When Mike Coggins got the call that a couple wanted to be married on the steps of the old Saint Anthony of Padua Church in Luling, he considered it his way of giving back to the community.
Ben Schmitt and Alyssa Ann Mitchelle’ Champagne, both of Luling, exchanged vows Saturday afternoon in a ceremony rich with historical significance.
While Schmitt was fascinated with the history of the church on Ellington Street, his then future wife wanted to marry at the place where her parents were married. When they became engaged in September, she posed the idea and they contacted Coggins.
“He said he would love to have us there,” Schmitt said.
At 4 p.m. Saturday, the two made some of their own history at a building that has been renovated from disrepair. It remains across from the old Luling Elementary School and is the reason it was purchased by St. Charles Parish Public Schools at the time to provide kindergarten classroom space and storage for the school in 1974. It later became a book depository and warehouse, and then a woodworking shop.
“Obviously that structure holds something special to the bride and groom,” Coggins said. “It’s great I’m able to be a part of that and facilitate that for them. There aren’t that many opportunities like that.”
Although Coggins rented and then bought the old church a year ago for he and his father’s business, Service Master, the couple’s request to return there is just the latest of many people who have contacted him about a church that remains a landmark for the community.
“Every time somebody has a new story of what that building was used for … school dances, weddings, school, workshops and even a book repository,” Coggins said.
When he found the building listed on Craigslist, he visited it and considered it an interesting piece of property for a large warehouse space.
“I realized we could work our business out of the space and it was always our intention to buy the building,” Coggins said. “It fit our needs. I’ve always liked old structures and re-purposing them.”
What he found was a church recognized as a rare example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture from the 1920s, which was modeled on missions and houses built by Spanish colonists in Southwest America.
“It’s certainly a labor of love,” he said.
They are slowly fixing or updating the building as the budget allows.
“It’s gone through several retrofits,” he said. “It’s a challenging old structure.”
But overall, Coggins said the building has got good bones.
Recently, the current Saint Anthony of Padua Church announced the old church’s façade would be duplicated in a planned alter at the Luling location.
Coggins recalled hearing a hum one day at the old church and found an architect with a drone circling the building to get images of unique structure for the alter project.
“There are a lot of memories in that building,” Coggins added.
Although all that is left of its original existence are the old steps under a deck and some bottles left by workers in the structure itself.
“It’s a really awesome building,” he said. “We’re dedicated to preserving it as long as we can. It’s definitely a conversation piece. It goes like this – ‘You have a church?’ We call it my office, and they say, ‘No way.’”
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