One-Stop Walk Down the Aisle

Teresa Moreno doesn’t cry at weddings. But neither would you if you had witnessed hundreds of them, as she has, as the owner of La Catedral de Los Angeles Wedding Chapel & Bridal Shop.

She runs the all-in-one storefront salon and chapel at Broadway and 3rd streets Downtown, smack in the middle of a bustling row of appliance stores and other bridal shops.

As buses roll by belching black smoke, some 15 to 20 weddings a week take place in the tiny chapel at the back of the shop, decorated with white ribbons and peach-colored silk flowers.

“Couples like it because it’s close by, and they can get everything done here,” says Moreno, who can outfit the bride from head to toe, rent tuxedos and even handle the marriage license.

Since she’s been in business, Moreno has seen pretty much everything.

“A lot of times people will come at the last minute or come late,” she says. “Or else it will come time for the exchange of the rings and someone will say, ‘Don’t you have it?’ ‘No, I thought you had it!’ in the middle of the ceremony. And sometimes when the priest says, ‘You may kiss the bride,’ the groom will say, ‘No, you have red lipstick on.’ And the video’s there taping this.”

Still, the job never becomes routine.

“Every Saturday I tell my girls, ‘Now we’ll see what happens today.’ Am I a romantic? Yes. Because how can you do this every day and not be a romantic?”