Radiant in their bridal finery, 19 pairs of brides and grooms recently marched down the aisle of St. Mary’s Parish Church in Vancouver for their church wedding.

Among them are Filipino couples Arnold and Jhoanna Tandingan, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary in December.

“This has been my dream to be married in church,” said Johanna, who has been civilly married with Arnold since 1999.

Like the Tandigans, Arnaldo and Christina Ang also joined the mass wedding.

Arnaldo originally wanted the wedding to be a surprise for Christina, his wife of 27 years. But the church requires both parties to be present during the preparations, so he could not keep it a secret.

“We were supposed to hold our church wedding at that time in December,” said Arnaldo. “But in November, my father died, and then we got separated when I worked abroad so that’s why it took awhile.”

St. Mary’s Parish has held mass weddings since 2016 to make it affordable for couples to get married in church.

Its parish priest said they organized the mass wedding so that the union of these couples will be blessed by the church.

“We found many couples, young couples, so many years they're living together and all that,” said Fr. Joseph de Souza. “Why not try and give them an opportunity to come together and have the sacrament of marriage?"

"For certain reasons, technical reasons, they could not contract this sacrament of marriage," the priest added. "So, we said, let us give them an opportunity.”

The event’s lead organizer, pastoral assistant Lorna Acosta said preparations for the mass wedding took several months.

Aside from making sure that everything is ready for the big day, Acosta also ensured that the paperwork required by the church were submitted by the couples.

For the mass wedding, St. Mary’s waived the regular church and priest’s fees. But the couples shared in the expenses for the photos and videos, church decorations and flowers, the wedding cake, and the reception.

The food was provided by Dale’s, a Filipino-owned catering service. 

The church’s faith formation coordinator Edwin Cruz, however, stressed that more than the pomp and ceremony, what is really important is for these couples to receive the marriage sacrament in church.

“There are those who are not aware that sacramental marriage is God promising something through you when you exchange vows,” he said in Filipino. “And if God makes a promise, he will not break it, not ever.”