MUSIC AND VIDEOGRAPHY INFORMATION FOR WEDDINGS AT SWEETEST HEART OF MARY!
Below is all the information from the online music and videography selection form for your easy reference.
The online form to make your choices is below. Please do a preliminary submission as soon as possible to get the planning started. You can ALWAYS go back and make changes, right up until 1 week before the wedding. I will be here for you every step of the way!
MUSIC
As Director of Music at our parish, I will be at the center of your music planning and will coordinate your videography and coordinate with your photographer (we have a wonderful list of preferred photography vendors!) We also have a special relationship with some of the best musicians in the Detroit Metro Area. The following two videos were shot at weddings at Sweetest Heart, featuring myself, Theresa Weiler (soprano) and Hektor Qyteti (violin). “The Prayer” is a popular request, and I urge you to give it a listen! I always recommend this combination of musicians as the best money can buy!
RONALD R. WEILER II, Director of Music, organist and cantor (baritone)
This is me. I am an organist, professional singer, and vocal music director of thirty years experience. Having trained at Interlochen Center for the Arts and Albion College, I have directed such prominent local choirs as Vox Humana of Detroit, the Madrigal Chorale of Southfield, and the Macomb Community Children’s Choir. For 25 years, I served as the Vocal Music director for the 6-12 grade choral program at Detroit Country Day School (and recently retired from teaching!) My choirs there performed throughout the Metro Detroit area and as far afield as Rome and Vienna. As a church music director, I have served at two suburban parishes in the Archdiocese before joining Mother of Divine Mercy parish in 2014.
THERESA WEILER, cantor and soloist (soprano)
Ms. Weiler is a classically trained professional soprano, proficient in both traditional and contemporary styles. After receiving training in Washington, D.C. and the College of William and Mary, Ms. Weiler moved to the Detroit Area, where she was a member and featured soloist with the Madrigal Chorale of Southfield for several years before leaving to focus on sacred music. Ms. Weiler has performed as a soloist and section leader in churches throughout the metro area, including the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Sweetest Heart of Mary Church for countless weddings. A couple more samples of her work are here:
INSTRUMENTALISTS:
Due to the particularities of our historic parish, plus the space limitations of our choice loft, we limit instrumentalists in the choir loft to a few seasoned professionals familiar with our community. Please let me manage the hiring any additional musicians you may be interested in. I can consolidate the payments and since I have contacts with some of the best musicians in the area, the results will be superb. Typical additional instruments include trumpet and/or violin. Some also choose to have a String Quartet play before the wedding as their guests arrive.
THERE IS MUCH MORE INFORMATION ON THE PLANNING FORM AVAILABLE AT THE LINK AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE!
VIDEOGRAPHY
All weddings are recorded using a Multi (up to 17!) camera state of the art remote 4k video system with 48k digital audio. I strongly urge you to consider our in-house service for your videography (and/or live stream)! Check out the church's live stream Sundays at 10am on Facebook for a little glimpse into the quality of our camera setup. There is NO obligation to have videography, but we capture the weddings in our church “just in case”!
In some cases, you can save money if you already have a videographer by letting them know they do not need to cover, or can lightly cover the ceremony itself. The church has strict guidelines as to where videographers can go during any sacred liturgy, so using our custom system is really the way to go! Let me know if you’d like some samples. We did some amazing wedding capture in 2024!
EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A “FULL DAY” VIDEOGRAPHER for your day, please still consider perhaps even a highlight video! A video of your Wedding Mass/Ceremony can be a wonderful compliment to a video done elsewhere of your entire day. Catholic weddings are such intricate and unique celebrations of marriage, representing thousands of years of tradition and we can capture every sacred moment of that beauty and reverence and joy with 45 years of knowledge of the Catholic Mass! We work along side of guest videographers all the time, who will have 1, two and maybe even 3 people on site, hoping to catch the best moments - with our system, all of our cameras are shooting the entire time and don’t miss a MOMENT! Additionally, we will have everything set up and ready to go a full 30 minutes before your wedding begins, without the crunch time for a videogrpher following you all day!
A custom edit capturing every special moment will be made for you (and can even do a special quick edit for you to take to your reception!). The video above has just a taste of what your ceremony video can look like! It is the BEST add-on for the cost!
Just recently we had to come back to the church to "recreate" a moment during the Mass from a wedding last summer. Apparently the hired videographer did not think that recording the bride's 80 year old grandfather singing "The Lord's Prayer" was important. I will record EVERYTHING and not a moment will be accidentally missed!
Other options and combinations of specialty videos also available! Get all the info you need at this link: