spanglerwedding2012

I'm looking for Catholic Churches in the Northeast. Preferably 15ish mins from Knowlton Mansion (Fox Chase area?). I spoke with the preist from Immaculate Conception in Jenkintown and also called St. Dominic's. Any others up there that are worth checking out? I prefer older churches over modern ones, but am open to anything nice.

jessica0602

Almost all churches in the NE are older and thus beautiful.  I got married at St. Martin of Tours which is about 10 minutes down the boulevard at Oxford Circle.  While it's not the nicest of neighborhoods anymore, the church is stunning.  I grew up in that parish.  If you're concerned about distance, St. Cecelias is just down Rhawn Street about 5 minutes.

A pic of St. Martins' altar:

spanglerwedding2012

Thanks Jessica. Our parish is in Manayunk and I'm just not familiar w/the NE area. We actually drove to St Martin of Tours but the church was locked. Gorgeous picture! I'm not really worried too much about distance (it would be nice to have a little drive to kill some time btwn ceremony and reception.) Have you seen St Cecilias inside?

jessica0602

Honestly, it's been years since I've seen St. Cecelia's church so I can't quite remmeber.  St. Dom's is beautiful, as are St. Tim's and St. Matt's.

I know that St. Albert the Great in the Far NE/Pine Valley section is more of a modern church.  I was briefly a member of that parish and didn't care of the layout.  The altar looked like a stage and didn't really say "church" to me.  So based on your criteria, I'd avoid that.

Your best bet really would be the 4 churches I mentioned.  There are a lot more, but those are the largest parishes that I'm aware of.  St. Matt's is the biggest in the city now.  Just be prepared to pay additional fees for not being members of the parish and get a letter from your church OK-ing you to be married there.  My DH had to do that.  I didn't have to for SMT even though I didn't live there at the time since all of my sacraments were made there.

angel33284

You could get married in one of the older ones in CC. St. Augustine, Old St. Joes, Old St. Mary's are all easily accessible to 95 and therefore not a long drive at all. You might want to check out St. Katherine of Sienna,which is around Frankford and Grant.

spanglerwedding2012

Thank you - the information is very, very helpful. I'll take a look at those. I don't really need a "large" church - just something with history and character. I'll do some research.

Angel - I considered looking into Center City. My only worry was that over half of our guests are from out of town/state and traveling quite some distance. I'm doing a hotel closest to Knowlton for this very reason. We're having trans for our family to and from the church either way - but do you think it would be too much to leave NE hotel to CC church and then drive back for reception?

angel33284

If that's the case then St. Katherine's would be your best shot. It's really close to the hall. Only about 10 minutes away.

jcatherman

St. Katherine's of Siena is very nice for a small ceremony. I went to a wedding there a few years ago, about 100 people or so.