Wedding Photographers & Videographers at Immaculate Conception Church (Connellsville), Connellsville

A wedding at Immaculate Conception Church in Connellsville means walking down the aisle of a pure Gothic church on East Crawford Avenue, 129 feet long and 65 feet wide. Locals have long called it the Irish church on the hill. Twelve large stained glass windows imported from Germany line the walls, telling stories from the lives of Jesus and Mary, and marble altars stand at the front. For wedding photos, that long nave and the color from the windows give your photographer a lot to work with, and the brick front and bell tower make a fine backdrop for the wedding party afterward.

The music here is a highlight for your videographer. The church's pipe organ has more than 1,600 pipes and was built in a style usually found in big concert halls, and it is still played today, so your processional will sound full and rich on your wedding video. A long Gothic church carries sound, so ask your videographer to listen at the rehearsal and plan where to place microphones. The bells in the tower, now on computerized settings, still ring over the neighborhood.

Immaculate Conception is part of the Yough Catholic Community, the partner parishes of Connellsville and Dunbar, and the parish office for all four churches is on South Second Street. The parishes refer couples to their partner parish marriage guidelines, which aren't posted online, so call the office to ask about dates, marriage preparation through the Diocese of Greensburg, and whether couples who aren't parishioners may have their wedding ceremony here. Ask too about photography and video guidelines for your wedding day.

• Call the parish office early to check dates and the steps for getting married here.
• Ask for the partner parish marriage guidelines in writing.
• Bring your photographer and videographer to see the windows and hear the organ before the day.

A little about Immaculate Conception Church

Connellsville's Catholic parish dates to the early 1870s, when a house off Orchard Alley became its first church. After a fire destroyed the second church in 1892, the cornerstone of the present one was laid in September 1896, with bricks saved from the old church built into its walls. The German windows and marble altars came with a renovation in 1930 and 1931.