Wedding Photographers & Videographers at Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption, Lancaster

A wedding at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption puts you in the most historic church in Lancaster, on the top of Main Hill downtown. For your wedding photos and video, the long center aisle, the beauty of the restored sanctuary and the scale of the building, 172 feet from end to end, give your photographer and videographer a ceremony setting that feels grand from the very first step.

The basilica is for your wedding ceremony, either a nuptial Mass or a ceremony without Mass, and the reception follows elsewhere. A dressing room for the bride and attendants is available on the ground floor of the rectory, open two hours before the wedding. The music is led by the parish organists and cantors, and for videographers the parish allows a stationary camera in the choir loft as long as it isn't in the organist's way, a fine vantage point for the whole processional.

Weddings are celebrated on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. or 1:30 p.m., with the rehearsal the evening before. Posed pictures inside take place right after the recessional and should be finished within 30 minutes, so plan the rest of your wedding photos for the reception or another spot downtown. The parish keeps decorations simple, usually two live arrangements near the altar. Weddings here are for active, registered parishioners and children of long-time parishioners, so talk with the parish about your situation first.

• Meet with a priest or deacon at least six months before your wedding day.
• Plan time for Pre-Cana or Engaged Encounter.
• Share the parish's wedding guidelines with your photographer and videographer.

A little about the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption

St. Mary is one of the oldest parishes in Ohio, founded around 1818 or 1819, and the present church was consecrated on June 5, 1864, during the Civil War. After a sanctuary renovation and the parish's bicentennial, the Vatican named it a minor basilica.