I don't think our families were too surprised when we told them what we had planned for our wedding, because we had been going to the TLM regularly for a long time.
Some of our guests knew the TLM from their childhood or early adulthood, but had not been able to attend one since, amongst them were my grandparents. My grandfather gave me his Missal when he heard that I had started hearing the Mass in the old Rite with Jens – he was very pleased when we told him about the wedding and he keeps saying that he enjoyed it very much.
Others had been introduced to the TLM later in their lives – they were very happy to have the opportunity to attend a Solemn Mass (Missa Solemnis).
Not so weird or boring
Most of our guests though - especially friends and family members our age --had never been to a TLM. Some were curious, others rather skeptical. The latter seemed surprised that the Mass didn't turn out as “weird“ or boring as they had thought.
In the end the responses were very positive: almost all our guests found it very solemn and moving.
Perfect motivation to learn the Mass
We soon had to learn that there are people (even within the Church) who strongly dislike the thought of the Latin Mass being held.
Knowing this, we are even more thankful for all the support we had during the process of planning the wedding and now as a married couple. There was the priest, Jens' former lecturer at university who lives in Brasil and who started teaching himself the TLM when we told him we would get married and asked him to do the ceremony. He had always wanted to learn the TLM and this was the perfect motivation. How could we ever thank him enough for everything he did for us?
Then there was the old friend from university – he and Jens had been studying Catholic theology together (Jens will be a school teacher, the friend became a priest). He was the deacon in the Mass. He was ordained in the Extraordinary Form, thus very experienced, and could help all of us and guide us. He would also remind us that we'd only need to trust whenever we struggled with all the stress and he heard our confessions on the morning of the wedding day.
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