Not a newlywed but need some advice..

Hi there,
I am getting married 7/30/04 at the Riviera in Massapequa. We are getting married at the hall b/c my parish where i grew up in Woodside, Queens
(St.Sebastian's) is too far to make people go all the way west to go back to massapequa right after and the same with Fiance's parish ( jackson Heights). i now have lived in Bayside for three years but haventt joined a parish.( terrible i know)
Anyway i am looking for any recommendations for a preist who will marry us at the hall. i know this is a touchy subject in the catholic religion I know that the preist marrying you at a hall is not really reconginized by the church but we plan on getting it blessed. So I have already called fr. Brennan
(Riviera recommended) and i plan on calling Fr. Jim
(Cira from the board recommended him, Hi Cira )
Any other recommendations would be appreciated Thanks

I don't know any preists to recommend but wanted to say Hi to a neghbor - I am from St. Teresa's in Sunnyside but my cousin went to St. Sebastians. And I live in bayside now

I agree with Annie.
Our Church was in Manhattan and our reception was an hour away in Glen Cove.
The church was packed.
Several people from Long Island drove into Manhattan and back out to Glen Cove.
We also had people from Jersey who managed to find their way to the ceremony.

People who really want to be there will find a way to be there, no matter what.

What is the time gap between your church and reception? I got married in Our Lady of Fatima in Jackson Heights (curious, is that the church your FI belongs to?) at 3:00 and my reception was out at the Sand Castle starting at 8PM. I had a mass, so that wasted some time, but there was still a big gap. Some people went back to my parent's and others just went home and did their thing and went to the reception later.

One thing I learned, don't worry about pleasing every person you invite, because that's not going to happen. Do what's best for you and your FI. How many weddings have you gone to where there was a gap? People will make their own arrangements and if it's inconvenient for them to go to the church, then they'll just go to the reception!!

Good luck!

wow thanks for all the quick responses.
hello fellow neighbor from Sunnyside and my fellow Baysiders now.
Yes the main reason for not having a church is the convienence factor. As it is now we will have a 7:00 at the hall and the cocktail hour right after. if we did a church obvioulsy we would have to have it a bit earlier.
The other reson is my fiance i not crazy about St. Sebastiuans outiside with the 7 train right above but i told him you dont hear it inside but he doesnt care.
yes it is Our Lady of Fatima. (FM me maybe you know my fiance)

Try asking Father Patrick Callan in Point Lookout Our Lady of Miraculous medal
He is marrying us at our reception site

We used Father Bob Allmen last October at the Crescent Club, he was wonderful. My husband and I had a wonderfully spiritual experience even though it was not in a church. We did however get married again in the church on 3/15/03 so that we can have our children baptised in the catholic church. Father Bob is with Good Shepard Catholic Church in Hampton Bays, his cell # is 985-373-3222 . Good Luck and best wishes.

Noel .. I have to say, we loved Fr. Jim! But Good Luck with this search. This is a very important decision!

Hi there. I'm a fellow Woodsider. I got married at St. Sebastian and my reception was at Floral Terrace. I too agree with the majority, that if people you invited care for you, they wouldn't mind going some distance to attend your wedding. My husband is from Waterbury, CT (about 90 miles from Queens) and 90% of his guest drove 100+ miles the day or our wedding. Majority of his guest had to go and first checked in @ Holiday Inn in JFK, drive to Woodside for the ceremony then to Floral Terrace in Floral Park. Our ceremony was @3PM (full mass w/ cord and veil ceremony - a filipino tradition) and cocktail hour was at 7PM. The time difference between the end of the ceremony and beginning of the cocktail was not a problem for our guest. When we were looking for a reception place we were concerned where our 200+ guest will go after the ceremony and Floral Terrace was the only place that said it would not be a problem for them if our guest starts showing up around 5pm and that they will set up tables and chairs, provide food and drinks. (surely they did). We even indicated in our reception card pre-cocktail @ 5PM.

As for the noise problem of the train, i don't even hear it during mass unless the doors are open. St. Sebastian is such a beautiful church and Fr. Hardiman (officiated our wedding) and Fr. Tomino
(interviewed us and made sure all our paperworks were submitted. We couldn't have him officiate our wedding because he was on vacation) were so nice.

Glad to know there a lot of brides that contributes to this site from the Woodside, Jackson Heights, and Sunnyside area.

Good Luck