Howdy, Reddit world. Hoping someone out there knows of a wedding ceremony venue that is similar to a church or chapel that doesn’t require membership or religious affiliation. Looking for the classic stained glass and high ceilings. DOES NOT have to be a church or chapel…just hoping for something with that aesthetic. Must be indoor and it’s only for ceremony. Thanks for any help!
Howdy, Reddit world. Hoping someone out there knows of a wedding ceremony venue that is similar to a church or chapel that doesn’t require membership or religious affiliation. Looking for the classic stained glass and high ceilings. DOES NOT have to be a church or chapel…just hoping for something with that aesthetic. Must be indoor and it’s only for ceremony. Thanks for any help!
Edit: I should have disclosed that not all of my family and friends would be a part of the “outings”. A lot of my family would be private brunch the next day and one on one get-togethers as they come into town. Also, as for the children, it’s not someone random watching them lol it’s literally family. There aren’t many kids and none of them will be under the age of 8. Also also, I’m open to day events with smaller groups and then the ceremony and then the smaller group “going out”. Again, I’m looking for suggestions and understand I won’t have it all. I’m looking for the best suggestions and ideas and narrowing down what feels best.
My bf and I are taking about marriage. As a little girl, I always wanted the big princess wedding with the expensive centerpieces and table settings. I envisioned this big ballroom with fancy lights and magical atmosphere. Now? Shiiiiit I don’t want any of that lol. I’ve been to so many weddings and it’s so stressful and the day escapes so quickly. Most guests get bored and make excuses to leave. It’s the same old same old. Sure, you can have great entertainment and get people dancing, but all that money for a little bit of dancing and moderately good food? I don’t have the budget to do something like one of my family members did. An ABSOLUTE DREAM of a wedding. The constant entertainment and never ending hors d’oeuvres. Truly, a once in a lifetime wedding they had! However, that’s not me and my bf. We’re a little more…eclectic? lol and it made me realize, what IS my dream wedding now?
Here’s the meat of the post…I need help coming up with out of the box ideas to celebrate our union. This is only going to be about 60 guests. I don’t want to stay in one place all night and do all the traditional things…
Ceremony- We’d love something dramatic in aesthetics. We’re open to a church, or a mansion/house, venue, restaurant, etc. we just want a beautiful background with longer aisle and good intimate lighting. After the ceremony, we want to hang with our guests and just snap some photos with them and maybe do some cocktails? We don’t really want a cocktail hour where we leave everyone and go to photos. So maybe even a space with patio or garden? We’d like to do it way later in the afternoon and get some pics before sunset.
Dinner- We don’t want a typical reception. We’d like to get picked up from the ceremony area and brought to a local restaurant. (We’ll provide transportation for all guests) We don’t mind paying to rent the restaurant or even just a room in the restaurant. We want it to feel like going to dinner with the family. After dinner, we’d like all children to be driven by a designated driver and 2 designated chaperones who will go back to the resort/airbnb with the kids and babysit/entertain.
Reception- here is where it gets fun! We don’t want a typical reception. We’d like to do multiple stops throughout a downtown area. Walking mixed with limo/transportation. While I don’t want the giant over the top wedding, I DO want an over the top dress. And what better way to show off the dress than be out on the town. I think maybe a fancy cocktail lounge, a dessert spot or cafe, a coffee shop etc for some of the pit stops. We want something to entertain the guests…like maybe a rooftop club that we get to go dance and party. And something random like hiring a glass lamp making company to set up in a park and the guests get to make their own “wedding favor” which is something they’ll actually use. I’m even open to going to an animal adoption center and making a donation for the animals and getting to pet animals lol. Maybe an ax throwing room? Rage room? Museum tour? Imagine going on vacation and getting to do fun stuff and feeling like you had a great night out. That’s what we’re going for.
Ending- the end the night, we’d like for everyone who’d like to stay to go back to the resort/airbnb and involve the kids in on the fun. We’d like an Airbnb with arcade, basketball, pool etc. ideally, we’d like a really large compound type deal where everyone can stay.
We’re open to Orlando, Tampa, The Keys, Miami, West Palm. We have family who is willing to travel and we really want to celebrate with them. You never know the next time you’ll have everyone together and we want it to be special and original. I know it’s a lot of rambling and mixed up requests, but I feel like there has to be at least one person who can throw up some awesome ideas!