It seems that when times get tough, we look for more meaning in our lives, especially in big life events like getting married. At least, that’s what I’m gathering from a recent Christian Science Monitor article.

While engaged couples bemoan a recession that’s forcing them to scale back their spending, a different conversation is also bubbling: Will the economic downturn help focus attention on the religious importance of the wedding ceremony or even reacquaint some with a faith tradition from which they’ve drifted?

“You have to ask yourself what’s important,” Weir says. “How many decorations do you really need? We are tied to the Catholic Church. If getting married is a leap of faith, than this is the place to do it.”

If that’s the case, then I have a few pictures to show you of churches I’ve decorated. Oddly enough, while I’ve decorated my fair share of churches, I failed to take pictures of most of them. In my seven years of snapping digital photos, I think these photos are all I’ve got of church decorations.

And by the way, the wedding pictured above was from my mom’s last wedding, which took place at St. Elizabeth’s in Rowland Heights.

I’ve mostly decorated Catholic and Iglesia churches. In my experience, Catholic churches don’t allow a lot of decorations. If you want pew decorations, you have to use rubber bands, clips or stands — no tape! That’s probably a basic rule of thumb for any church now — they like to minimize the damage from tape to the finish of their pews.

Above, the altar of Our Lady of Angels, with some minimal draping. Want a closer look?

In any other setting, this set up would be very visual. But the cathedral is expansive, so it got kind of lost in all the space and behind the rest of the furniture on the altar.

This church is an Iglesia chapel, where we were allowed to be a bit more liberal with the decorations. OK, a lot more liberal. Stands covered with white, flowing cloth were placed at every fourth pew opening and held an arrangement of stock, stargazers and roses. The big deal here is the front getting some heavy draping treatment. Not a lot of churches allow this kind of decoration, and in fact, this chapel may no longer allow it.

Here’s a closer look. Basically, there are three layers of draping here — white crystal organza, English netting and that sparkly white (and much thicker) material. This set up probably took at least an hour, since I try to make the loops symmetrical. Also, I should add that I do not plan my draping designs (I don’t really call them designs, but there really isn’t a better word — plans?) in advance. I usually drape by ear — get it? — which of course takes time.