Prayerfully Become a Mrs.

Catholic singer and speaker Jackie Francois Angel wrote about how marriage prep was more important than wedding planning for her and her husband.

In a blog post entitled "Wedding of My Dreams?" at JackieandBobby.com, Catholic singer and speaker Jackie Francois Angel wrote about how marriage prep was more important than wedding planning for her and her husband.

Christ was the focus: "The night before our wedding, we decided to have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at a nearby chapel after our rehearsal dinner. This intimate chapel was filled with close friends and family and lots of candles and incense. Our friend Ryan and his bride, Terese, led the music. Since practically all our friends are musicians, worship leaders or singers, the chapel was immersed in beautiful singing, sounding like a choir of angels in heaven. Our baby priest friend (ordained a year), Father Victor, gave a short reflection and then had everyone pray over us. It was so beautiful. I can’t imagine having a better way to usher in the day of our wedding. My heart was overwhelmed with peace and joy. I went home to sleep in my bed for the last time as a single woman, knowing that my mind, heart, soul and body would be taken care of by a man who loves God first and is willing to ‘run the race’ to heaven by my side. I slept like a baby."

Then Angel described the big day: "The day of our wedding finally came. Just as everyone said, it went by so quickly. A few things that really stuck out from the day as beautiful ‘God moments’: praying the Rosary with my bridesmaids while across town my bridegroom was praying the Rosary with his groomsmen; my bridesmaids laying hands on me and praying for me before walking down the aisle; having a bishop and five priests preside and a few seminarians as servers; having a choir of friends led by Ike Ndolo and Sarah Kroger pray and lead the music for Mass; having 300 people sing so loudly in Church that my dad (who isn’t Catholic) said, ‘I’ve never heard people sing that loud in a Catholic church — not even at Christmas!’; listening to our baby priest friend (ordained three months), Father Ben, give an awesome, funny, prayerful homily about free, total, faithful, fruitful love; taking vows and getting married; offering up the gifts of bread and wine together as a married couple; praying with my spouse after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time as a married couple; offering flowers to Our Lady as my sister, Claudine, and Sarah Kroger sang Danielle Rose’s version of Hail, Holy Queen; and walking back down that aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Angel!"