Search for the Church: The Final Chapter

There comes in a point in wedding planning where you have to put down the lists and guidelines and just do. I know I've devoted a lot of posts to the search for the church series, but we really did spend a long time looking for the perfect one. After a certain point however, we started to get frustrated with the process. I spent countless hours scouring the Internet and many more actually visiting potential candidates. Everything that was good on paper somehow didn't feel right in person.

Then, while driving back to my parents' one day, I rediscovered an old time favorite:
Saint-Antoine (Saint Anthony's).

Saint Anthony's/ image via Wikipedia/ photo via Wikipedia User Tango 7174

The Good: This was Nanny Waterfall's absolute favorite church. Every Sunday she would wake up, even if there was 5 feet of snow on the ground, and take the bus to Sunday Mass. She absolutely loved this church, and it felt so nice to be able to honor her memory by getting married there. Aside from that, I've always found it visually stunning with its high ceilings and beautiful mouldings. Budget-wise, it was very affordable.

The Bad: As gorgeous as it was, this church was also massive which was a problem because, as you recall, we didn't want our guests to feel sparse.This church is also not technically in Montreal, and Mr. W and I had agreed that we didn't want our guests to have to travel a long distance between the ceremony and the reception. Getting married here would mean the reception would have to happen nearby. They also only offered wedding mass in French, so we would need to bring in an outside celebrant if we wanted it in English.

Right around that same time, Mr. Waterfall and I happened to come across a beautiful little Chapel in the Old Port, right beside the water. The red door caught our eye and we decided to have a look. Right away I loved it. 

Enter: Notre-Dame de Bonsecours.

Notre-Dame de Bonsecours/ image via blog.kenkaminesky.com / Photo credit: Ken Kamiesky

Once inside, we were blown away by the marble altar, beautiful crystal chandeliers and vibrant stained glass windows. It was also the perfect size to make our ceremony feel intimate and cozy despite having 150 guests. 

Stained Glass Windows of Bonsecours/ image via stopmonkeyingaround.blogspot.ca

Notre-Dame de Bonsecours/ images via lesbeautesdemontreal.com / photography by Pierre Chantelois

The good: Location, location, location. What better place to say I DO than the romantic cobblestone streets of Old Montreal? Once we did more research, we found out this is actually the oldest church in Montreal! And surprisingly, this turned out to be the cheapest one to book.

The bad: Because this church is so old (and gorgeous), it has special historic site status, so they don't let just anybody have their wedding there. Only certain people are granted the privilege: among them people who work in the church and parishioners who regularly attend mass. There is also a 4 o'clock English mass, so Saturday weddings are held at 5:30 p.m. which is kind of very late.  

I struggled with the decision for a very long time, and Mr. Waterfall was nice enough to leave it completely up to me, saying he would be happy with either one. 

You can probably guess which one won by the amount of pictures posted...Yup.Notre-Dame de Bonsecours, by a landslide! As much as we loved Saint Anthony's, I realized a big part of why I loved it was trying to honor Nanny Waterfall, and truth be told, she would have been completely happy with any decision I made. In the end, Bonsecours just felt more like us. 

While, at first, Mr. W and I were a little annoyed at having to regularly attend mass, it's actually been an amazing experience. Spiritually speaking, we feel like we're preparing ourselves for the wedding everytime we attend mass, not to mention that we have a much bigger feeling of belonging. It's not just any church anymore, it's our church. We've also made it a habit to go out on dates around Old Montreal after Saturday mass, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

It's funny because we spent so long trying to find the perfect church, and it almost seemed to find us. Now that we have it, we couldn't imagine having our ceremony anywhere else!

Did you have a hard time deciding between venues? What did you end up basing your decision on?