12
Mar 10

From Our Customers: A Beautiful Communion

Thank you so much. My daughter’s communion dress, veil and gloves arrived yesterday and they are beautiful. I can’t believe how quickly they shipped! I would definitely recommend your company to others. -Ms. Holland

Such encouraging feedback! Thank you from our family to yours! We’re so excited to get feedback from messages like these on a daily basis! If you have a special communion story or photo you’d like to share, please email us: info (at) myspecialplace (dot) com.

These are the items the Holland family has purchased to celebrate their very special communion. Click the images to view products!

Natalie First Communion Dress

Girl's White Shamrock Gloves

Shamrock Headband Communion Veil

10
Mar 10

From Our Customers: M Baker Enjoyed MySpecialPlace.com’s Special Touch

Thank you for the excellent service by your company! The stuff was correct, delivery on time, the best service i had ever received! I will now always shop and do business with your company again! Thank for your time and great survive and great stuff!

M Baker

We’re just getting flooded with some incredible responses and support from our customers! We’re so excited to get feedback from messages like these on a daily basis! If you have a special communion story or photo you’d like to share, please email us: info (at) myspecialplace (dot) com.

8
Mar 10

From Our Customers: The Millar’s Daughter’s Very Special Communion Gift

I ordered your Communion Valencia Girl Wall Cross. I just wanted you to know, how very pleased my wife and I were, in the quality of the product, the way it was wrapped….everything was excellent.

My daughter was very exicited and it was a perfect culmination to a wonderful day. I had been looking all over (church shops, etc) for the right one, when I found your website. I have recommended your site to others.

Thank you for making a special day – perfect.

Sincerely,
Doug and Melissa Millar

Special thanks to the Millar family for sharing your story. We’re so excited to get feedback from messages like these on a daily basis! If you have a special communion story or photo you’d like to share, please email us: info (at) myspecialplace (dot) com.

24
Feb 10

From Our Customers: Patsi Loved her Daughter’s Communion Dress

Abigail First Communion Dress

“Hi guys! I got the dress and it is absolutely beautiful. Thank you!”
Patsi, Indiana (February 2010)

Just like Patsi, we want you to completely LOVE your dress! We’re so excited to get feedback from messages like these on a daily basis! If you have a special communion story or photo you’d like to share, please email us: info (at) myspecialplace (dot) com.

Pictured is Patsi’s Abbigail Communion Dress, which is ON SALE NOW! More information on this communion dress and others like it.

3
Feb 10

Choosing the Right Baptismal Outfit

My nephew, Steven, and his wife, Fran, have been preparing for the baptism of their first newborn son Logan. Most of the planning is done. They have asked our cousins to be the god-parents. They have talked with their pastor and have set the date. They have selected a caterer for the large family gathering that is planned. There is only one thing left and that is selecting a baptismal outfit.

Stephen just assumed that Logan would wear a christening romper with a little bow tie, a cap and white shoes. But Fran told him that she wanted a baptismal outfit that could be worn by all their future children whether they had another boy or a girl. That being the case, she wanted to go with the more traditional long baptismal gown. This gown could also be passed on as an heirloom to the grandchildren.

Stephen thinks they should go with the romper for Logan and then this outfit could be passed on to the next male child. And if their next child happens to be a girl, they can buy her a christening dress and that could be passed on to any other female children they may have. Fran does not agree with this idea. She wants all their future children to wear the same outfit.

I tend to agree with Fran. It seems more like a family tradition to have all the children wear the same outfit. This means the outfit should be the long baptismal gown. I have suggested that they should take a survey of the extended family and let the results dictate what outfit they buy since they cannot agree.

What outfit do you think they should select?

21
Jan 10

Communion Dress: Exciting memories with my daughter

I will never forget the day we bought my daughters First Communion dress! The dress was absolutely beautiful. I got her dress at online at myspecialplace.com for $59.95 but on other websites it was $185.00! The year prior to Abbigail’s first communion my younger sister got married while we were out shopping for the flower girl dress we bribed Abbi to try on this dress at the bridal shop.

It looked almost like a flower girl dress! Abbigail looked like an angel in that dress and it never left my mind. I couldn’t find the dress anywhere else, until I came across myspecialplace.com. There it was! We ordered it early before communion day–and it fit her perfectly!

The accessories just topped it off perfectly! She chose the most adorable communion veil and I picked out communion gloves with roses on them (“Rose” being her middle name and all).

We were so excited and my husband thought we were crazy. But the grin on her face and the sparkle in her eye told the tale that this was the dress! She was daddy’s little princess! On that exciting day, it was all well worth it!

15
Jan 10

Calming First Communion Jitters

My husband and I took our three boys, their wives and the six grandchildren to Disney World last winter. We had a wonderful time. We knew that this trip would be magical especially for Anna who was eight years old at the time. She is very much a girly girl but is rather shy. She loves fancy dresses and princess stories. She was so excited to attend the Disney World Princess Breakfast. This is an event where you eat breakfast in Cinderella’s Castle. While you are eating, the various Disney princess characters walk around and talk with the children. They let you take pictures with the princesses and they sign autographs.

Anna looked forward to this event more so than any other thing we had planned at Disney World. She was excited the morning of the breakfast but was nervous about talking to the characters. She dressed up in a beautiful Cinderella costume for the event. It took a lot of coaxing to get Anna to go up to Cinderella for her autograph. But after a lot of nervous tears, Cinderella saw that she was having a hard time so she came over and talked privately to Anna. She told Anna that she should not be nervous because she looked so beautiful. Cinderella told her that she was so impressed that Anna dressed up for the special occasion and that it was an honor to have her as a guest at her castle. She asked Anna if she could take her picture and asked if she would sign her book of favorite guests. Anna was so happy after that. She was so surprised that Cinderella wanted something from her. It calmed all her fears.

This spring, Anna made her First Holy Communion. The day started out well. Anna was excited to once again dress up like a princess in her beautiful communion dress. She put on her ornate veil and her long white gloves and her fancy pearl white shoes. She looked just like a princess.

But once again, Anna became nervous and the tears began to flow once she arrived at church. I sat her on my lap and reminded her of our trip to Disney World and what Cinderella told her. I told her that God feels the same way today on her First Holy Communion. She should not be nervous because she looks so beautiful and God is so impressed that she dressed up for this special event. And God is so happy that she has come to His church today. He wants her to give her the body and blood of Christ and come into her heart.

That did it! Anna stopped crying and she began to smile. The stress of all her preparation and the anticipations of this day were relieved. She went up with her class and received her First Holy Communion. The day was a great success.

15
Jan 10

Gifts for an Adult Convert: RCIA

My daughter met a nice gentleman named Dan while attending the local community college. They have been dating for about three years. He has been attending church regularly with our family for about two years.

I was so happy when I became aware of Dan’s desire to become a Catholic. He comes from a Christian background but has never received any previous formal religious instruction. He has been attending RCIA classes since last fall. It has been great watching him grow spiritually as he learns about the church Christ instituted here on earth. It has been a great refresher for my daughter too since she has been attending RCIA classes with Dan.

He will be receiving both the sacrament of Baptism and Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil mass in the spring. About two weeks after that, he will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation from the local bishop. Most Catholics receive these various sacraments spread out over many years which make it easy for family and friends to give specific gifts for each sacrament celebrated. But since he is receiving all these sacraments close together and he is an adult, I am having a hard time trying to figure out the best gift to give him.

I already have decided to give Dan a Celtic Cross Photo Album since he is Irish. I could put pictures of his classmates and instructors, photos of him receiving all three of the sacraments, and photos of our celebration. But beyond that I am not sure.

One possibility could be the Holy Communion Pewter Crucifix .I thought this would be nice for him to hang in his house.

Another idea I had was the Men’s Sterling Four Way Scapular. This would give him something he would always have with him to remind him that he is a son of God and a soldier of Christ and the faith.

I could use some input maybe from someone who has purchased gifts for an adult convert. Please let me know what gifts you like, especially if you’re an RCIA convert yourself!

9
Jan 10

Our Son’s Baptism

The day of my son’s christening was the hottest day of the year! Lukas was born in July and baptized in August. He wore the same baptismal outfit that I, as well as my brothers and sisters, were baptized in.

My husband and I had a hard time choosing God parents so we put names in a hat. Yes, that is how we chose my son’s godparents. (Granted, we only threw names of people we knew would aid him in his relationship with God–and we trusted them!)

At the time our daughter was 2 ½ years old and the baptism was following the 11am mass–which fell at nap time, of course. We were the only family having our baby baptized, as we were having a family friend baptize our son. He was a retired priest who had performed our wedding and also baptized our daughter two years prior. This priest had always been an important “member” of our family, so I was honored he agreed to the baptism.

Anyway, as it was so warm outside and it was naptime for my daughter. She was so tired! Thank God we were the only family there! I would have been mortified! She was crying, running around, screaming and having temper tantrums–which surprised everyone because she was usually really good in church. My husband’s cousin tried so hard to keep her distracted and quiet but there was no calming her down. Finally, worn out, she just fell asleep at the church snuggled into her baby brother’s baptism gift–a gorgeous cross blanket. She was just exhausted.

After Lukas’ baptism, we went back to the house for a luncheon–and wouldn’t you know it, his sister slept through the whole thing! Now when we go back and watch the video tape we all laugh and Lukas teases his sister, telling her “some day he will get her back from stealing the show at his baptism.”

8
Jan 10

My Daughter’s Baptism

I will never forget the day my daughter, Samantha, was baptized! It was my very first Mother’s day on Sunday, May 12, 1996. It was a warm, sunny spring morning as we made our way to the church that my family has belonged to for years, St. Bernardine of Sienna Catholic church. In fact, it was the same church where my husband and I were married at 18 months before and where I was baptized.

We asked Father Partensky, the same priest who married Glen and I, to perform our daughter’s baptism. Having the same priest who married us, be the same one to perform our first child’s baptism meant a lot to us. Father Partensky is a very warm, easy going man with a gift to make everyone feel comfortable and secure. When we walked into the church for the baptism he said, jokingly, “If that baby cries, we are done!” Believe it or not Samantha did not make a peep! She was incredible well-behaved the entire time, which made for some great memories of a wonderful experience.

Not only did Samantha behave like an angel that day, she looked absolutely heavenly in her baptismal gown. It took a few weeks to carefully chose her baptismal gown and I am glad that we took the time. We chose a baptismal gown that we wanted to stay in our family, and become a heirloom that she could pass down as a tradition to her own children one day. Today, I have it carefully packed away to give to her one day for our future grandchildren.

I remember that we had a hard time picking her godparents. My husband and I wanted family but wanted to make sure that we picked someone who we knew would be there for Samantha to turn to if she had questions or concerns about her religious life. We finally asked my younger sister, Amanda and my husband’s brother, John. Both our siblings were truly honored. It was really a blessing to share this day with both of our families.

Among her baptismal gifts, one of my favorites was a book from her godfather, John, talking about guardian angels. It was a beautiful children’s picture book called Angels Watch Over Me. Even though she was a baby, I remember reading it to her almost every night. It eventually turned into a bedtime ritual for us, and even though she is no longer a young child, it is still one of her favorite books. My oldest sister gave her a beautiful pin cross (which she has worn for her Baptism, Communion and Confirmation) and my cousin knitted her a sweater, bonnet and booties set that was absolutely adorable. I will always have fond memories of my daughter’s baptism.