St. James Parish

The church was one of the prettiest in the Arlington Heights area, which is why we chose it, and the priest we originally spoke with was very nice. But that is where the pleasantries end. The music minister was incredibly strict on what music was allowed and we basically had the choice of hymns or classical. The church discouraged us from making the ceremony personal in anyway and instead tried its best to make our ceremony like a typical Sunday Mass. We were not allowed to decorate the church beyond altar arrangements, and we were not allowed to throw anything outside the church (birdseed, rose petals, etc.). We were given a 2 hour time frame to use the church which was so strictly enforced that the “wedding coordinator” who was present threatened to mandate that our priest cut his homily short because the limo driver had messed up and the ceremony started late. She also forced our grandmothers and mothers to walk down the aisle before the groom and groomsmen were even present so they were not part of the processional. Finally, because we were delayed in starting, they would not let us take more than 5 pictures (literally—5) at the altar because they needed to set up for the mass starting a half hour later. The church was pretty much a nightmare.