Which city? Which church?

Actually even before we had the date, we knew that we would be getting married in New York. We knew this even before a ring was purchased. For states, we had two choices: Massachusetts or New York. While I love my current blue state, most people (apart from us) will be from New York and some are not in a position to travel long distances. New York was just easier for everyone else. So we knew we had to have it in New York.

This leads us to which church are we going to have the ceremony (and full mass) in. Here there are three possibilities: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; St. Patrick's Church (not to be confused with St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan); and the dark horse St. Anastasia's.

St. Anastasia's is the parish of my grandmother and mother. This is the church they both grew up in and my sister and cousin got married there. While it was a long shot, it was still a consideration. It could have served as a nice compromise between the Long Island contingency and the city contingency.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the parish in which I grew up and have received all of my sacraments to date. It is a nice church, prettier inside than it is outside. From the outside, it very much looks like a 1970s church that Mr. Brady could have designed. Though inside it has beautiful stained glass. However, I have not attended the church in years and no one I am related to or even know attends mass there. Also, travel becomes an issue this deep into surburbia. Many are coming from the city or New England and if we make people travel there is not much to see out in that neck of the woods. Also, I felt the reception options were limited without making people travel for a distance between the ceremony and reception.

Finally we have St. Patrick's in Brooklyn. This is the parish in which Brendan grew up and received all of his sacraments and even attended school at through the 8th grade. His interaction with this church was more than me and Assumption. Brendan not only was an altar boy until he graduated high school but also worked at the rectory. In addition to all this, his parents still attend and this where we have gone to mass for all the Christmases we have spent together. All of that is nice and warm and fuzzy. But another reason to have the wedding there is that the church is quite beautiful inside with all its marble and stained glass. The only drawback is that people still have to drive in from Long Island and the subway ride is not that short coming in from Manhattan. But in the end I think it is the best place for us to get married, both meaning-wise and logistics.

A view from the outside of St. Patrick's Church in Brooklyn: