12/21/2012 Have the Venue, sort of...but not the Church...

LauraEllinger

So aside from attending 7 weddings this year, my fiance and I decided to also get married this year, we are newly engaged :-).  We decided on December and have a tight budget but will be paying cash for everything. I can have the wedding ceremony and reception anywhere as long as it fits in the budget, it has to be in December and we need to bring our own beer and wine. We just moved to La Habra, Ca. We started looking for venues around Christmas time while we awaitied a response from our preferred Church in Los Alamitos, Ca, regarding their availability in December. There was one venue (Mon Amour in Anaheim) out of several that would allow us to provide beer and wine and fit perfectly in our budget, but they only had 2 dates available, one friday 12/21/2012 and the other 12/29/2012. 

I informed the Secretary and Priest at our Church that those where the 2 dates we had to work with.  After 2 weeks of waiting for a response, the secretary just informed me today that they cannot do Friday the 21st...I called the venue right away and it turns out the 29th is booked now and all I have left is the 21st! The decorating committee at the Church will be decorating during that time and they cannot stop to accomodate for our wedding rehearsal or wedding.  So now I don't know what to do and I refuse to stress out and have a nervous breakdown.

We have our hearts set on the venue and the date 12/21.  My FI says that we can have a private wedding ceremony during the week or any time before the reception with our immediate family and then have the reception on that friday...but my traditional family and extensive family might frown upon that since in our family it's a big deal to get married IN THE CHURCH in front of everyone the same day as the reception. Any suggestions? Has any one had this dilemma?  We plan to get a civil marriage prior to 12/21 any ways and I guess we can have an outdoor wedding ceremony the same day prior to the wedding reception and have an intimate Catholic Wedding Ceremony a few days before or after that friday.

P.S. I am also looking into other Catholic Churches nearby La Mirada, East Whittier, Brea, etc...hoping and praying they can marry us on Friday 12/21/2012 *sigh* .

Or does any one know of any other reasonably priced venue or banquet hall that would allow us to bring our own beer and wine?

Thank you for your time and allowing me to vent. 

L

MrsLiggett7

Can I ask why you're getting married before you get married? If you are already married via a civil service you might have some issues with getting married in a Catholic church. Catholics are notorious for being very strict about guidelines for marriage. It's been a while since I've been a practicing Catholic but I'm pretty sure many priests will refuse to perform a "fake" wedding.

If you're dead set on the civil service it shouldn't matter what day you have your "wedding" on. The day you legally join together is your wedding date. That doesn't change even if you renew your vows in a church service later.

LauraEllinger

Our priest said we need to get married legally and bring license prior to getting married at Church (so it's not a fake wedding). I guess my issue is that the reception hall we can afford is only available on that date and our Church cannot accomodate us because the date we want lands on advent/christmas time.  Also, our priest is the one that suggested that we can opt out for a blessing of the marriage which would only be open to our immediate family and the ceremony would last about 30 minutes.  I hope this makes sense.  I was a little confused at first.

Laffeytaffey

I don't know what to tell you... Unless your guests live very close by and know to save way in advance for gifts, they probably won't be too happy that it's right before Christmas when everyone is struggling to pay bills and still afford presents for their family. Seems like a horrible month for a wedding