I am having trouble finding a ceremony site! Plz Help!

butterkp9

Ok, I am getting married in November of next year, so I want to find an INDOOR ceremony site. One of the favorites I found( Morris Chapel at UOP), hubby-to-be said it was too much money for only 2 hours there. Now I'm on the look for another one, but it's really difficult. I would love to get married in a church, however, neither him or I are a member of a church. I have absolutely no idea how to go about finding a church when I'm not a memeber, and it seems like everywhere else I look ( golfcourses, vineyards) only have outdoor ceremony sites. We want to have our ceremony in the Stockton/Lodi area and I thought this would be easy, but I'm really stressing! Any sugesstions???

j81c85

I don't know if you have allready tried this but I would just call up all of the churches on the list and say that you would love to get married in a church but do not have a local church that you belong to and would like to know if they would mind doing the ceremony there at theirs... If they agree then you could stop in and take a peek to see what their facility looks like and if you would want that to be the place or if it suits your wedding needs (or you could do that before you call them as well). I hope this helps. It is the thing I would do if I was looking for indoor and didnt have a church for it allready in mind.. There has got to be a couple churches that wouldnt mind lending out their church for a wedding to someone who isnt a member. You might have to go through their marraige counseling if you are going to use that pastor/priest..

http://www.churches-in.com/CA/Stockton/

mstroud23

Lodi has more wineries than Napa! FI is from there and his parent's place is surrounded by wineries. I don't know what your budget is, I would call around to the wineries and check it out. If you want a church wedding, I've got no clue. But the wineries is where I would start looking. Barefoot Cellers grows out of Lodi, so if you and FI are the festive beach going type that could be a lot of fun.

mstroud23

It's on the pricey side (or was about 10 years ago when my cousin got married there), but Wine&Roses in Lodi is really nice!! Having attended a wedding there, I can say it was absolutely beautiful.

Equine Osmosis

We looked at Morris chapel but decided to do it at our own church.  Our church was only $200-300 less than Morris chapel though so I'm not sure if you're going to find a church that is significantly less if you're not a member.  It doesn't mean it can't be done, but you may have to call a lot of churches.  I wonder if a non denominational church would be the more open to letting a non member marry there?

I think the most economical would be to do an all in one- ceremony and reception at the same place.  Wine and Roses is gorgeous but is very expensive.  There is also The River Mill that is completely all in one but I don't know how their pricing is.  You're right that many wineries and golf courses have outdoor ceremony sites but many of them also offer the reception inside.  Is that an option or do you want the whole thing indoors?

You could also check the Stockton Civic Center downtown.  I've been to a few nice dinner events there. 

Equine Osmosis

Sorry, I reread your original post and saw that you specifically wanted an indoor ceremony.  In addition to the Civic Center, I'd look at halls or lodges that are run by Elks, Kiwanis, etc.  They often rent them out fairly inexpensively.