St. Mary's Catholic Church

Our wedding preparations with St. Mary's were wonderful, and brought us closer together as a couple. Fr. Kleinmann was able to use the things we talked about as part of our homily which was such a thoughtful and personal touch.
St. Mary's is absolutely beautiful, especially since the renovation. We used Paige Johnson as our cantor, Steve Matera as our trumpeteer, and Charles Saik as our organist. It was really an outstanding trio. While Paige was singing Ave Maria, I had tears in my eyes.
The church and music were all that we could ask for!

This was a beautiful old church in the heart of Old Town. The location was very important to us, and we wanted to make sure it was easy for our guests to get from hotel, to ceremony, to reception. It could have been easier. Everything was perfect from the music, to the look and feel of the place. The site was also large enough to hold up to 200+ people. We were very fortunate to be able to get married at this location, and recommend it to any other Catholics in the area. It also had a very nice garden out to the side for pictures after the ceremony.

St. Mary's is a beautiful historic catholic church in Old Town Alexandria, VA. It is gorgeous and a picturesque place for a wedding ceremony. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get into the church though for a wedding ceremony. You must live within the church boundaries to even belong to the church. Once you are a member the staff and priests are fantastic. They have you go through a series of meetings (which are actually pretty painless, make for good conversations, and help you as a couple learn a lot about values and expectations).

They have an excellent music demonstration prior to your wedding where all the cantors and organist come and play all the songs you can choose from. It helps you decide what songs to use during your ceremony and what cantor and organist you would like.

There were two difficulties I found. One, there was no wedding coordinator there the night of the rehearsal or the wedding day. I had to have relatives open the doors for the bridal party to proceed down the aisle. It was very difficult to not have someone there directing people and focusing on the timing of everything. Two, there is no place for the bride and bridal party to get ready or hide before the ceremony. I basically pulled up in the limo and walked down the aisle.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better church and location. It was beautiful and I loved our priest!