Presenting flowers for Mary during ceremony?

vondalee

I have heard of this being done and would like to incorporate this into our ceremony... has anyone here done this or seen it done? Is it a "regular" thing or occasional? Neither my fiance nor I have ever been to a Catholic wedding. Thanks in advance!

doctabroccoli

I would say it's more occasional than regular, but it does get done a lot.  Talk to your priest about what is standard for your parish!

bibliophile2010

Agreed. It is not a standard must-have kind of thing. However, my H and I were both very excited to do it and it was not a problem at all for our priest or our parish. My BIL has a huge devotion to the BVM, so he was really moved by it as well. Ours was done right after communion and before the final blessings.

Check with your priest/parish to see if is something they allow (most likely, but since it is not formally part of the ceremony/mass, it might nto be allowed in some places) and what it would look like in your ceremony.

[Deleted User]

We had the option of doing it or not doing. We opted not to do it.

professorscience

My favorite description of this was one in which the groom walked the bride to the statue of Mary, then he walked to the statue of Joseph and they both knelt and prayed for a moment.  I think it was someone on this board. That sounded just so beautiful.

clearheavens

We did it because it was important to us.  It usually takes place either right before Communion or right before the Closing Prayer.  We did ours after the Closing Prayer.

If you have a lot of non-Catholic guests, I would suggest a description of this tradition so people don't misunderstand that we "worship" her instead of venerate or honor.

This is what we wrote in our programs:

We look to Mary as the perfect example of wife and mother, and to the Holy Family as model, so we hope to emulate in our lives together.  We pray that Mary's example will guide our family on God's path for us.

vondalee

Its important to me, not so important to my fiance, I think. In our main sanctuary, there is a statue of St. Clement on the far left and Mary (Our Lady of Guadelupe) on the far right.  In our little chapel, there is just a statue of Mary. I would REALLY prefer to have our ceremony in the smaller, side chapel because we will not even come CLOSE to filling the sanctuary, and the little chapel is BEAUTIFUL and intimate. We will have to ask our priest about that.
Thanks, Ladies! Our wedding flowers are going to be dark red roses, and I would love to present the BVM with a bouquet! And great idea to explain that in the program... we have will have lots of non-Catholic attendees who will not understand!
Blessings, people!

tmeyer621

Thanks for the idea of including a description in the program! We are doing this as well and have a lot of non Catholic guests and I had not thought about that

lalaith50

We received communion, then (cuz the church is so small), walked over to Joseph and knelt (to get "out of the way" while everyone else received communion,) then when everyone was done with communion, we just walked over to Mary and knelt and prayed while the choir sang an Ave Maria. 

sbcbus

This seems to be pretty popular in the southwest.  Our priest gave us the option.  I saw my SIL do it at her wedding, and didn't totally understand the significance.  I'll be doing this at my wedding, and sure to provide a description in our program!

lmeade62

We did this, too...since my mother died over ten years ago, the Blessed Mother has particular significance to me. We had communion, then our string quartet played "Panis Angelicus" as a meditation, then a gorgeous "Ave Maria" while we took the flowers to her statue, prayed for a moment, then returned to our seats. It was very meaningful for us both.

Linda

smele0208

My FI and I both have a huge devotion to St. Joseph and the Holy Family so we will be giving a rose to mary and lily to St. Joseph and praying briefly in front of each statue! I love this tradition!  Such a beautiful witness!