I placed a rose in a vase at the Blessed Virgin statue during our Mass 45 years ago. A Catholic thing that is sometimes done. My parents are from Switzerland. I had not seen it done at any other weddings I have attended.
A Hispanic Catholic thing is a lasso of Mary, which is a very long rosary - SIL’s godparents put it around DD1/SIL during their wedding Mass. That was the first time (and only time) I had seen that.
I grew up in a very Catholic, half German half Polish community. Roses to Mary common, and a groom’s cake (most often a sheet cake) at the brunch the day after the wedding (where presents might be opened, and mostly food made by family friends like a ‘hot dish’ or salad. And most likely deviled eggs.
A good friend’s son married a woman with Polish immigrant parents. Their ceremony last year included flowers placed at Mary’s statue.
I and my sibs were raised catholic. We were married in Catholic churches, as were several of the next generation. never hard to putting a flower(s) by Mary or anywhere else other than altar and aisles c
When we laid flowers by Mary it was a part of the ceremony. I think we have a pic of it. And there was special song/music played.
I might as well confess. The reason I chose to include laying the flowers by Mary was that it was the only way our soloist would be allowed to include Ave Maria in the ceremony.
Maybe that was it- I have no recollection!
At my Catholic wedding we also laid flowers at the feet of a statue of Mary. I had never heard of doing so, but our priest was from Ghana, and it was an important tradition to him.
Oh I found my notes from last summer about tent rentals in case anyone is interested in the numbers (coastal New England).
It’s around $9,000 to rent a tent with sidewalls big enough to fit either 200 or 250 people.
Then you have to have flooring. If you just get a 24x28 very basic dance floor that’s $2,500 plus $900 delivery charge. But if you want flooring for the whole tent, that’s $20,000! Plus, that requires additional machinery rental and labor for an additional $3,200. We would have wanted a full floor.
Then you need to have some kind of lighting. They suggested bistro lighting for the tent for an additional $2,600-$3,000.
Permits and fire safety inspections are another $600-$800. I can’t remember how much the venue wanted to charge us for a site fee. I think it was $15,000.
Oh and you also need another, separate tent for the food preparation. And maybe you need to rent heaters.
And of course you have to rent tables & chairs from somewhere. The caterer brings the table clothes, glasses, dishes and silverware.
By the time we added everything up that we would have wanted, it was more expensive than most permanent structure venues.
By the way, this quote was less expensive than another quote I received.
I had “Ave Maria” - Shubert, played/sung with vocalist and organ.
I think the first quote for my nephew’s (Boulder CO) was $10k, but then they went with a bigger tent for more people. The meal prep was done in the garage, but another nephew counted 25 servers, not including the bar tenders. It was $$$. And as I said, the lighting was skimpy, just in the tent and not at the side serving places like pizza and dessert and the bars.
My daughter had some of those expenses for her outdoor wedding, however it helped immensely that the venue has a seasonal permanent tent set up from April-October (no permits needed, bistro lighting already hung and chairs and tables already there and an option for heaters). The tent had hardscape flooring but for some reason they rented an additional dance floor, I don’t recall why. We looked at another venue with a seasonal tent, but they just had the grass floor, so we would have had to rent flooring. There are definitely many additional expenses with an outdoor wedding.
My daughter chose to have the ceremony outdoors, although I (and others, I am sure) questioned the wisdom of this for a November wedding in Poughkeepsie, NY along the Hudson. It turned out to be just fine–a little chilly but I was fine in a short-sleeved dress and others just retrieved sweaters or jackets from the coat check. I believe that the venue would hyave provided a tent if it had been raining.
Wow, that was lucky for November!
Not on my bingo card — there is currently an outbreak of measles in the same area where the summer wedding will be held. Fewer than 3 dozen cases so far, but in a community with low vaccination rates so it will inevitably spread.
Deciding if I should worry; two 90+ grandparents, a couple chemo patients and 4 children under 4 are invited. Pretty big outdoor/indoor wedding. Food caterer locally, hotels are local (DH, S2/DiL are staying in an airbnb bc reasons).Majority of guests are of an age where they should have had both modern MMR shots. DH and I just got boosters.
Would you worry? I don’t want to be a spreading event; obviously, nor do I want to endanger people we love.
Reminder to please keep comments away from politics. Two posts deleted.
I would not worry. I would assume that those who are at risk, will themselves take necessary precautions.
My opinion, I can’t wrap myself and everyone in bubble wrap forever.
The wedding is outside so should be pretty safe. The measles outbreak so far is pretty isolated
I would notify everyone incited that measles cases have appeared in area of wedding so please check with their mds about titer levels or getting a mmr booster.
I’d let folks know asap because they may take awhile to get the titer/vax and its most effective a while after the vaccination.
It takes at least 2 weeks for vaccine to be fully effective and if they want 2 shots, they should be a month apart. 2 shots provides more protection, so that’s 6+ weeks right there.