My wedding is on the same day as the Suntrust Marathon in Richmond!

astro5gem26

I love my reception venue and i have looked at over 5 churches to hold the ceremony however i was suprised about the cost to use a church. I am currently a member at a church in Maryland but we are getting married in richmond. Our officiator will be our very own pastor from maryland.  Fyi  the churches in richmond, va cost around 1,000-2,000 if you are not a member. I finally found a. affordable church but it is about 20mn from our venue. After booking all my other vendors my wedding planner learned that the marathon was changed to  my wedding date. With this information she states that roads will be closed thus the 20mn drive will become a 40mn drive for the guest. She suggested that i do my wedding ceremony at the same place as my reception. My fiance and i are not completely content about having the ceremony at our venue but it would save us money. Has anyone dealt with this before?

Also the marathon ends at 3pm. For the most part  once a marathon is over roads start opening up immediately but im not familiar with how it is in richmond. Anyways do you think  think we should hold the ceremony at the church at 4pm.

Thoughts? This is stressing me out!

kmmssg

I don't see 4 pm making that much difference as you will have thousands of runners and spectators in town and they will need to clear out.  I think your wedding planner has a really solid idea about getting married at your reception venue.

astro5gem26

Thanks for the response!

Im getting married at an estate but the setup in the one of the rooms for the ceremony seems cramped. The wedding planners says its not so we plan to go attend another wedding with the same setup.  Our parents wanted us to get married in a church. The churches i was looking into were baptist. There is another church that is 9mn away.

Anyways the aisle that is created with the setup is really narrow and short. Im also concerned that with the setup my family and friends will not be able to  see me till i reach the groom.

The wedding planner showed me a picture of a another setup and it looked okay but my fiance still does not like it.  

i guess b/c i never envisioned myself being married at the house its difficult for me to be content with doing everything there.  I love it only as a reception venue. Then there is the option to flip the ballroom area. The catch is to flip the room it will cost  1,000. My concern is will i still like it? With this marathon i feel like we are simply settling. I guess i am going to have to suck it up. Thanks for hearing me out, I appreciate it

OliveOilsMom

Head over to the local wedding board for Richmond VA.  Ask the bride there, who should all be locals, what it is like when the marathon is going on and how fast the roads open afterwards.

Is there a church that is located on the same side of the marathon as your reception venue?  It would be easier for your guests to get from the church to the reception if they do not have to cross over the path of the marathon.  They may still face some traffic, but hopefully staying away from the actual marathon route, it wouldn't be too bad.

freebread03

Typically, with marathons, if they say it finishes at 3pm, they will actually start opening up some of the roads earlier (since it's 26.2 miles). Look at the marathon course and determine where your church is--if the church to reception site (well the route in between) crosses over the first half of the marathon course, you should be totally fine. From the marathon website:

There will be four designated checkpoints along the course with shuttles available to take participants back to the finish area if anyone does not reach a checkpoint by these times:

Mile 7 by 9:58 a.m.

Mile 11 by 11:02 a.m.

Mile 16 by 12:22 p.m.

Mile 20 by 1:26 p.m.

So, here is the course map click, figure out where your church and reception are along that course map, and figure out if it will work (basically, it means that they will reopen parts of the course after those times).  Miles 20-26 look like they cross back over miles 1 and 2, but the rest is a loop.