Wedding Photographers & Videographers at St. Mary Church (Bethel), Bethel

A wedding at St. Mary Church in Bethel joins old and new. You walk in through the parish's original stone church, built with stones from nearby Clover Creek and now the gathering space, and into the newer church beyond it. For your photographer and videographer, that stone entry is a warm, textured setting for pictures with your wedding party around the wedding ceremony, if the parish agrees.

Inside the newer church, the sanctuary furniture was custom-made from cherry wood, and the crucifix from the old church hangs in the new one. St. Mary sits just outside the center of Bethel on State Route 125, the only Catholic church in town, and it shares a pastor with St. Peter in New Richmond as part of the Stella Maris Family of Parishes.

The parish asks engaged couples to contact the pastor at least eight months before the date they hope to set, so call the parish office as soon as you're engaged. When you meet, ask about a dressing room, music and the parish's guidelines for photos and video during the liturgy. Your wedding videographer will want to know where a camera can stand for the vows and how the room carries sound. Leave time on your wedding day for wedding photos in the stone gathering space on the way out.

• Call the parish office at least eight months before your hoped-for date.
• Ask for the parish's photo and video guidelines.
• Visit with your photographer and videographer to see both the old and new church.

A little about St. Mary Church

St. Mary was established as a parish in 1941, and parishioners gave time, money and labor to build the stone church, where the first Mass was celebrated in 1942. A new church was added onto it in 2006, and the original became its entry.