London, Ontario
DIY Catholic Wedding
It ain’t easy building your whole wedding from the ground up - literally! Kaya and I met when we were commenting on someone else’s Facebook post about how they felt they weren’t getting the support they were hoping for doing everything by themselves - the eternal DIY struggle. We got talking and at her fiance’s recommendation, Kaya booked my wedding day coordination package so that she would have some chance at enjoying a stress-free wedding. We were only a couple months out from the wedding and so Kaya rightly made good use of my unlimited text support to consult on and troubleshoot problems she was running into.
Our first major hurdle was learning that the officiating priest was going to be overseas for several weeks without email until two days before the wedding and the ceremony had not been set yet! Catholic wedding ceremonies do have set formats but within those formats offer a lot of modular customization. Couples to select variations on preset language at sixteen different moments during the mass making each one quite unique. The couple still had quite a bit of logistics to pull together so I recommended readings and prayers for each of these moments that I felt were a good reflection of them and the couple was able to simply approve them. By the time their parish priest returned, everything was set, and since the language is pre-approved, there was no stress about it.
A couple weeks before the wedding, the fact that a large portion of guests had never been to a Catholic mass and wouldn’t know what to expect became a concern. Not only that, but those that were familiar with the mass were only familiar with it in Polish and would also have a lot of trouble following along. In order to address this, Kaya asked me to take the reading and prayer selections and compile them into a missalette (Catholic ceremony program) that guests could use to follow along and participate in crucial moments as a way to show the couple their support for the marriage. As an avid DIY-er myself for my own wedding, I knew just what she needed and designed, printed, and bound enough missalettes for all the attendees.
The final bump in the road came within a week before the wedding when the reception venue was no longer able to offer the couple early access to the space. This was meant to be the time for Kaya and her friends to spend time setting up the room and enjoying all the DIY projects Kaya had poured so much time into. We managed to negotiate with the venue to allow us to drop off the decor and store it in a locked room the night before and Kaya created a very detailed set of instructions with photos to communicate how everything was to be done. The morning of the wedding, a SWAT team of the couple’s friends and I were able to easily and efficiently decorate and set the room exactly right and beyond the couple’s expectations.
DIY weddings are not easy, but they are incredibly rewarding. They are an opportunity not only for the couple to put their own personality into various elements, but they also show you who is really a part of your community and who will pull together with you to make it happen. Kaya may have created or thrifted most of the decor, but when she wasn’t able to set it up her most loyal friends were there to do it. Her photographer was a childhood friend. A dear friend made her her wedding cake so that the couple wouldn’t have to pass up a tradition they wanted to include. A community member did a fantastic job with the florals and only charged for the cost of goods. An aunt helped fit the dress. Weddings are about families and communities coming together to establish a new family and this wedding really proved that to be true.
“It was literally a stroke of luck that I happened to stumble upon Andrea's wedding coordination services. She was there for me at absolutely every turn - kind, compassionate and organized. She was willing to put 200% into solving every issue that cropped up. She was a pro at handling all the Church elements of my wedding as well - which was super important to me. My wedding turned out PERFECT because she made the experience so wonderful and personalized and reassured me every step of the way.”
Ceremony venue, ceremony music, and officiating by Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church (London East Central Catholic Family of Parishes)
Reception venue, and catering by Marconi Club London
Photography by Alexandra Gorska Photography
Dinner and dance music by DJ Chase
Hair by Candice B. Artistry
Make Up by Beauty You See
DIY Decor
Florals by a close friend
Cake and desserts by a close friend
