Our Traditional Catholic Wedding with Modern Touches

How we kept things traditional and timeless, while modern and effortless.

The ceremony

A ceremony in a church feels timeless to me and something we don’t see much of anymore. After planning one, I can completely understand why it’s not as common. Coordinating between a church and reception venue was quite the headache, but oh so worth it. A traditional catholic wedding was something my husband and I both knew we wanted from the very beginning. While planning a catholic wedding is no walk in the park, it meant a lot to us and really was magical. It was very involved from the beginning, which made the day feel so personal.

The ceremony music was another area we wanted to keep very traditional. We requested a violin and it was my absolute favorite part and was worth the extra cost. My husband was set on our recessional being “The Wedding March” which we laughed about before, but it ended up being so special. It truly felt like it was straight out of a vintage catholic wedding film.

To keep the ceremony a bit more modern, I had my bridesmaids wear different dresses and colors, which is something we’re seeing a lot more often. If you talked to any of my bridesmaids, they would probably tell you how over they were of my indecisiveness. I initially told them to pick any dress of any color, which turned out was a lot more complicated than I thought. I finally decided on a warm color palette of any style/fabric. To be honest, I had no idea how it would turn out, but this is where my lack of perfectionism finally paid off. It truly somehow all came together. Bless them for dealing with my back and forth.

The Reception

I so badly regret all the hours of stress over the reception because it was everything I hoped for and more. Our venue building dated back to 1912 which original nooks and walls which fit both of our style. It was small, quaint, and intimate.

Nothing says a traditional catholic wedding like Italian food and an Italian cookie table. Our family made hundreds of homemade cookies and treats, complete with “the big cannoli” which was stuffed with miniature ones. Another hit of the night was our cigar station in the backyard. Our wedding planner’s husband owns a cigar company, and he came out and set up a cigar station for a few hours with hand rolled cigars with our wedding logo on them. It was such a fun addition to the night that I’m so glad we did.

But one of my favorite parts of the night was polka dancing with my grandparents. My grandma is Polish and I wanted to surprise her with one of her favorite polka songs Roll Out the Barrel. She’s loves polka dancing and it’s such a special memory looking back on with her.

Oh how I wish I was Type A..

I always assumed since I’m pretty go with the flow and quite the opposite of a perfectionist, that planning a wedding would be somewhat stress free and easy going. Boy was I wrong!

I like to think of myself as decisive. But oh did planning a wedding completely change that. I could tell you 100 things I didn’t want for our wedding, but when it came to narrowing down what I DID want, my vision board was all over the place. I could not make up my mind on a single thing. There really is so much comparison in planning a wedding, and I found myself having a hard time sticking true to myself, versus what I was seeing on Instagram and how people would perceive my decisions. I decided to just run with it. I didn’t have a color scheme, I had summer wild flowers for a fall wedding, and I last minute decided to do my own hair and makeup.

One thing I was sure about was a long sleeve dress. I wanted to really tie in the traditional catholic fall wedding with a tight long sleeve lace dress. If you told me I would end up with a two piece set for my wedding I would have never believed you. I was hesitant to try it on because a two piece felt a little too trendy for me, but once I tried it on, it was the perfect amount of tradition mixed with modern. The tiny sliver of midriff showing between the top and skirt was so subtle, and added the little scandalous touch I was hoping for.

As for florals, I knew I wanted wild flowers, but this ended up being the hardest part for me. This is where my vision board was the most scattered. I had every flower and color possible pinned to Pinterest. Luckily my florist was absolutely magical and helped me narrow things down. She really brought my vision to life.

Looking back, it was the most “us” day and I wouldn’t change a single thing about our wedding. I’d just tell my self to relax, trust my instinct, and enjoy every moment of it.