Ceremony and reception in one place

[Sharon Naylor]

Hello everyone!

We're working on an article about having your ceremony and reception in one place, and we'd love to hear your stories about why you're doing both at the one site.

It's a savings of money when you only have one site to decorate, you don't have to hire limousines or other transportation, you save money by needing less time (and no travel time) from your on-the-clock experts like photographer and videographer, you get to the reception faster, it opens up winter weddings because no one has to go outside...

If you have a story about why you chose this style of wedding, please share it with us! If we can include your story in the article, I'll private message you to get your name and town.

Thanks!

Sharon

[TheaterDiva1]

We had everything at one location too - mainly, because we were brought up in different faiths, but we're not religious, so a church or synagogue didn't seem appropriate for us. Plus, we didn't have to worry about guests getting lost getting from point A to point B (the hotel where we blocked off rooms was recommended by the venue, and they provided shuttle buses, so again, we didn't have to worry about people getting lost).

Also, there was no dreaded 3-hour gap between the ceremony and the reception. The ceremony was in the dining room (equipted with a fireplace that acted as an altar and a nice view of the bay), then people stepped right out onto the deck for cocktail hour, then back in for dinner.

The one thing I was leery about was that there weren't too many places indoors to take family pictures. We were planning to go to a nearby marina for that, but we didn't really have a backup location - I simply prayed it didn't rain that day.

[chicagris]

We are doing it for the same reason as TheaterDiva. He's Catholic and I'm Methodist and his family's church is very strict and wouldn't marry us unless I converted. Since I am not at all practicing but do not believe in the Catholic church either, I could not bring myself to convert to something I don't believe in. So, we decided to get married at a neutral location. We chose a country club his family uses for a lot of different events.

Also, I liked the idea of having the ceremony outside or having something covered to do the wedding "outside" but shielded from the elements in case of bad weather. The country club offers that along with a beautiful area for the cocktail hour and rececption, so I couldn't turn it down.

[Sandra]

Hi Sharon,

We had my daughter’s wedding and reception at The lake Union Café; we had about 75 people show up so it was not very big. We chose to do this because there were a lot of people out of town that did not know Seattle and some elderly people that could not get around on their own. This Café was opened back in the 30’s, with marble floors, long full length mirrors and rot iron and wood work. We picked a black and while theme with coat tales and top hats and all. We used just a touch of black ribbon with white roses and for color we used star gazer lilies all over the place….. The change from the wedding to the reception was flawless, everyone moved to the bar area for drinks while they moved the chairs off the dance floor. The tables were already set up so there was not a lot of moving around. I believe you can have your wedding in the same place as your reception as long as the change over is smooth and you are dealing with people that do this on a regular basis, you don’t want to inconvenience your guest or stall your wedding….

Thank you!
Sandra

[JnJ]

We chose our location because it was the most beautiful place we could find and had the bonus of having the reception area with the chapel....all you do is walk down a short hallway. It'll be nice to head right over for cake/punch and not have to worry about traveling.

[DenaInWyo]

Me too!

I choose my location because it offers the beauty of a mountain setting, with the convenience of a building with all the amenities, down to a restaurant kitchen. It's also a state owned/public parks service building, so it was only $200 a day to rent. This way, we'll rent it for two days and have all day Friday to decorate.

It's such a beautiful and perfect location, I couldn't think of any reason not to have both there. We will have the wedding outdoors, dinner indoors, and are toying with the idea of setting the dance floor up outside with cocktail type tables around it. The best part: All of this is covered if it rains. It'll mean some furniture shuffling, but it won't be a total disaster, either.

Dave is Lutheran, but not devout, and I am firmly not religious..at least church-wise. I would feel uncomfortable getting married in a church. We compromised and will have the ceremony performed by a minister..in nature's church (which also makes his mom happy)

Deana

[pashmoloo]

HI,

Im from the Uk and will have a really bridal party with me of around 30 people. We knew we wanted either Laguna beach, Huntington beach or New port beach, and from there we just searched around on the internet. I have found a few places i love like the Ritz carlton and the Balboa bay club. I think really the only option for us is to have an evening wedding from 6pm to midnight and then we can all stay over at the hotel. It will just make it easy for the planning part and i want a relaxed outdoor wedding too. In the Uk you can only be wed under a roof and it has to be licensed too.

[crankyavonlady]

We decided to have our ceremony and reception at our church. They will help us with set up and taking everything down and it is cheaper for us to do it this way there are no hidden fees. Also neither of us drinks or smokes and having it at the church there is no alcohol or smoking allowed. So we don't feel bad by telling people there will be no alcohol we can just tell them it is our church's rules.