Wedding At Church Of St Teresa: Photos & What Happened On #MarryTohDay

I’ve my eyes on the Church of St Teresa for my wedding ever since I first went there for Mass many years ago. This is even when the potential groom was in sight.

The church was established in 1929 (note: it’s not the oldest Catholic church in Singapore but it’s one of the older ones), and its design is inspired by the Romano-Byzantine design of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in Paris. There’s a lot of interesting stories about this church and you can read all about it here.

Thankfully, Keith likes the church too and we very quickly decided on it after he proposed. Booking the church was the first thing we did after he proposed. It helps that my favourite priest, Fr. Stephen Yim, who used to serve at my parish (Church of Christ the King) is now serving at St Teresa’s, so we quickly secured his time to preside over our wedding too.

For floral decorations, we engaged the church’s florist and she did a wonderful job. I picked a purple theme for the flowers because my bridesmaids’ dresses were purple. The bridal bouquet (that my bridal studio prepared) was also in the same theme.

My favourite floral decoration at my wedding was the wedding ball and arch at the entrance.

The decorations on our chairs were beautiful too. There were two options available: either flowers on each chair, or like ours, a joint setting.

Here’s the bridal entourage and the groom making final preparations before my arrival. If you’re wondering where the bride (that’s me!) was “hiding” while our parents, bridal party and Keith were mingling with the guests before the wedding, I was at a room near the parish office, waiting for the signal that it’s about time to start. Then, one of my bridesmaids and the groomsman who’s driving the bridal car came over to pick me up, drive to the front of the church and wait for the doors to be closed (so I can make an appearance at the entrance after the doors reopened.)

The wedding is about the start and this is my groom waiting for me at the altar.

Before I entered, our bridesmaids and groomsmen marched in first.

The doors opened and I walked in with my dad. The processional music I chose was Here Comes The Bride.

Related post: 8 popular wedding songs that really shouldn’t be played at weddings

We exchanged vows. I love the Catholic wedding vow because it’s really meaningful if you understand the concept of marriage according to God. It’s a “standard” version, in other words, you can’t change it if you’re in a Catholic marriage. And there’s really not a word I want to add or omit from it, because it’s so all-encompassing and beautiful.

And then we exchanged rings, which are a sign of our love and fidelity for each other.

Then Fr. Stephen pronounced us man and wife.

Most priests have the ROM license to preside over a civil marriage too, so we, together with Fr Stephen and our dads (the witnesses) proceeded to sign on the ROM certificate after the wedding mass was over.

And yay! We’re married!

Note that St Teresa’s is an extremely popular “wedding church”, so if you really want to get married there, make sure you make a booking early. We booked about one year in advance. Also, because of how popular it is, the coordinator who helps with things like arranging a rehearsal is very, very busy. It was extremely hard for us to get hold of her because she doesn’t pick up calls nor reply texts. We literally had to stalk her at the church to find her. While we don’t blame her because we know she has many duties in church she’s busy with, but it can really be stressful for us, particularly when the wedding date gets near.

There were other churches that I considered, and if you couldn’t get a date with St Teresa’s or if you decided you don’t want to deal with stressful situations with coordination, you could consider them too: Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (if you like old churches like St Teresa’s) and Church of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Church of St Mary of the Angels and Church of St Francis Xavier (if you like beautiful modern-looking churches).

Final note: Catholic churches are only available to Catholics for their weddings. In other words, one of you have to be Catholic to make a booking. Besides presenting your baptism cert for the booking, you and your other half have to have completed the marriage preparation course too (there’s a cert given to you at the end of it).

What A Catholic Bride Needs To Know: Timeline

I’m Catholic and it’s always my dream to hold my wedding in church, because the act of marriage is sacramental to me. Now, I will not go on about what it means spiritually to me, but in this post, I’m going to share some of the things you probably have to take note of. (Married Catholics, feel free to comment. Since I haven’t gone through everything yet, I may have missed out some things.)

Photo from pianofortephilia.blogspot.com

There are several things to take note of for a Catholic wedding, but here is a basic check list:

Before you book the church…

One of you has to be Catholic before you can get married in a Catholic church. You also have to have already completed the Engaged Encounter (EE) or Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) before the wedding takes place.

Keith and I went through the MPC before we were engaged. While many couples choose to only go through it in the midst of their wedding preparation, we wanted to do it before the engagement was announced, to be sure that we knew what we’re in for before we say yes with the proposal ring. But of course, it is up to the individual. I should probably write a separate post on this, but the MPC was a great programme that really benefited Keith and me. If you’re thinking of just “getting over and done with it”, I hope you could uplift the attitude, because after all, you’re planning for a marriage, not just a wedding.

Anyway, another thing you should think about before you head over to book the church is the date. Most churches only do weddings on Saturdays. Also, while it is still done, most priests would not encourage weddings to be held during the Lent or Advent period because it’s a period of repentance and spiritual preparation.

Booking the church

You can technically book any Catholic church for your wedding. Keith and I will be holding ours at St Teresa Church, although we attend Mass at Christ the King (and will make Holy Cross Church our parish after we move into our new place).

Photo from marctey.com

Visit the website of the church of your choice for details on how to go about the booking. Most of the time, you’re required to see the parish secretary personally to do the booking and to pay a token for the facilities.

The priest who’s celebrating your wedding

It’ll be best if you have already asked a priest to celebrate your wedding for you when you do the booking of the church. Because of the busy schedules of priests, some of them may request that the wedding be held at the parish that they serve in. Check with him on this. The contact details of the priests are also available in the link I’ve provided above for the list of Catholic churches.

Three months before the wedding

This is probably the time when you begin to feel the heat of preparations. It is also time to do the following: book the choir, hire a florist and speak to the priest.

The secretary is likely to pass you some notes and contacts regarding the resident choir and florist that you can speak to. Otherwise, you can use any Catholic choir, and any florist. We decided to go with the St Teresa Church ones because we feel that they would know the church best. Your choir and florist should be able to guide you through what to take note of and provide you with songs/flower options.

Your priest will contact you around this time too, to fill in an application form for a church wedding. During this meeting, he will explain the meaning of a Christian marriage to you and then you declare your understanding of what the church teaches about marriage. He would also fill in an ROM form that states that your solemnisation will be done by him. You need to eventually submit this form to ROM.

Some priests may also speak more to you to learn a little about you. This is a good time to ask the priest for any advice and if you need help with choosing the readings for the Mass/service. The priest is very experienced, having celebrated many weddings. He will be able to give you guidance.

Two months before the wedding

Photo from nearby.sg

This is probably the time to decide on your readings and hymns, complete your Mass/service booklets (if you’re intending to have them) and send them off for print. Remember to let the priest approve it before you send it to print. He is definitely more familiar with it than you are.

One month before the wedding

The parish secretary will call you up to arrange for a rehearsal. She will let you know who is involved in the rehearsal and you have to arrange for everyone to be present.

If you’re intending to do a reception after the wedding (like we are), this is also approximately the time for you to confirm your attendees and to shortlist and book a caterer.

I will be posting more about choosing of the readings and hymns, as well as spiritual preparations in later posts once I find the time to 🙂 I hope this is helpful!