Ceremony Venue??

XLuftblasenX

Hi everyone! I recently got engaged and my mind is tornado of wedding planning!
Let me just start off with neither me or my fiance are religious, our parents aren't really either.
Because of this I was kind of leaning away from a church wedding. I am looking for a place to have my ceremony (I would love outside, but our wedding is in May and in MI it often rains in May) that isn't a church and is price reasonably. We are on a very strict budget, so the cheaper the better! Also If we are doing an out of church wedding, we are going to need a cheap officiant as well as the venue.

Any advice?!

emarston1

Congrats and welcome to the board!  My advice would be to check out the stickies at the top of the board for ideas.  They have a wealth of information about vendors -- including ceremony venues.

Good luck and happy planning!

wetz4975

What area are you looking in/for?

missmelanie81

Stoney Creek banquet in flat rock is really pretty and has outdoor weddings, but have a back up plan for bad weather.

bltata

If you are ok with going south of Detroit, you could look at the Grecian Center in Southgate.  They have pretty grounds and an actual wedding pavilion.  It's this pretty arched building and is completely covered so I don't think rain would matter.

klreese0213

We are also on a very strict budget. We decided to go with Laurel Chapel (next door to Laurel Manor) it's very reasonably priced and worth a look. The outside is.. 'eh ok. lol but the inside is beautiful.  it's in Livonia at 275 and 96 off of schoolcraft

picklesmurphy

Hi. Welcome to the board. If you need a officiant, Rev Kirk Haas has been awesome for us. We are NOT main-stream religious. I was willing to spend more on the officiant since it is so important to me none of the common religious finds it's way into our ceremony, but he has been great and cost-effective. 

Sue-n-Kevin

Welcome!

I agree regarding the stickies at the top, easy enough to peruse.

My venue, Greenmead Village, is a city owned park in Livonia. Located at Newburg Rd and 8 Mile. They have lovely grounds, we are paying for the use of the chapel and banquet facility, but if you want to check them out for outdoor use with a tent, the website and photos are in my bio below, click the "vendor" tab.

Our DJ is reasonably priced, can provide the alcohol AND bartender(s), AND he's an officiant! Because we are using his DJ services, he's only charging $55 extra to use him as our officiant. Can't comment on whether he's good or not, but a review of his website will give you insight into his personality. We haven't met with him yet, but will soon. He also has a veteran or armed services discount, and my fiance was in the Air Force for 22 years............his services as DJ, providing bartenders and being our officiant is under $800. Best price I've seen anywhere. There is also a link to his website under the vendor tab in my bio.

Good luck.

XLuftblasenX

Thank you everyone for you input!
@ Sue- Greenmead does sound like a beautiful place for a ceremony! If you don't mind me asking, how much are you paying?

We were thinking about doing our reception at the local American Legion, but if we can find a place that we can do both ceremony and reception in one place and it be cheaper, we will do that.