When I left off, we'd just made it up to the altar. Our priest then welcomed everybody and proceeded to pay our flower girls and ring bearer for doing such a wonderful job.
Photo by Uncle Chris
Some flower girls...
ended up with more than the $1 they were paid by the priest, while some might have been swindled for flower petals during the ceremony. Tricksy flower girls.
Then he made sure Granny got her purse back, someone held it for her at the back of the church for her walk down the aisle and he wanted to make sure she got it back.
Photo by Aunt Annie
Our ceremony was fairly standard, I found this
website helpful in choosing. My Aunt read Tobit 8:5-7. Mr. Moonbeam's cousin read Corinthians 12:31-13:8. For the Gospel we chose, John 15:9-12
During the ceremony, our priest had Sista MB and BIL MB tell our guests what they thought our greatest strengths were.
Sista MB getting her instructions. Photo by Uncle Chris
And I let her know (via a sneaky face) that it better be good. Photo by Aunt Annie.
Sista MB told our guests that my independence was my greatest quality (I was super pleased to know that's what she thinks). Our priest (a longtime family friend) commented that independence is great, but that I shouldn't really let it edge over to stubbornness like Momma MB had. This led to a pretty good laugh from the guests (Momma MB was probably laughing the hardest).
Photo by Aunt Annie
BIL MB was caught off guard, but pulled it together and told our guests about Mr. MB's caring attitude towards others (I'd have to agree with this).
Then it was time for the actual marriage part (we did the traditional vows for this ceremony) and for me to cry.
Photo by Aunt Annie
We exchanged rings
Photo by Aunt Annie
and a kiss.
Then our cousins brought up the Eucharist.
Photo by Uncle Chris
At this point it was time to remember our loved ones, lost. We had our grandmothers light candles of remembrance for our grandfathers who had passed. This was especially important to us because Mr. MB's step-grandfather had passed only a few months before.
Photo by Aunt Annie
Afterward our uncles acted as Eucharistic Ministers for communion (the great part of a full Catholic mass is that there are so many ways to get family involved).
Photo by Uncle Chris
Then my favorite part of mass, the Sign of Peace, who doesn't love a few hugs from your new family.
Photo by Uncle Chris
After the ceremony, we were announced as 'Travis and Eileen, husband and wife' (thanks for finding a nice way to avoid the Mr. and Mrs. shared last name that I didn't take).
Photo by Uncle Chris
We walked down the aisle,
Aunt Annie snapped this picture from the balcony.
Photo by Aunt Annie
And we waited outside to greet our guests.
Some people were asking me during the planning stages what would happen at a Catholic ceremony if you were already legally married. I wasn't terribly worried about what was going to happen, I just wanted to be married by our family's favorite priest. But, for those who want to know, our priest chose to reword some parts of the ceremony, they were subtle and I didn't realize it until well into the ceremony, but he said things like 'recommit to each other', 'kiss for old times sake' instead of kiss the bride.
All photos taken by John and Whitney Canales and edited by me unless otherwise noted.
