St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church

This is a wonderful faith-​filled community. The masses are well attended, Bible studies are wonderful. There is a variety of ministries where you can serve The Lord. The priests are compassionate, warm and in love with The Lord. Father Dave’s homilies are very inspiring and they teach me about God’s love for me. Father Brendan is a dynamic priest who loves the Eucharistic Lord. Father Mario is a compassionate, caring priest who also loves Jesus. The church is beautiful, the views are spectacular but it is so much more than that! Here you can encounter Jesus and truly fall in love with him. Come and see!

Wonderful daily mass with Fr. Brendan. So good to hear the Word, praise the Lord and receive Him. Beautiful church with wonderful people. All are welcome, Catholic or not. Come visit anytime. «catholic» means «all», if you have never been inside a Catholic church or have been away, come visit. We welcome everyone.

Too bad most of the reviews are about weddings. This is first and foremost a community of faith. And a vibrant one. Its beautiful to be sure, but its real beauty is the people, the ministries, the liturgies and all the things that make it a real Christian community.
Go there for the weddings when you are invited, but go there for Mass on Sunday because you are always invited!

It was important for us to get married in a church and make our promise before God to always honor and cherish each other forever and ever :) and this was JUST the place to make our promise. Your guests will love it too. Breathtaking views of the water and natural lighting. You really feel like you’re in God’s house. It’s overwhelming the feelings you get when you walk in there. The wedding preparation with Father Mario was very informative and definitely set the foundation for our matrimony. Can’t thank him enough. Father Mel did our actual wedding ceremony and he was awesome too!
Our wedding coordinator, Vieda Cantacessi was really great! At the rehearsal everyone knew exactly where they were supposed to be and what time to arrive. Our wedding party was left with no questions. I can’t thank her enough for making the ceremony go so smoothly. I’ve heard horror stories of lax wedding coordinators who don’t take their jobs seriously and Vieda really had everything together!
Words can’t express how grateful I am to this church and everyone we worked with for setting the foundation for our marriage and making our wedding day so special. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Catholic Churches and I don’t have a good relationship. At all. I’m probably the last person you’d ever think of being a Catholic, despite the fact I regularly (read: forced) attended mass from birth to age 20. Since than, I haven’t been to a service, and have dodged my dad’s begging to go with them at least on *holidays*, but I just can’t be forced into something I don’t believe in anymore.
Why did I go to a Catholic Church? Well, this place has GREAT views of the Harbor and the ocean. And on 4^th of July, this is THE place to be to watch the fireworks! You can see Dana Point PLUS San Clemente’s firework show! It’s simply amazing! Love it!
The church has a huge lawn/​open area overlooking the ocean. The patrons of this church do a great job setting up for the fireworks. They have a couple guys playing guitar, they serve free coffee and cookies and there’s ample amount of space for plenty of lawn chairs, blankets and to have kids play. The churches bathroom is open and it’s HUGE. I like.
If I was a religious person, I would consider going here for regular service. For now though, I’m just really impressed with their facility and will come here for the 4^th of July only!

We were married here a few months ago. Wonderful service, Father Mario rocked the ceremony.
We had an interesting wedding coordinator– who had an interesting way of expressing her political beliefs (which certainly did not match ours) — but besides that, she was great– she had everything organized, and could deal with sticky family situations, which is always a plus for a bride because it means she doesn’t have to deal with them!
We now attend mass here, erg, every so often. It’s always lovely and the regular patrons are so nice.
It’s expensive for weddings, but the service and views are well worth it.

This church is absolutely beautiful!!! No wonder Kobe Bryant and his wife got married here several years ago! Who can blame them? My husband and I got married here on 9.3.10. The view from this church is absolutely amazing! The church sits up on a hill, and from the glass windows behind the altar. You have a perfect view of the ocean and the sailboats, sailing away. :)
Last year when we were searching for the perfect church to get married in, my then fiancé and I crashed another couple’s wedding. :) I assure you it was not intentional, but we were just trying to scope out the place and there happen to be a wedding going on at that time. :) We were confronted by the church wedding coordinator, Lesley Grant. Usually Catholic church wedding coordinators are really mean, but Lesley was wonderful! She was kind and genuine. She did not at all get mad at us for crashing that wedding. So of course when we booked the church, we asked her to be our wedding coordinator. She was very helpful and patient. If you get married there, I highly recommend having Lesley be your coordinator. She is wonderful to work with.
Another important thing to know is that, if you come from an outside parish, you are required to BYOP (Bring your own priest!). :) For our wedding we brought two priests! :) Also the fee/​donation for the church is a minimum of $ 600.00 if you are from outside the parish. If you belong to the parish, I believe it is a $ 300.00 fee.
Another thing I really loved about this church is that you can simply log onto their website
and listen to clips of songs that are performed by their singers/​musicians. On this website, you can choose the songs to be performed at your wedding as well as the musicians who will perform them. SUPER COOL!
The reason I gave the church a 4 star rating as opposed to 5 stars was the fact that two of the 4 musicians I hired for our wedding day did not show up. One was a female singer, the second being the synthesizer player. I was totally freaking out the day of our wedding as I did not hear her singing, but only the male singer I hired and the piano player. *sigh* Everything turned out okay in the end, but I was disappointed.

We had our wedding at St. Edward’s in June 2007.
Ceremony Program
Prelude
Processional
Opening Prayer
Old Testament Reading — Genesis 2:18−24
Responsorial Psalm
New Testament Reading — 1 Corinthians 12:31−13:8a
Alleluia Verse
Gospel — Matthew 5:1−12a
Exchange of Wedding Vows
Blessing of Rings
Prayer of the Faithful
Flowers to the Holy Family
Pronouncement
Blessing
Recessional
We decided to get married at St. Edward despite its less than convenient proximity to our reception venue, because FI’s parents are parishioners and the church is very beautiful. We found their wedding coordinator/​administrator, Donna B., very difficult to get a hold of via phone or email. Email me at usclynn at gmail dot com for specific details. By contrast, our day-​of coordinator, Vieda C., was very detail-​oriented and professional. We met with her a few months before the wedding to go over the program, selection of readers, etc. She was very thorough when she ran the rehearsal and very discreet in handling the Trojan Marching Band surprise.
On the wedding day, we were running late so we arrived at the church later than expected. Vieda was waiting for us outside the church with a scowl on her face as our limo pulled into the parking lot. We all thought it was hilarious, so it was hard to keep a straight face as she flung our limo door open and started barking orders at us. She even yelled at one of our friends to «hold onto the doorknob» of the bathroom door to keep FI in the bathroom so that she could escort me to the waiting area. It was highly unnecessary to be that rude, but I guess she runs a tight ship.
In the end, the ceremony started only 12 minutes late. Fr. Steve lead a beautiful ceremony and made it personal to us. He doesn’t do very many weddings from what I hear, so we’re very honored to have him officiate our ceremony.