DC Churches? Anyone?

[elephant]

Ok, I really can''t start wedding planning until I move to DC (hence the obsession with china....

) because that is where we will get married. I can''t really find a place to live in DC until I find a church -- so you see what a conundrum I have going on here.... And it has to be Catholic. Some of the ones I''ve been throwing around are St. Matthews, Holy Trinity and St. Aloysius in DC.

Does anyone have any opinions on these three churches?

Thanks!

 

[abradabra]

I belong to Holy Trinity and it''s the most fabulous parish in DC as far as I''m concerned. It''s a beautiful old building... The director of liturgy there used to be an opera singer so everything there is traditional and beautiful and just absolutely fabulous... Georgetown is such a beautiful part of DC and has more of a neighborhoody feel than anywhere else in the city... If I were getting married in DC, I absolutely would have wanted to do it at HT. Their marriage prep classes are supposedly super-fun.

A few snags (still worth it in my opinion, but I should alert you):
- You have to be a member for a year before your wedding. If you are interested--I''d suggest signing up now.
- Parking can be a pain in the area. For mass, they usually let you park at Georgetown Visitation, but I doubt that holds for weddings. I would shuttle your guests in or have them at a hotel within walking distance.
- You have to book super-far in advance (when I got engaged last October, they were booked for the afternoon Nuptial Mass until November)

The other churches are nice, but nothing beats HT in my opinion. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

We considered getting married in DC (although we ended up in Charleston, SC). I joined Holy Rosary, which is the old Italian church. The priest was very nice, and even though we didn''t get married there, we still went through him to do our marriage prep and all that good stuff. The church is beautiful, but they definitely place a strong emphasis on being Italian, which my father is.
Like Abradabra said, churches usually want you be a member for at least 6 months, some up to a year.

Do you definitely want to get married in DC, or would you consider northern VA or MD? One thing to keep in mind is that the Archdiocese of Washington is much less stricter and conservative than Arlington (I think MD is part of the Archdiocese of Washington, although I could be wrong).

 

[elephant]

I really love the simplicity of Holy Trinity, but I do not love their price tag! $1200!!! EEK! But, I have a feeling that most places will be like that in DC. We''re not getting married until June 2007, so the one year/six month thing is really no problem. I have heard that NOVA archdiocese is more conservative, but they''re very strict about living within the parish boundaries. And FI doesn''t want me to live in VA because it''s a longer drive for him -- he''s coming from Ithaca NY, which is a six hour drive, so that sort of eliminates that.... Sigh.