Martha and Andrew will be getting married at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in West Los Angeles at 2 PM. Martha has attended St. Timothy’s for the past five and a half years and Andrew has attended and enjoyed many a mass there as well. They are both big fans of the gorgeous stained-glass windows, the Spanish altarpiece, and, of course, Father Paul Vigil’s homilies.
Andrew is a Coptic Orthodox Christian (translation: a Christian from Egypt) and the ceremony will be a traditional Coptic Orthodox wedding ceremony. This means there will be crowns people. Yes, Martha will practically be Kate Middleton and Andrew will look way better than Prince William (let’s be real, how many times have you actually seen William wearing a crown??).
The ceremony will be led by Father Louka Sidarous, Father Kyrollos Wassily, and the newly ordained, Father Angelos Guirgus, of St. Mercurius and St. Abraam Church of Torrance, CA. Andrew has attended St. Mercurius and St. Abraam Church in Torrance with his family since he was born and Martha has attended and enjoyed many a service there as well. Andrew and Martha are big fans of the beautiful architecture and artwork that adorns the church and, of course, the gorgeous music that accompanies each service.
Directions to St. Timothy’s Catholic Church:
10425 W. Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90064 http://www.sttimothyla.org/index.html
St. Timothy’s is located on the corner of Pico Blvd and Beverly Glen Blvd, right across from the Rancho Park Golf Course. There is abundant street parking available around the church and there is also plenty of parking in the golf course’s parking lot across the street from the church (on the south side of Pico Blvd.).
So wait, it’s going to be a Coptic Orthodox ceremony, in a Catholic Church? Aren’t they two different religions?
No silly! Here’s why:
After the birth of Christianity, Jesus sent his disciples out to start churches to spread the Word (e.g. St. Peter to Rome and St. Mark to Alexandria, Egypt). The church in Rome would end up becoming the Catholic Church while the church in Alexandria would go on to become the origin of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Thus, the two churches have many similarities and in fact share a common creed of faith as this creed was created during the first ecumenical council of Nicea in AD 325, which establishes the true backbone of our faith. In reality, although we have learned and follow different traditions and practices, we share the same faith.
The wedding will signify the official start of our lives together. We took the first step amongst our families on May 19, 2012 during the betrothal (engagement) ceremony officiated by Father Kyrollos on the UCLA campus with the deacon stylings of Meena Archie. Our union was made official and was blessed along with our rings to provide us with God’s direction while we worked toward September 27, 2014! We both are wearing our rings on our right hand and on the wedding day when it is all official, we will wear them for the first time on our left. Hope they fit!