Okay so....

mrs.rab

Are all of you having your wedding in the city, or is this like a burbs thing too?

I am from Mount Prospect, he is from Homewood. And we need to figure out a place maybe in the middle(?) to have the wedding. 

Anyone else in this boat? If you and your FI are from different areas, how did you pick where to have it??

Thank you!!

kthame

Good Morning,

I am (originally) from the southside (grew up in West Lawn) and my parents moved to Oak Lawn; my FI was born in Jamaica, grew up in Jersey and came to Chicago for college and never left. FI spent all of his years in Lincoln Park.

When it came to selecting a reception site, we were going for what was most friendly on the budget. We knew downtown wouldn't be an option, unless we wanted to invite 50 people, and that wasn't happening. It's semi-convenient for my family and some of my friends, but it's still about 30-40 minutes south of where most of them reside.

I would suggest not trying to stay w/in a certain area, per se. Try to get a handful of venues nearby and then narrow them down by how much you like them vs. the proximity to where you are from; people will come regardless of where it is...especially if it's w/in an hour away.

HTH.

morgie44

We were in a similar boat too... DH's family is from the far south east burbs and NWI and mine is from the Oswego area.  We first got an idea of what we were looking for in a reception site... we knew that we wanted something unique not your typical banquet hall, then we started focusing on the Joliet area because they had several venues that fit the bill.  It worked out to be about 45 minutes for each family so it was 'fair' though we did hear a lot of complaints from DH's family (mostly from his sister of course...) 

It seems like there are a ton of options that would fall inbetween your families I would probably start searching around Downer's Grove since it is pretty central and has good highway access and branch out from there as you eliminate places that you don't like. 

CarmanSimons

I would say do whatever works for you. You are the one that has to run around to tasting, fittings, planing, and rehearsals. Make it easy on yourself and pick something that is a workable distances for you to travel. Then look for places that spark your interest. If your looking for unique don't settle for dull just because It's close to someone. Look around and take your time. The right place will be evident.

lawandorder2010

You will want to consider the location of your ceremony in comparison to your reception; do you have a church or ceremony location in mind?  If so, you will want to make sure that the reception venues you are considering are within 30 minutes of that location.  If you are not connected to any specific ceremony location, you might want to consider where it is that you plan on getting ready.  Some people prefer to get ready at their homes/parents' homes, while others really don't care where they get ready, or still others prefer to not have to get ready in their homes because of space restraints. 
FI was born and raised in the city while I am from the suburbs.  We found that for out budget, as well as because of our ceremony location, we decided on the suburbs.  Because most of our guests will be coming from the city, we have booked a hotel block at a reasonable price so that even though guests will have to make a trip out to the suburbs to celebrate with us, at least they won't be spending a crazy amount of money on the hotel.  HTH.

sgylling

We were in a similar situation. I am from Palatine, FI is from Dyer, IN (right over the border). We decided on the city because it is our home (and it is in between). We did look in the burbs, pretty much everywhere. Oakbrook seemed like a good central spot. Honestly, I think I am paying less per plate than some places in the burbs. The city is expensive, don't get me wrong. But I found a lot of pricey places in the burbs too. We were also looking for a unique venue and not a banquet hall so that probably increased our costs too. The ceremony thing that PPs is also important to consider. HTH!

Sparkette19

We were in the same boat too. We planned everything around where we live now. Some of his family is in WI, some are in the City, his dad lives in TX. My family is in IN, NW burbs, City...All in all I figured that we have driven all over God's green Earth for family parties, birthdays, holidays, bbq's that for ONCE our families can drive to us for our wedding. No one has said boo about it. I really don't think it's that big of a deal. Now if you're talking about families like Kate's being halfway across the country...yeah, that's a bit more difficult.

Have your wedding where you want it. Try not to get caught up in what will make everyone happy for your wedding. It will drive you nuts. Do what you want. If it's too far for folks, then it's their loss. Just make sure to have a hotel block for those that want to stay the night.

mandybear7

Like lawandorder said, we had our ceremony site first. We knew we were getting married at our church, so we based our reception venue search on that location. It's ridiculous when the ceremony and reception venues are far from each other.

mrs.rab

I guess the only person that this day is about is the FI and yourself. I am figuring now that someone will be a little upset at the location, but I won't dwell over it. 

We do not have a church that we go to, so I guess we could go where ever for that. And I def. agree about the reception site being close to the church as well as a hotel.

Thanks for the common sense I needed!