We had our ceremony at St. John the Baptist RC Church and our officiant was Deacon Vinny Pozzolano. Our contact for the ceremony music at the church was Liz McNeil and our cantor/singer was Alan Rubenstein and our organist was Jason Crockett for the wedding day.

First, I'll review the church itself. It is a charming and bright building with a cozy, country look (I wouldn't describe it as overly modern). There is ample seating and it looked capable of accommodating a wedding far more than double our size (we had approximately 130 people). The outside of the church has a classic white exterior and is perched on a picturesque hill surrounded by mature trees in a quiet little corner of Wading River. Since we were not from the area and wanted to be married in a Catholic Church, we were thrilled at the warm welcome we received from the congregation. Another plus: it is literally about a 4 to 5 minute drive away from our reception site, East Wind Caterers.

I have nothing but positive things to say about Deacon Vinny. He was available to talk to us from the very start and was happy to work with our schedules since we were traveling from a distance to meet with him. He helped to make the entire process of filing the appropriate paperwork and planning our day easy (my husband, Tim, was raised in the Anglican Church, so we needed to do a little extra work, but Deacon Vinny made it simple). He was also our retreat leader for our Pre-Cana class which was held for one entire Saturday rather than being spread out over several weeks, and it was one of the best experiences Tim and I were able to share during the planning process. His strong spiritual foundation and guidance helped us to really communicate with each other and reminded us to stay focused on the true meaning of the day. He also was very kind and supportive when I was going through a difficult patch a few weeks before the wedding due to stress; he really helped me to get past it so that I could move forward. I think it's worth mentioning that Deacon Vinny's sense of humor is another delightful trait that helped to put us at ease and bring a healthy dose of laughter to the day. We have nothing but respect for him and we plan to visit him in the future.

Liz McNeil was very helpful and knowledgeable. She provided us with different samples of the music that was available to us for the Ceremony and went over everything with us in detail. Alan and Jason did a very nice job at the ceremony and we had not complaints.

One note to other brides and grooms about the music at the ceremony: if you have your heart set on a procession or recessions with a particular Beatles or current pop song, be aware that they may refuse to play it. They have fairly strict rules when it comes to what they will play in the church; this did not matter for us because we were very happy to stay with classical wedding music.

There was a sizable fee to use the church because we were not parishioners, but it was more affordable than a couple of the other nearby churches and it is customary to make a donation. There was also a fee for the ceremony musicians, but again, we found this to be reasonable and in line with other costs we had seen elsewhere. We were happy to pay the fees because we knew it would benefit this wonderful church.

We were also pleased that we were able to have our ceremony on a Sunday, though we could only have the ceremony and not the full Mass (because it was a Sunday).

We loved all of the memories we made at St. John's and with Deacon Vinny. We hope to make more in the future.

We are so lucky to have been married at St. John's. When we first started wedding planning, I called literally dozens of Long Island churches, and most of them would not even speak to me unless me and/or my groom-to-be were members of the church. I grew up in Long Island, but no longer live there, so am not a current member of a LI church. By the time I called St. John's I was really disappointed and losing hope that I could have my ceremony in a Catholic Church. Boy was I surprised when they were so welcoming and friendly and flexible! We met with Deacon Fred, and immediately knew we wanted him to marry us. The rest is history! Deacon Fred and Bill (the wedding coordinator) were so reassuring and stress-free and made everything ceremony-related easy and even fun! We attended Pre Cana there, which we loved, and learned a lot from. The ceremony music was also really impressive! I would DEFINITELY recommend this church to anyone - one of our very best vendors!