Maryellen + Sean | Classic Midwest Wedding

Gorgeous blue and white textures celebrate a love that blooms outward in service, thanksgiving, community, and self-gift.

Before ever meeting, Maryellen and Sean had both come to a point of accepting God’s call to the vocation of marriage. “We knew that God was preparing each of us for our future spouse. We still knew we had to take an active role in God’s plan, but he was going to take the lead,” says Maryellen.

Their first date began with attending Mass together. From that point forward, Maryellen and Sean made efforts to keep prayer a foundational part of their relationship by attending daily Mass and praying regular novenas for various feasts and intentions.

It makes sense, then, that Sean’s proposal was also rooted in prayer. On the final day of a novena for marriage and family, on the Feast of Our Lady’s Nativity, Maryellen and Sean prayed the Stations of the Cross. At the Twelfth Station--Jesus dies on the Cross--Sean got down on one knee.

From the Bride:

Throughout our engagement we made an intentional effort to receive the sacrament of reconciliation once a month and continued our practice of daily Mass attendance and regular novena prayers. We also found a great blessing in the many beautiful models of Christian love in our family, friends, and especially the saints. Our intercessory prayer found a particular home in devotions to St. Joseph, Sts. Anne and Joachim, and St. Angela. To this day they remain steadfast companions, more so than we will ever understand in this life.

Our wedding day can be summarized in three words: joy, love, and laughter. The nuptial Mass was the beginning, and the core, of the festivities.

We chose to invite everyone in our parish to the Mass, in addition to our other close friends and family; it was truly beautiful and moving seeing so many come together to share in the celebration of our love.

When choosing the readings for the Mass, we prayed God would lead us to the passages that embodied a sense of living for others. We chose the Gospel passage from John that speaks of Christ asking his Father to make the love of his followers full and complete.

Knowing how much we have been formed by our own families in which we are a part, we know that the love that we share will not be complete unless it is lived out in service of God’s people.

We took a similar approach to the song selections. In particular, our offertory hymn was chosen to honor the memory of a friend who has truly found this fullness of love. The Mass closed with “O God Beyond All Praising.”

Our celebrant, Fr. Kevin, spoke beautifully about the journey we had been on together and the journey that still lay ahead. Near the end of his homily, he told us to deliberately look out at the congregation, inviting us to look upon the faces of all those who had come together to celebrate and share in our joy.

We were overwhelmed by the love present in that moment, in that space, and were brought to tears even before the time came for us to profess our vows.

The vows, of course, were a highlight of not just the Mass but the whole day. As we committed our lives to one another before our families, friends, and the Lord, we knew we’d never be alone in the many joys and trials to come. It’s hard to accurately describe the all-embracing love we experienced in that moment, both from those physically present and those with us in prayer.

After receiving Communion together for the first time as husband and wife, we presented flowers to Mary and Joseph. The Holy Family has been a powerful example for us, so it only felt right to devote our marriage to their intercession.

Just days before the wedding, one of the bridesmaids had a family emergency and was not able to attend. We presented her bouquet to Mary and Joseph during the Mass, not only for our devotion but also to ask for their intercession in our dear friend’s trials and heartbreak.

We were so overwhelmed with the beauty and joy of the Mass that it almost surprised us to remember we still had a party to attend! Moments before we walked into the reception hall the DJ cranked “On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons and called everyone to their feet. As we entered, hand-in-hand, the room flooded with joy and excitement. Tears came once again.

The joy continued with phenomenal toasts by the best man, maid of honor, and father of the bride. Each toast was both incredibly touching and absolutely hilarious.

At a young age, Sean witnessed a foot-washing ceremony at a family friend’s wedding and vowed to one day do the same at his own. We chose to exemplify Christ’s self-sacrificing love at the Last Supper by washing one another’s feet.

Our wedding day was as much a celebration of us as it was of those who formed us. In the act of giving of ourselves to each other in marriage, we were not just giving of our individual selves, but of our families, our communities, and our loved ones; our past, present, and future lives.

It is so fitting, therefore, to call marriage a sacrament of communion in service of God’s Church--the whole mystical body of Christ.