Ceremony Site??

Shea131

Where is everyone getting married???  Church....outside...reception hall...other????

I ask because we are having a hard time deciding where to have ours.  I am a member of my local Methodist Church, however they are not really being very cooperative with my wishes so that's kind of disappointing and making me not want to be married there.  I looked in to a different church and you can't have weddings there on Mother's Day weekend (our date is 5/12/12).  There are really no other church's locally that I would be interested in.

One option we are looking in to is getting married at our potential reception site.  We are going to check out the reception site tomorrow to see if we like it.  They have a very nice outdoor space with a gazebo so we could get married outside the hall, then everyone could move inside for the reception.  Now the part that I'm not crazy about is the back-up plan incase it rains that day (which is definitely a possibility because it rains alot here in the spring).  So if it rains that day we would have to move the ceremony inside the reception hall and everyone would have to sit at the dinner tables for the ceremony so it wouldn't be as formal of a setting. 

WWYD?!?!?  Should I keep looking for other formal inside places or just hope for the best weather and if it rains have in our reception hall??  Another perk about the reception site is it would be no extra charge to have it outside (besides if we have to rent chairs and things like that).  Ok sorry I've just rambled on and on!  Thanks for listening!!

pantherRN

I'm getting married in a Methodist church. Are the things you are wanting to do in line with the church's beliefs?

Churches typically only marry their members, so you may have trouble finding a church that will marry you. There is also nothing wrong with having the ceremony at the reception site.

Ambie106

We are getting married on the Beach... Could you not get  tent or do  they have more than one room at your reception venue?

Malibu2370

I am getting married outside at our reception site. It's beautiful, on top of a mountain, overlooking the valley and to me it is the ultimate sanctuary to be out in His creation.

S0095042

hmm, tricky, tricky...
 
Our ceremony is outside and we live in Indy so we'll have simialr weather, but our rain-back up is a beautful tent on a lake in the garden's grounds...

Couple things to consider...
1. Are you flexible on your date? We weren't b/c our date is special to us, so this is something to consider if you really want to be married in the church

2. How much do you dislike the rain plan area? Do you absolutly hate the idea of having a cabera seating style at your ceremony? If so, then nix it...we didn't go with one ceremony spot b/c I HATED the back up plan.

...if it were me, I would probably go with having the ceremony at the reception site, unless you really hate the back up plan spot...

best wishes!

krystalstovall

We are gettin married outside. I agree with PP. Unless you hate the back up plan I would go with the reception venue.

bpphoto785

I agree with PP. I would think about changing your date to get the church you want or even looking into anther site just for the ceremony. Can your potential reception location recommend another ceremony spot like a local park with an indoor and outdoor option?

 

We knew we weren’t getting married in a church, so a reception site with an indoor and outdoor space was really important to us when looking at venues. I was certain we would have our wedding at a local country club until I learned the rain location for the ceremony was in the ballroom. That was a big no for us, so we booked somewhere else where we liked both the outdoor and indoor ceremony options.

Shea131

Gosh it's such a hard decision!  I really wanted to get married in the church that I'm a member of (I haven't attended a service in a long time, but nonetheless am still a member and still consider that to be my church).  However, I don't want to follow all the requirements that are in place so that is no longer going to be an option.

The 2nd church I looked into was the one that didn't do weddings on mother's day, but that wasn't the only draw back.  They also charge to high of a fee for marrying non-members and have too many other requirements that we just aren't comfortable with.

So it's pretty much boiling down to a church just isn't going to work for us because we are really laid back and don't want to have to follow so many "rules" I guess you could say.

As far as any other ceremony sites close, we don't have a whole lot of options (live in a very small town).  I am just really crossing my fingers that we love the reception site we are going to check out tomorrow and we can just do everything there!!   I will have to decide if the back-up plan incase of rain is something I could live with!!  

Thanks for all of your responses!  I was actually shocked I had so many in such a short period of time!  You ladies are great!!

One last question, does anyone know an average rental fee for a large tent???  We are anticipating around 200 ppl.

Pod0512

We are having our ceremony at the reception site.  Or choices are the outdoor gazeebo area and in the dining area (they would tear down/set up while the guests were at cocktail hour).

I really canNOT decide what to do.  There are strong pros and cons for both options.  We'd have to rent chairs for outside, inside might be a pain to set up/take down, etc.  I'm waiting a few weeks to see what the weather's like to make my decision.  I'm not so much worried about the rain, but the cold!  It's been 50's or lower for the past few weeks and I'm not sure I want to subject our older relatives to that.

I think you'd be fine having the ceremony outdoors at your reception site if there's a rain/cold plan in place.

ReidBreiling

We are having ours outside on a lake. Weather should be nice but granted it isnt, we will probably just move it into the hotel where the reception will be held.

mandi921vh

We are getting married in a Methodist Church, however it is more of a historic church, it hasn't had church services for decades, plus it also serves as a muti-purpose event space for school concerts, and other similar events. We are not having a religious ceremony it will be performed by a JOP. 

FutureMrsSheeler

We're getting married outside. It was a tough/big decision for us too. I am catholic, and he is methodist. I am not too active in the catholic faith, and will be a member of a non-denominational church once we're married, so I loved the catholic churches in the area, but didn't want to have mass, and the traditional catholic ceremony. 

FI LOVES the outdoors, and golf, so we decided on our venue, which is a golf course, and their terrace outside is gorgeous, so we knew we had to get married there. And my dad's pastor that did his funeral is marrying us, so I got to bring a piece of my dad into the ceremony, which is really nice.

calo1983

thinking outside but unsure where.

toothpastechica

we are getting married in a tiny little baptist church 4 hours away. Mostly because thats a place i spend many summers when i was a kid in a resort area, We were torn between the church on the hill which is really small....which means cutting back the guest list...of having it at the gardens where our reception is...which would be gorgeous but would be more expensive as it charges per person. We decided on the church and now that we have im am super excited about it...its a historic building (about 100 years old!) and its also the church my parents got married in!...they are charging us 50$ to use the church if we bring our own officiant.

Celticrebelgirl

Hmm...this is a tough one..we having issues deciding on location too..Im a member of a Methodist church(very laid back though) and I could get married there again..Pastor has no issues with it (actually feels bad he didnt counsel me and the ex)...but FI isnt comfy with getting married somewhere I was before..which i fully understand..plus he isnt very realigous ..so I didnt want to force the issue. Then we had thought about his grandma's church but the pastor there got caught up in a scandal..and thats out lol. So...when we went to check out our reception venue..they do offer cermony there...but there is lots of little charges that annoy me..and if it rains we have to do it  indoors which for me isnt a big issue..my biggest is there is really no where for pics...and nearest parks are 15-30 mins away..so making guests wait isnt an option for that long...so would have to do pics before..so we shall see....

But just look at all ur options