Big Church---Small Wedding--

babynugget

Hi Ladies,

I was wondering if anyone else is having a small wedding at a big church?  I am only inviting 80 people or so and my church literally holds probably 1000 people.  It is very important that my fiance and I have a full mass with the wedding.  Do you think it will look silly with so few people in a church meant to hold so many?  Is anyone else experiencing the same situation or has anyone been to a wedding with a mass with so few people??  Thanks for your input.

Calypso1977

our church holds id say 500 or so.  we had 75 in ours.  didnt look weird at all!

[Deleted User]

I think it will be fine. The parish I came from (not the one we were married in) was huge. I can't even remember how many it holds now that they are done with the expansion. In fact, it is the biggest parish in the dioceses. I can't imagine many weddings filling up the entire church.

catarntina

I didn't look weird at my wedding either.  The church has pews on the side.  It was kind of like a semi-circle with all the pews facing the alter.  They only had people seating on the main aisle so it didn't look odd at all.

I had about 80 people at the church which seats probably 750.

mcdol3

Our church holds at least 700. Our wedding is 150.
I was at one that had 90 in the church and it looks fine.
the only thing I noticed at that wedding was that there was no ushers to seat people closer together. There was lots of space between everyone (think 3 - 5 people per pew)

wifeandmommy0609

we are having no more then 60 people and our church holds around 1000 peopel..

SaraAndrew2010

It will be fine.  Instruct the ushers (or GMs if they are helping seat people), to seat guests near the front of the church.  That way you won't end up with some people sitting halfway back in the church all spread out.

gymchick05

Im sure it will look fine. I was at a small wedding (prob around 120 ppl max) at St. Pats Cathedral in NYC and it didnt look odd at all. The only thing that I didnt like at that mass,and its probably only true due to how tall the ceilings were, was that since it was kinda empty there was an echo. But I would imagine a church that doesnt have cathedral ceilings like that it wouldnt make any difference

RaeRae1126

I dont think its a big deal. I would have the same problem at my church, which is a cathedral and one of the biggest churches in St. Louis. We're not going that route just b/c of the logistics of it...the alter is kinda far away from the first row of pews and so I felt it would be harder to see/hear. So we're having it at my fiance's church which is smaller. But as long as you feel comfortable and excited, then who cares! It will be a great wedding no matter the size.

bibliophile2010

I don't think it would look weird at all. I might be sure to have ushers to encourage people to move forward, but other than that, I don't foresee problems.

I'm actually really jealous of all of you with large churches. We're getting married at a smaller chapel, and we keep running into space issues with it. On one hand it's good, because it keeps the guest list under control. On the other, we keep having to trim the list a little more here and there.