Perpendicular to the Quad sits Hendricks Chapel, known for its commitment to diversity and acceptance. During the school year, it is no stranger to guest lectures, concerts and religious services that occur within its limestone walls. But with the absence of students over the summer, it remains busy by hosting a different kind of event.

Weddings.

Hendricks Chapel wedding administrator Elizabeth Cronk said the normal wedding season begins the weekend before Memorial Day and lasts until the second weekend in August. Cronk has supervised the Hendricks Chapel weddings for six years and said that each season consists of approximately 20–25 weddings.

After working as a dean’s assistant for one year, Cronk was approached to take over as the wedding administrator. She had no real experience in wedding planning, but accepted the position because she enjoyed working with couples.

“What I did was I took what was already here and made it into my own by creating a wedding packet, updating the policies, doing a lot of research and just generally making the position work well for me,” Cronk said.

Every summer, Cronk works with two SU students who are her wedding coordinators. Seniors Lauren Emmi and Sarah Russell both are from the Syracuse area, and neither had experience in wedding planning before Cronk hired them. While Cronk mainly works with the couples during the months prior to the wedding, her student coordinators work during rehearsals and ceremonies to ensure that the day goes smoothly.

Russell, a chemistry major, said even though the job is fast-paced and involves a lot of running up and down stairways, she has no problem doing the work.

“It’s stressful because it’s the most important day of these couples’ life, but the job is so gratifying at the end,” she said.

Emmi, a child and family studies major, said she has since considered being an event planner and has loved working at Hendricks Chapel since she began three summers ago.

“My favorite part is after all the craziness and chaos, when I finally get to open the doors and let the bride walk down the aisle,” Emmi said. “Once I see she’s down the aisle, I know that all the work is worth it.”

Emmi added that she loves seeing couples incorporate their unique ideas and twists into their weddings, including a couple who illustrated their love for baseball by lining the pews with buckets of fake grass and using beer bottle caps on the groomsmen’s boutonnieres.

Russell said the most interesting ceremony she witnessed this summer was the wedding of Stephanie Guillet-Gonzalez and Jeffrey Gonzalez. The couple requested that only Disney music be played during their ceremony and a horse-drawn carriage reminiscent of Cinderella’s pumpkin picked them up from the chapel.

“Steph and I are both big Disney fans,” Gonzalez said. “Her father’s nickname for her was actually ‘Clochette,’ which is Tinker Bell in French, so we also made the reception Peter Pan-themed.”

What appealed to the couple about Hendricks Chapel was its acceptance of all faiths. Gonzalez said neither he nor his wife practice any specific religion, so finding a place that could host a secular ceremony was a bit tricky for them.

Guillet-Gonzalez, who received her master’s degree in French literature from SU in 2006, said that both she and her husband wanted to have their wedding in the Syracuse area. With her family living in Syracuse and his family living in Buffalo, Hendricks Chapel seemed to be the perfect choice.

“It was also just the ease of planning everything,” she said. “Between us bringing in a different chaplain and working with the wedding planners, there were no issues.”

Alumna Jessica Barkley received her master’s in music education in 2010 through the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She said that using one of the reverends at Hendricks Chapel was a great experience for her and husband, considering that religion is not a part of their everyday life.

“It was really refreshing because she made us feel so welcome and comfortable being married in a church,” Barkley said. “I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Both Barkley and her husband were raised in the Central New York area and grew up watching SU’s basketball games. She said the connections they made with the university influenced their decision to get married at Hendricks Chapel.

“The community connection of Syracuse becomes a part of you,” Barkley said. “It’s such a big part of the city itself that it’s so hard to escape.”

Father Linus DeSantis officiates many of the Catholic weddings at Hendricks Chapel and meets with each couple several times to prepare them for married life. He uses a pre-marriage program called Facilitating Open Couple Communication Understanding Study, which allows couples to address any possible problematic or stressful situations before and after the wedding.

“What’s great about FOCCUS is that the couples realize there’s more to be done than just plan the wedding,” DeSantis said.

In the event that couples are two different denominations, DeSantis tries to find the common ground between them. He attempts to find a spiritual connection with each other, while still remaining true to their own religion.

Melissa Rocco, a 2008 alumna of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and her husband Joe Rocco, had different beliefs and the couple wanted to choose a wedding location where both sides of the family would feel comfortable.

“I knew I wanted a traditional wedding, but I’m not affiliated with any religion, while Joe is Catholic,” Melissa said. “But I knew that Hendricks was open to everyone.”

Melissa said Hendricks Chapel is one of the iconic locations that people associate with SU and is the type of beautiful place that she always envisioned getting married in.

“If Syracuse is any binding force in the relationship, Hendricks is definitely a prime choice for a couple,” she said. “Having our wedding at Hendricks just makes it another part of our love story.”

Published on August 25, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu