Church ~ located about 15/20 minutes from downtown Toronto

SNTJ2012

We are doing our reception at Bayview Golf & Country Club.
My plan was to do a pre-meet so my fiance and I could take pictures before, but he told me the other day that it would be his preference to see me for the first time when I walk down the aisle...so now we are looking for a church about 15 - 20 minutes from downtown Toronto (maybe the Bayview and Lawrence area for example - My fiance does not wnat our guests to have to drive downtown) where we can do the ceremony and still make a quick trip downtown to take a few photos before heading to Leslie & Steeles for the reception (there will be about 2.5 hours between ceremony and reception)...in short, I am looking for a beautiful (& welcoming church...United or Baptist preferably.  Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks!

naomikb

Do you either of you have an affiliation with a United or Baptist church?  If so, they might be able to recommend you to one in the area you like, the pastors can contact each other.

I did a googlemaps search in the Bayview/Lawrence area and came up with these:
- Bedford Park United Church
- Donway Covenant United Church
- Blythwood Road Baptist Church
- Fairlawn Avenue United Church
- Northlea United Church
- Covenant Baptist Church

May I ask - why United or Baptist?

SNTJ2012

Thanks so much!
We are not regular church goers, and we were told that United or Baptist churches might be more welcoming than others..this may not be true...just thought we would start our search there...

unplainjane

i'm only familiar with catholic churches and in our experience are quite strict with who can be married there. definitely one person needs to be catholic. i'm not sure how united or baptist churches feel about this. think about why you actually want to be married in a church. is it because you simply want to be married in a beautiful building? if so i don't think the pastors would be happy about that. think about the spiritual or religious reasons because i'm pretty sure they will ask.

naomikb

Unplainjane is right... Catholic churches are pretty restrictive in terms of one person needing to be Catholic, premarital seminars, etc.

The United church (along with many other Protestant churches) is more liberal, but in general you still need to be Christian and value God as part of your relationship and possibly promise to raise your children in the church.  But the requirements for these things vary drastically by church and by pastor, so check around.

SNTJ2012

All very good points that we do have in mind.  Thanks all!

mjwalker1226

there's little trinity anglican, near the distillery district. very bright, beautiful not too big and not too small and of course a center aisle, went to a wedding there-- lovely pews that are easy to decorate. there's quite a few churches in the annex too, like st. pauls united.