Goin' To The Chapel

Technically, Jimmy and I are both members of different churches. He's Lutheran, and I am Methodist. The reason I say we're technically members is because neither of us attend church on a regular basis. He stopped going sometime in high school, and I slowly stopped going throughout college. Not that we hate going, but because of college and work it stopped being a priority over the years. Now we're lucky to get to church for Christmas Eve.

Both of our parents still go to church every Sunday and are active members. When we started thinking about a location for the wedding ceremony, we knew that we'd choose one of our churches.

Yesterday bright and early, Jimmy and I attended Sunday service at his Church. His mom was playing in the bell choir so we got to hear their performance as well.

Lutheran services are very similar to Methodist, so I didn't feel completely out of place, but compared to what I was used to, Jimmy's church service was much more formal so at times I kinda just stood there not knowing what was going on for a minute of two when the congregation started singing a prayer I didn't know. I enjoyed the sermon given by the pastor, and felt welcomed by everyone there. After church FMIL introduced me to Pastor Bob and he congratulated us on our engagement. Overall it was an enjoyable morning.

We plan on attending a service at my church soon, and then we'll try to decide on where we'll get married. Until then I'll finish this post with a few pros and cons of having the ceremony at Jimmy's church.

Pros:

• Pastor is very friendly and personable
• Jimmy's parents are members and would feel good about us getting married there
• Very pretty inside
• Jimmy is familiar with the church and pastor

Cons:

• Far from Cog Hill (about 30 minutes)
• It's kind of small and I worry that some of our guests would not fit. When Jimmy's brother got married there some guests had to stand
• I'm unfamiliar with the church and pastor
• There is little natural light in the sanctuary and all the wood paneling made it seem a little dreary. Something I would not want at a wedding
• Church is located on a busy street and during the service there were several loud motorcycles that passed by.

I feel like the pros are HUGE things that I really like, and the cons are things I could get over easily. The list for my church will probably end up being the exact opposite of Jimmy's church's list. The main thing I'm weary about with my church is that I don't know the new pastor that took over a few years ago. The one time I met him was at my grandpa's funeral. Not a good way to meet a pastor.