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St. Matthew Cathedral Brides?

asha03asha03 member
10 Comments
in DC
I am having my ceremony at St. Matthew's and am having a full mass, can anyone give me an approximation of how long that will take?  I know that a typical mass is 1 hour, but do you think it will run an hour and half with the vows and all?  I am also going to do a spoken (instead of sung) Response Psalm to save time.
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Re: St. Matthew Cathedral Brides?

  • calattcalatt member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I think even with the vows, etc a typical Catholic wedding still runs around 1 hour to an hour and 15 minutes.  At least that's what I'm banking on. :) 
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  • asha03asha03 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I hope so.  I think they only give us 90 minutes total and that includes the time to take the pictures afterwards, so I am hoping it doesn't run too much longer than 1 hour.
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  • calattcalatt member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    That's the basically same with us!  They give us 15 - 20 minutes for pictures after the ceremony (not St. Matthew's though).  If you're really worried about it, I would talk to the priest that is marrying you guys and ask how long he expects the cermony with vows, etc. to last. 
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  • asha03asha03 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    How long are you giving between your reception start time and the ceremony?  I really just want people to head over to the reception and not stay at the church.  I am going to have someone announce that at the end, in a nice way.
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  • calattcalatt member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Well we have the noon wedding slot (the 2pm was booked already) and FI didn't want an early reception so we actually have a long time in between.  Our cocktail hour doesn't start until 5pm.  But, we are having the reception at the same place everyone is staying (we hope) and are hiring buses to take everyone from the hotel to the church.  I know not everyone (locals especially) will take the buses but I'm hoping that will help usher people out so we can get all the pictures we want in the time allotted.  I think I'm also going to ask my FSIL to help keep things on schedule that day (at least at the church, we have a catering manager that does everything at the hotel).  I feel bad asking her as she's pregnant and due like a month after the wedding.  But my FI has 3 older brothers and she can really keep them in line so I know she can keep everyone else in line too.  Plus as she put it - who's going to mess with a pregnant woman?  I think announcing to everyone to head over is fine.  I think most people leave right after the ceremony anyway.
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  • asha03asha03 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Oh I think it is totally fine to ask her to coordinate things at the church.  I mean that is pretty easy, even if she is pregnant.  I wouldn't even take that into consideration, because she just needs to make sure everyone is in their right places.  So you will have an almost 2 hour break in between the ceremony and cocktail hour, I unfortunately do not have the luxury of time, but I wish I did.  My schedule is pretty tight--Ceremony at 10 and my reception starts at 11:30.  It is about a 20 minute drive from the church to the reception site, so I am hoping my service ends in an hour, which I think it might.  At my reception site, there is another wedding at 6, so I can only stay there until 5, so that is why I couldn't push my time back a little.
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  • calattcalatt member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I think if you put the start time of the reception on the invitations you won't have a problem getting people out of the church.  Maybe include something on the back of the program (if you're doing one) that the reception site is 20 minutes away and provide directions.
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  • asha03asha03 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I did plan on giving directions in the invitations, but you gave me a good idea, I could put a little note in the program for people to head over to the reception site and only immediate family is staying to take pictures.  Something like that...thanks for the great idea!
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  • lmille10lmille10
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    I am curious if anyone knows how to get a ceremony at Saint Matthews if you are a non-parishoner (but Catholic) for an afternoon wedding?? I was told that they reserve those time slots for parishioners. Any thoughts?

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