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Church Flowers

Laura&KieranLaura&Kieran
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in Catholic Weddings
I'm getting married on March 20th, right smack in the middle of Lent.  I spoke with our Priest tonight about a few questions I had, one of which had to do with decorations in the church.  This was an issue I hadn't thought about till someone mentioned it on here sometime ago.  Thank God they did b/c it never would have occured to me that I couldn't "decorate" the Church.He said he would double check with the Msgr. but he's pretty sure flowers & pew bows are allowed. BUT instead of just leaving the flowers on the alter (like a donation so to speak) they would immediately have to be removed by us or disposed of. Now honestly I don't want someone to have to remove them and figure out what to do with them after the ceremony, and I kinda feel like I'm throwing money out the window to just have them sitting on the alter for MABYE two hours.  I thought of maybe just adding a few flowers to the pew bows and leave it at that.Any thoughts on this?
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Re: Church Flowers

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    bel138bel138 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm not decorating our church at all because I believe all churches are beautiful as they are and need no additional adornment. So I obviously vote to veto the flowers.
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    ring_popring_pop member
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    edited December 2011
    We didn't decorate our church at all either. That being said, if you do want to have altar arrangements, another option you could consider is bringing the arrangements over to your reception venue and reusing them there.
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    eponvilleeponville member
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    edited December 2011
    I agree with pp. we are not doing any decoration in the church with the exception of pew bows. Also I am surprised they are letting yall get married during lent- our diocese has a strict no wedding during lent policy (they also do not allow weddings during advent)
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    GulfCoasterGulfCoaster
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    edited December 2011
    It's Lent, so I don't think that a lot of flowers really are fitting for the season.  Many churches also can go without decoration even during Ordinary Time, though -- we didn't have any flowers decorating the church, only the bouquets and boutonieres (which were silk, not that anyone could tell).  If I were you, I'd just go without flowers and pew bows altogether.
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    mbcdefgmbcdefg member
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    edited December 2011
    If you really want flowers on the altar, I would personally order one modest arrangement. Then donate it to a hospital or a nursing home afterward. Or just skip it altogether if you don't care about having flowers in your photos. Our wedding is the week after Easter, so there will already be lilies on the altar, and we're not doing any kind of pew decorations. The church is pretty enough on its own plus pew decor is not really our thing.
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    clearheavensclearheavens member
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    edited December 2011
    I think the only flowers you should have is the Offering to the Virgin Mary after Holy Communion.  That should be plenty for a Mass during Lent.
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    windrilenewindrilene
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    edited December 2011
    Depending on your colors, what about using simple palms/ greenery? My parish has palms all over the altar during Lent, and actually inspired me to use a similar theme for my wedding... The palms are naturally very Lenten, and may be acceptable to leave on the altar. You could even choose to put a small floral arrangement in front of the palms, and just take the flowers when you leave.
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    lanerob1lanerob1 member
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    edited December 2011
    We aren't doing any decorations at our church. I think pew bows would even be a waste of money. We signed up to provide alter arrangements to the church the weekend of our wedding. Our names will be in the church bulletin as well as, who we want them to be "in memory of". This is something my church does weekly.
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    Calypso1977Calypso1977 member
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    edited December 2011
    lent is a solemn time.  while your wedding is a happy occasion, the church is in a period of mourning, so to speak, during that time.  i would refrain from doing any decorations.  honestly, no one notices them anyway, and it sounds like it would be a hassle to remove them afterwards.  pew bows are a waste too, everyone knows not to sit in the front rows.
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    TooPrecious17TooPrecious17
    First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    In my experience the Church is generally stripped for Holy week that falls on the first week of April. I would double check with the priest because there is usually some decoration in that time just before Holy Week like flowers and I think Purple Alter coverings etc.
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