Mary + Dominic | Traditional Italian-American Cathedral Wedding

From the Bride

As healthcare professionals in a pandemic year, my husband and I fought to make our marriage happen. There were so many obstacles during 2020, but we knew immediately who to entrust our hearts to: the Blessed Mother.

She had brought us together through years of prayer, trial, and sacrifice, and she would see us through to the altar to profess our lifelong love and commitment before God.

You'll see in our pictures the continual appearance of my rosary. It was the same rosary I held on a pilgrimage to Fatima in 2017, when I begged Our Lady of Fatima to bring me the husband God intended for me. Just months after, I met Dominic. And there was no better sign that Mary had chosen him for me than his profoundly Marian name.

It was incredibly important to us to celebrate a traditional Mass with sacred music. It would act as a prayer of thanksgiving for Our Lady and her Son bringing us to our wedding day.

We chose musical pieces that have stood the test of time, namely "Sicut Cervus" by Palestrina and "Cantique de Jean Racine" by Gabriel Faust. I processed down the aisle to "Oh God Beyond All Praising," in gratitude to the Father for the gift of our marriage.

I had my beloved brother, a seminarian in the Diocese of Alexandria, walk me down the aisle. He has always been a father figure to me, and as he led me to the altar, it was like a symbol of what was to come upon his ordination: him leading his future parish flock to their Shepherd.

Since both of our families come from the Mediterannean coast (Italy and Malta), we decided to have a Almafi Coast-themed reception, complete with lemon trees and garlands of olive branches and rosemary herbs.

And yet, our love for America is strong, and we also included not-so-subtle hints of our patriotism for this great country--including our gorgeous national monuments cake.

No matter how extravagant your wedding, you'll feel close to your spouse in a way you've never felt before. For me, it was an amazing and shocking realization of the beauty of the union between husband and wife. And how meaningful it becomes when you welcome your faith into your marriage.

One of the most memorable moments of our wedding day was when a guest took us aside and said they had never witnessed a holier, more sacred Mass. They saw it as an unmistakable symbol of our love for each other and wished they could find the same sanctifying love in another.

I felt like I began to understand the complexities of the sacrament of marriage.