I thought of posting this onto a separate post, since this is more of a sharing of our experience when we attended a wedding in Mt Carmel. I do not intend to say anything negative about them, but let this serve, in some way, like a heads up if you are thinking of having your ceremony in this popular church.I then learned that my friend was getting married in the same church and venue as we were about a week after we visited Mt Carmel last year. That became our deciding factor whether to book them or go for option B. Friend's wedding is on a weekday, and it was a night wedding. It was just about in the right time, since I'll be playing reception OTD (glorified receptionist, I must say ☺) and one of her readers, I get to see how things are gonna be, both in the ceremony and the reception.
Come wedding day, There was a mass before her wedding, so we needed to wait outside. The primary sponsors and the rest of the entourage were all over the place, waiting until the mass ends. When congregation started going out, that signaled that we need to prepare for the ceremony. I greeted the bride, who was already at the church, waiting inside her bridal car, then I went inside. I helped the entourage get ready and the PS with the missalettes, then went inside to practice my reading. Then a sacristan approached me asking who the coordinator was. Thinking someone might have pointed at me, I told him that I can help out. He asked me why the bridal entourage had not yet started the bridal procession, and who commentator was. So I ran to the MOH and asked her the same questions. According to her, she was told that the queue will come from the choir (choir should start playing the the processional march as per the bride's instructions), and they were told that the commentator will come the from church's lay community, and the party will only assign readers. Apparently, the choir didn't know that, nor there was no one from the entourage who's available to lead the congregation. So I went back to the entrance and asked them if the entourage is ready. After everyone had been lined up, I told then choir to start playing whatever they have for the processional march, then ran to the commentator's podium to start. [Oh my, at this moment, major stress galore!]
Ceremony started... I was still lost with the flow because Father (officiating priest) did not actually follow what was on the missalette. I was like, "where in the world are you at?!" He was like skipping some of the parts in the missalette, or we had different missalettes, or we were not on the same page. Then the choir didn't play and sing on parts where it was specifically indicated in the missalette that they should be sang. The bride looked at me, probably asking "Why isn't the choir singing?" Then she turned around, and stared at the choir, then she just shook her head. I really felt sorry for her when I saw her look back at the choir. The bride is a very patient and nice girl, but that may had just blew all her "nice-ness" (if there is such a thing) away. She is one OC bride, and I would know that she made it a point that these [songs to be sung] details should have been done because she really mentioned those in her missalette (I just proofread, printed and put them together, but the bride encoded everything).
The whole ceremony, mass and wedding rites, lasted for barely about an hour. This was unusually quick for me, vs other weddings I had attended, which would usually last for at least an hour to 2 hours (Earl and Debbie's lasted for 2 and half hours). I dont know if it was just me, but I think the priest was in hurry (well, they told us that we were late, while we were just waiting outside. Who's fault it was, I dont know, but I dont think it was appropriate to assemble by the door while there was mass going on). Right after the ceremony, everyone was in a hurry to have their pictures taken for some reason I dont know. I was already prepping up to run to Oasis to receive the guests, so I had to leave as early as I can after the mass.
Well, this could be an isolated case. Other brides might or might not have this same experience. I'm just saying. I admire the bride that night. She kept her calm and just went along. If I were her, I would have been furious, might even had stood up to the choir or might had gotten out of my car to fix things up. She was okay all along. She told me though that a few days after the wedding, she went to Mt. Carmel and asked for an explanation. And the rest is history. I would have to say Kudos to the sacristan who was running around as well that night.
Let this be a heads-up to y'all Mt Carmel brides. Make sure you ask and clarify the following to all POCs:
Come wedding day, There was a mass before her wedding, so we needed to wait outside. The primary sponsors and the rest of the entourage were all over the place, waiting until the mass ends. When congregation started going out, that signaled that we need to prepare for the ceremony. I greeted the bride, who was already at the church, waiting inside her bridal car, then I went inside. I helped the entourage get ready and the PS with the missalettes, then went inside to practice my reading. Then a sacristan approached me asking who the coordinator was. Thinking someone might have pointed at me, I told him that I can help out. He asked me why the bridal entourage had not yet started the bridal procession, and who commentator was. So I ran to the MOH and asked her the same questions. According to her, she was told that the queue will come from the choir (choir should start playing the the processional march as per the bride's instructions), and they were told that the commentator will come the from church's lay community, and the party will only assign readers. Apparently, the choir didn't know that, nor there was no one from the entourage who's available to lead the congregation. So I went back to the entrance and asked them if the entourage is ready. After everyone had been lined up, I told then choir to start playing whatever they have for the processional march, then ran to the commentator's podium to start. [Oh my, at this moment, major stress galore!]
 |
| I haven't done this for more than 10 years... and Father had his own missalette... |
Ceremony started... I was still lost with the flow because Father (officiating priest) did not actually follow what was on the missalette. I was like, "where in the world are you at?!" He was like skipping some of the parts in the missalette, or we had different missalettes, or we were not on the same page. Then the choir didn't play and sing on parts where it was specifically indicated in the missalette that they should be sang. The bride looked at me, probably asking "Why isn't the choir singing?" Then she turned around, and stared at the choir, then she just shook her head. I really felt sorry for her when I saw her look back at the choir. The bride is a very patient and nice girl, but that may had just blew all her "nice-ness" (if there is such a thing) away. She is one OC bride, and I would know that she made it a point that these [songs to be sung] details should have been done because she really mentioned those in her missalette (I just proofread, printed and put them together, but the bride encoded everything).
The whole ceremony, mass and wedding rites, lasted for barely about an hour. This was unusually quick for me, vs other weddings I had attended, which would usually last for at least an hour to 2 hours (Earl and Debbie's lasted for 2 and half hours). I dont know if it was just me, but I think the priest was in hurry (well, they told us that we were late, while we were just waiting outside. Who's fault it was, I dont know, but I dont think it was appropriate to assemble by the door while there was mass going on). Right after the ceremony, everyone was in a hurry to have their pictures taken for some reason I dont know. I was already prepping up to run to Oasis to receive the guests, so I had to leave as early as I can after the mass.
Well, this could be an isolated case. Other brides might or might not have this same experience. I'm just saying. I admire the bride that night. She kept her calm and just went along. If I were her, I would have been furious, might even had stood up to the choir or might had gotten out of my car to fix things up. She was okay all along. She told me though that a few days after the wedding, she went to Mt. Carmel and asked for an explanation. And the rest is history. I would have to say Kudos to the sacristan who was running around as well that night.
Let this be a heads-up to y'all Mt Carmel brides. Make sure you ask and clarify the following to all POCs:
- Will there be a commentator, or should I assign one?
- Will there be someone from the Parish during the wedding day whom we can ask, in case we need assistance?
- Can I give the choir a repertoire aside from their usual repertoire for weddings?
- If there's a mass before our wedding, when can we assemble?
c",)
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