Outdoor ceremony question

hoff0079

I'm hoping to have an outdoor ceremony in a park in Minneapolis.  Here are my questions, if anyone could answer them I would so much appreciate it!
1) My FI and I don't want to see eachother before the ceremony, however having it at a park doesn't give us "shelter" or private rooms to get ready in.  Do I just wait in the car until it's my turn to walk down the aisle?
2) How are these typically organized? I know I need to rent chairs, and a tent if needed, but now I have to find people to set up/tear down?
3) How badly does it have to be raining before I move the ceremy indoor to the reception place?  I don't want to spend $500 renting park space, plus chairs, for an area I can't use, then spend $250 to have the ceremony at my reception place.  What do I do?
Sorry for the massive questions, but I'm so new to this!!

hoff0079

And, what do I do for music??  Is the outdoor park ceremony going to be more expensive than worth it??

hkiesling

Some parks have little bathrooms/shelters that you could use to hide in before you walk down the aisle.  There's one in St. Paul on Dale street that's nice.

I would move the cermeony indoors immediately if your guests have to stand in the rain.  If you had a tent, you could delay it a bit, but if you have a backup location, why rent a tent?

threemarie24

Hey hkiesling....That park is technically in Roseville   

tpender13

There's actually a really pretty spot at the Woodlake Nature Preserve in Richfield that has built in bench style seating with kind of a stage area in front that would be beautiful for a ceremony. There is a building there; however I'm not sure that it would be easy to move it inside last minute.

Does it have to be in Minneapolis? Thomas Lake Park in Eagan is really nice. My friend had her ceremony and reception there a couple years ago, it's a really pretty area, and there's a good cover if it starts to rain. It wouldn't work if it were super stormy, but some sprinkles wouldn't be an issue. There's the bench seating there as well, and they have a separate area with counter space and electricity where they set up the food.

hkiesling

DOH! 

hkiesling

Here's the one I was talking about: http://www.ci.roseville.mn.us/index.aspx?nid=191

and threemarie's at home reception was at a cute park not far from there.  She might have some pictures in her bio.  I don't remember the name of that park though.

ogrady88

1) If there isn't a place to get ready, I would possibly find a hotel nearby get ready there and take the car over.  Maybe you and your parents could have a nice moment as we drive to the location. 
2) If you have an indoor rain option, I would forgo the tent rental.  I know that many rental places will set up and take down for you (for a fee, but it is usually an option).
3) Watch the weather report, any chance of rain and I would move it indoors, you do not want guests to be stuck in the pouring rain or have any confusion about the location so a couple of days before you should have a pretty good idea.  That said, it's the name of the game in terms of outdoor weddings.  You take the chance that you may need to pay for the rain site.  Ideally we want to get married in my grandmother's backyard, it will be all green and pretty overlooking the valley, but if it rains that day we'll be in the tent, you need to be ok with the possibility.

kclepire

We were to have our ceremony outdoors, but it was rainy most of the day.  We were able to take most of our pictures outside while stopped raining for a few hours then as we were just finishint up pictures it began to rain.  We had to make the call 1 hour before if we were going to be inside or outside so the DJ would have time to move the microphones, etc before guest arrival.  We were able to just walk inside and have our ceremony in our reception location.  If you were to have your wedding in a park and it started raining I am not sure how you would be able to move to another location or notify your guests to go else where....just some other things to think of.

chou_chou

We had an outdoor ceremony at a park in Shakopee (see my bio for pictures).  Contrary to any sane person's thinking -- we did NOT have a rainy day back-up plan.  If the weather looked like it was going to rain that day (and me, my sister, and my mom were checking the weather like addicts for that entire month leading up to it) we were going to go to the dollar store and buy umbrellas to hand out to our guests.  The park we were at has an amphitheater stage area (so the "alter" already has a shelter over it) that would have protected us, our wedding party, our judge, and our musicians.  I don't regret our venue choice for one second, even with the added stress of unknown weather.  I've seen pictures of weddings where it was drizzling during the ceremony, and all the guests are huddled up under umbrellas together...and it looked amazing.  I know that's a controversial idea, but whatever.  Our ceremony was literally 5 minutes (maybe 12 if you include prelude/processional/recessional music) so a person could stand for 12 minutes under an umbrella to see you get married.  I'd do it as a guest, just my honest opinion.  Good luck with your decision!