In what way is Gatlinburg like Christ And St. Luke’s?

They’re both desirable wedding destinations. Each year Gatlinburg, Tennessee, welcomes over 600,000 tourists who have come to participate in a wedding…or just to attend one. It’s the most popular wedding site in the south.

Similarly, Christ and St. Luke’s was for a long time Hampton Roads’ hottest wedding spot. Until two years ago. Present clergy stopped the stampede.

A local wedding planner told me that this caused a great deal of grief among those wanting a super-special wedding, “It’s the most beautiful church in southeastern Virginia. Everyone picked that place first. Brides fought over the best dates in June. But I guess that’s history.”

Yes. No more come-one, come-all weddings at Christ and St. Luke’s. Nowadays if you want to get married there, you’d better be a member…or maybe you should marry a member…or possibly you might be a candidate for membership.

Furthermore, you will submit to pastoral counseling over a period of months. Skip out on the counseling? No wedding for you.

Last but not least, your wedding, whether planned by a professional or not, will proceed along traditional lines. Our church wedding consultant has the first and last word at all times during rehearsals and the actual ceremony. You stand where you’re told, exactly where you’re told. You say what you’re told to say. No cutesy-poo new age stuff. Your wedding will be pretty much what happened when George Washington married Martha Custis.

Last summer Christ and St. Luke’s refused a celebrity wedding. The bride intended to spend over $300,000 on flowers alone, arches of orchids over the aisle all down the center of the church. That bride and groom were even Episcopalians…just not of Christ and St. Luke’s congregation.

So if you anticipate nuptials during summer 2009, I recommend Gatlinburg. It’s difference from Christ and St. Luke’s is that Gatlinburg will welcome you. No blood test, no waiting period; buy a license and you can roller skate down the aisle with a paper bag over your head singing the Barney song… 24/7.