Denver Catholic

31 DENVER CATHOLIC | FEB-MAR 2024 DENVER CATHOLIC | FEB-MAR 2024 I was engaged for the duration of my junior year of col- lege, which meant I was largely (and quite happily!) distracted from my studies. I wanted everything about my wedding to be perfect, from the music and the dress to the vows and the flowers. I was just 20 years old, but I believed that marriage was a big deal, and I wanted our ceremony to reflect both our love for one another and our love for God. We married in a church for this very reason, and June 22, 2002, proved to be every bit as beau- tiful as I'd hoped. This was, of course, in the days before the internet had transformed the wedding industry. Times have changed, to be sure, and this is perhaps most evident when it comes to choice of wedding venue. Between the years 2000 and 2012, for example, weddings taking place in a church (like mine did) declined by 40%. It has surely declined even further since. And regardless the reason, one thing seems clear: when it comes to wedding loca- tion, barns and beaches are in, while churches are out. ⊲ 31 Why get married in a CHURCH? BY BRIANNA HELDT Contributing Writer FE W T H I N GS B RI N G M O R E J OY FU L A N TI CI PATI O N T H A N T H E P R O M IS E O F A N U P CO M I N G W EDDI N G . T H E M O N T H S L E A DI N G U P TO M Y OW N N U P TI A L S , OV ER 20 Y E A R S AGO N OW, A R E M EM O R A B L E FO R T H EI R H O P E, H A P PI N E S S , A N D G EN ER A L S EN S E O F EU P H O RI A T H AT CO M E S W IT H B EI N G A YO U N G B RI DE .

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