Catholic churches in charleston?

cen222

hey knotties,

Newly engaged in Chicago and I'm planning a destination wedding in charleston, SC. My fiancé and I want to have our ceremony in a catholic church, but the ones we know of so far are St. Mary's and The Cathedral, which are both really expensive (and we don't have the biggest budget to work with!). Does anyone out there know anything about St. Patrick's or Blessed Sacrament? Neither of them have interior pictures online or their policies for non-member weddings. Does the Citadel have a chapel open to the public?

Finding an officiant isn't a problem, but we really want to have the ceremony somewhere really beautiful! The Cathedral is perfect, but if we could save the $2000 rental fee it would help us do more with our budget. Not to mention... saving the stress of dealing with Sister Deanna would probably cause me to have fewer panic attacks in the long run! That being said, I know venues book up fast, so for our April 2012 timeline I know we can't be too choosy and we just need to decide sooner rather than later. I just want to be as educated as possible!!

Any info y'all might have is greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much in advance!!

kaylab347

if you're not having a really big wedding there is a catholic church on folly beach called our lady of good counsel...not sure on any churches deal with non members but their websites should have any information you would need

wallyandkristin

I think St. Patricks will allow non-members but the fee is also high, like $1500 maybe?  I priced around and they are all very high and none will let you use their priests.  There is a big push in the diocese against non-parishioners coming in and getting married in the churches b/c of our shortage of priests.  The prices are so high b/c heating/cooling the churches is expensive and weddings take up the church staff's time. 

The Citadel has Summerall Chapel.  You could also look into St. Luke's which is a non-denominational chapel owned by MUSC.  Or you could just have an outdoor ceremony.  Of course, none of those options would be considered "Catholic."  I had a Catholic ceremony and currenly live out of town but I was able to appeal one of the churches b/c I grew up in the parish.  You'll have to really weigh your options and decide if the location/date or having a Catholic ceremony is more important to you.  If you want a Catholic wedding in Charleston... get ready to be flexible, esp if you are from out of town.

deployedbride

Have you considered Mempkin Abbey in Monck's Corner north of Charleston?
Its a monastery but they have a church. Not sure if they do weddings though?

jerzee926

my fiance and i ran into the same problem and we're FROM charleston!  the churches down here have some crazy rules and restrictions about who can get married and when.  we belong to a church in summerville, about 30 minutes north of the beautiful downtown churches, but the prices downtown for nonmembers were ridiculous!  we've decided to go with blessed sacrament in west ashley.  it's not nearly as beautiful as the cathedral or st. marys, but it's catholic, and when all's said and done, that was important enough to us.  it's only about 5 miles from the main area of downtown charleston.

the process with blessed sacrament has been really easy.  we called and set up a meeting with the priest, father hanley, and met with him about the in's and out's of the ceremony (mass, no mass, music, timing, etc.)  you do have to use their priest, organist, florist, and wedding planner which i figured we would.  the church fee is $500, the organist is $150 i think, and the wedding planner is like $150 too i think?  all totaled it's about $825 i think.  much better than all of the downtown churches.  also, the latest time you can have your wedding is 3 but even that is later than the downtown churches. 

blessed sacrament will ask you to do all of your pre-cana and pre-planning through your home church and then basically just get your own priest to send an 'ok' giving you permission to get married at blessed sacrament and by father hanley. 

i'm attaching two pictures of the interior of the church.  the first is, i think, a wedding setup.  i found the image online but i assure you that this is the charleston blessed sacrament.  very high ceilings.  super long aisle.  the second is at the back of the church.  there are really tall stained glass windows.  (i actually think i'll steal that idea for a photo!)  hope they help a little.  i'd be glad to answer any of your other questions.  best of luck!