Fort Snelling Chapel

jennipea382

FI and I have been looking into the Fort Snelling Chapel for our ceremony now! My mom called to see what their prices were and if they have my date open still and they do have the 11-2 time slot still open (as of her phone call, so this may be totally pointless lol). Has anyone been to a wedding here or gotten married here? How was it?

Edited to reflect the point of my post, I'll post about the other part again later if I have more questions about that (sorry, I just didn't want that to be the only thing people respond about).

danimarie88

What time does your cocktail hour/reception start? I think that's a little early for a ceremony if the reception isn't going to start until later. That's just me though.

jennipea382

Well we were going to do the reception at 6. I figured we could open it up at like 3:30-4 and people would be sitting down at 5:30 or so for dinner. Ceremony would be at noon (maybe.. could do 1 but I don't want to be in a rush to be out of there by 2, since we would probably do pictures after the ceremony). So if we do it at noon, it would be like a 2-3ish hour gap where there isn't anything planned. Or at one, 1-2ish hours. I'm going to a wedding tomorrow where the ceremony is at noon and I'm not sure what time the reception starts but it's "dinner and dancing" so I assume around 6. We aren't getting a hotel room so I'll see how it plays out for us. A gap isn't the ideal situation but I've always wanted the ceremony somewhere else and I don't know of another place that might be open that day at a decent price and the right time.

ETA: Not here to debate the gap, I know it's sucky but we will figure it out. Looking for opinions on the chapel. Thanks!

jlk13

Most Catholic weddings end by 3pm, as most Catholic churches have Mass at 5pm with Confessional beginning at 4pm. Not saying your ceremony is Catholic; just saying many weddings begin between noon and 2pm so your guests won't be that thrown off.

That being said, if you have a large gap (more than 1.5 hours) between your ceremony and reception, give your guest options. Maybe the history buffs could tour Fort Snelling, the families with children can go to the Children's Museum in Saint Paul, grandparents would probably prefer a break to take a snooze or catch up with distant relatives and friends could go hang out at your favorite local pub. I'm making a "Sites and Sounds of Saint Paul" newsletter type sheet for all out of town guests. You could have ushers had out after the ceremony so people know they have options.

It's your day. If you love Fort Snelling (I do!), have your wedding there just be considerate of your guests and provide fun options for them to do.

bburkel

I played for a wedding there.  It was nice, and it seemed like there was a lot of room for us to set up as musicians.  Only complaint would be their sound system....we ended up bringing some of our own stuff.  I think they do free tours on Sundays, maybe you should go check them out this weekend.

jennipea382

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_fort-snelling-chapel?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:06785e2d-c04b-42ab-9d0e-8c6d8d09585dPost:dcc19567-dd7c-4b91-85d6-44bdebf958c8">Re: Fort Snelling Chapel</a>:
[QUOTE]I played for a wedding there.  It was nice, and it seemed like there was a lot of room for us to set up as musicians.  Only complaint would be their sound system....we ended up bringing some of our own stuff.  I think they do free tours on Sundays, maybe you should go check them out this weekend.
Posted by bburkel[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!