stanford memorial church

I love this place. We haven't yet gotten married but I am really looking forward to having the ceremony there. The staff that makes this all put together is wonderful. You do have to be affiliated with Stanford or their church in some way or another, but it's not as difficult as it sounds.
If you are a student at Stanford and plan to get married within 6 months of May, you should be able to get a discount on the ceremony fees.

You're required to take marriage counseling which turns out not to be a bad thing at all--the counselors help you to think about your long term goals as a couple, there is a wedding coordinator and the organist who administers the wedding music has a very brilliant personality that makes him seem really fun. The staff will help you puzzle out everything from the stress of coordinating your own wedding to what is the difference between a recessional and a processional?

On top of that, the church is beautiful, which means you may not need ceremony flowers at all.

Memorial Church is absolutely beautiful, and I've dreamed of getting married there since I was a wide-eyed freshman.

Mary Gallagher, the coordinator for MemChu, is an absolute gem and we were so lucky to work with her for our ceremony. Also, Father Nathan and the rest of the staff of the Catholic Community at Stanford were very supportive and helpful during our marriage preparation.

This is a breathtakingly gorgeous church to get married in if you're affiliated with Stanford. They can do up to 4 weddings a day and only give you a 2 h 15 min timeslot where you have the church though, so you have to be able to work within their rules. They have restrictions for where the photographer and videographer can stand, where you can put flowers (limited), and the clergy read a pretty cookie-cutter script for the ceremony. However, you are able to personalize the wedding by having an assisting clergy give a 3-5 min homily, choosing readings/hymns, and incorporating cultural traditions. My wedding went extremely smoothly and they do a great job of making sure the ceremony goes without a hitch even if you're nervous and can't remember!

Stanford Memorial Church is gorgeous! The church is amazingly beautiful. I graduated from Stanford and I have to admit as a student, the church feels like an old hat because you see it everyday. That said, I don’t believe that there is any church like it in the bay area. Saint Ignatius and Basilica of St. Joseph come close, but sorry its no MemChu to me! The mosiac tiles, the stained glass windows, and the intricate detailing are so incredible. Our guests greatly enjoyed the church and it was an especially nice treat for all our relatives who came from out of town. Mary the coordinator is a very kind lady and extremely professional. Father Carl, one of the priests of the catholic community, was wonderful. He was one of the nicest priests and easy going priests that I have met. One tip, if you get married here—be sure to pay attention carefully at the rehearsal. The ceremony can be a little complicated to remember, especially when you are anxious and excited the day before your wedding. Make sure at least one of you is paying close attention! We were so happy for the opportunity to be married here and highly recommend it to everyone who is able to marry at Stanford Memorial Church.

The Stanford Church was a stunning backdrop to our ceremony. Everyone was professional, on time, and did everything right. Our only minor complaint was that they had strict guidelines that we had to make sure we abided by. However, given the beauty of the church these guidelines help to preserve the atmosphere and the beauty of our ceremony. We couldn't have been more pleased.

You need to have certain affiliation with the university in order to be able to get married there, and it's a little pricey but it's well worth the money. The architectural details of the place are so striking that we didn't spend any money on flowers for the church, I made some pew decorations from the paper source kit and had some ribbons, so saved some $$ on flowers.

We had the 5pm slot (they typically have 11, 1, 3 and 5 pm slots on Saturdays), so it was nice to be the last slot of the day and the Main Quad is not invaded by tourists! The coordinator was very nice and helpful. As part of the package you also get a counselor, which was very nice. My FI was out of town during wedding planning and they were very helpful in arranging meetings when he was going to be in-town etc. We also had a full catholic mass and worked with Father David, along with a concelebrant (my FI's best friend from middle school).

Since 90% of our guests were from out of town, the whole atmosphere of the Stanford Main Quad and the church really made a great impression on them.

The Rev. Scotty McLennan performed a beautiful service, allowing us to substitute two poems that are important to us for a sermon. The church provides a wedding planner as part of the contract, which was wonderful.