Francesca + David | Rustic Glam Wedding

A love bathed in prayer; the gift of music shared through original Mass compositions; and a summertime barn reception with elegant chandeliers and show-stopping florals.

The night Francesca met David at a Bible study, she found a fellow musician skilled at recording and producing. “This instantly drew me to him,” she says, “since I was actually praying about ways I could record my music for the Lord.” Francesca and David began writing music together, and David asked Francesca out not long after.

Their first date began in a chapel, where they prayed for the Lord’s blessing on their burgeoning relationship. David asked Francesca’s parents’ blessing, as well, and they continued writing music together throughout their courtship, even building a recording studio in Francesca’s family home.

That first shared prayer, on their first date, was the start of a relationship rooted in prayer: after Francesca’s pilgrimage to Fatima, she and David composed a personal prayer they continue to say nightly, to this day.

After a year of dating, David proposed in front of the lake near the Notre Dame Grotto, with a ring featuring a cross underneath; he desired that Christ be the foundation of their marriage. He and Francesca’s first act as an engaged couple was, once again, prayer, as they lit a candle before Our Lady. He designed a ring himself with beautiful sparkles on the outside, but underneath, there is a cross because he "wanted Christ to be the foundation of our marriage."

From the Bride:

We prayed together [all through our engagement], as we constantly need the Lord's guidance and grace. I knew I wanted to marry David the day he took me to the Adoration chapel, and I heard symphonies of music playing in my heart. The music poured over me like it does when I read Scripture before the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

As we were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to compose music for the wedding mass. This was a challenging feat, but the hard work was well worth it. I am a music director at my home parish, where we’d be married. David designed the church’s sound system--we had spent many date nights working on it!

The students in my choir begged to sing at our wedding. I knew it would be a bit challenging to coordinate all of it, but I really wanted to have them there. I work with grade school, middle school, and high school students; as much as I wanted our wedding day to be private, I knew having them there would give them a glimpse of a godly spouse that they deserved as well. I wanted to show them real love was worth waiting for.

David and I absolutely love string quartets, and he actually composed all of the music for the quartet. It was heavenly. We promised each other that our wedding gifts to each other would be giving of ourselves to the other and our music.

Since music is so interconnected to our souls and our praise to the Lord, it seemed fitting to compose music together for the big day. It made us feel more connected to each other and to our heavenly Father.

While David wrote the music for the quartet, I wrote all of the arrangements for the choirs. We had about fifty students singing at the wedding, accompanied by the strings, as well as family and friends.

I walked down the aisle to a song I heard in a dream from the Lord. In this dream, I was walking down a long aisle in a forest to the Lord. While walking towards him, I heard this beautiful choir of angels singing "Set Me As A Seal" from Song of Songs. I woke up from the dream and composed the choral arrangement as quickly as my hands could write. I wanted this to be the song by which I walked down the aisle to my groom.

There are two times in my lifetime I will be walking down an aisle (Lord willing): one to my husband, and the other when I walk down the aisle of heaven to meet my Lord. As I walked down the aisle on my wedding day to this song from my dream, I felt like I was walking towards both David and Jesus at the same time.

I was overwhelmed by emotion while the strings played David's music and my students sang in their beautiful voices. I will never be able to describe that moment in words, but it was such a gift.

One of my favorite moments was having my dad, my aunt, my uncle, and my two sisters play and sing "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" during the Preparation of the Gifts, which were brought up by David's family. It was just so special to have all my family, friends, teachers, and students at our wedding as we started our marriage. The entire congregation sang during our Mass, and the room was filled with immense music and joy.

The Holy Spirit was with us that day -just thinking about it brings me to tears. That Mass brought us a glimpse of heaven here on earth. What a gift it was to start our marriage with receiving Holy Communion. I will never forget that day.

Marriage is so deeply intertwined between God and the bride and groom. I felt the Lord tying us together with his grace and love in ways I can never describe. I loved praying with my groom on our wedding day. Kneeling beside him at the foot of the cross before receiving Holy Communion was so very special, especially since, as music ministers, we usually don’t sit next to each other at Mass.

I felt the Lord's presence with us in every single moment of our big day. I highly encourage couples to pray together. Write your own prayer, go to Adoration, confession, Mass, all of it--together--as frequently as you can. It allows the Lord to mold your relationship in the ways he designed it to be.

Find ways to have private moments with each other and with the Lord on your wedding day. It makes it even more what it is designed to be--a sacramental day.