Wedding Ceremony Venue

The most popular wedding ceremony venue for Christian couples is a church. A church wedding used to be expected for most weddings, even for non-Christian couples. Many pastors include a wedding sermon in the actual ceremony. Now there are many more popular places to have a wedding.

When I attended college in San Diego, I thought a Pacific Ocean beach wedding at sunset would be perfect.

A relative got married about three years ago at a country club with a spare-no-expense ceremony and reception. Some friends of ours did the same about three months after we got married. Those are always fun to go to just to see all of the fancy things, like fountains and ice sculptures!

Some of our friends have had simple backyard weddings. Backyard weddings can be small and intimate. Of course, they can also be quite large. Don't forget to add a lovely wedding arch for your outdoor ceremony.

Some couples rent property out in the country. They have a beautiful outdoor wedding. Sometimes they incorporate a barn or two in their plans.

A public garden wedding makes a lovely backdrop while taking your vows. A city park also works nicely. Just be sure and reserve it with the city months in advance.

Another great kind of wedding, and one that many movie stars use, is a hotel ballroom wedding.

Some couples rent out an entire eating establishment. A favorite restaurant wedding is great for the ceremony and reception. Catering is certainly much easier.

My husband once performed a wedding ceremony for a couple of his co-workers during lunch. (My husband used to be a pastor.) The grounds outside of the lunchroom were beautiful so they had a short workplace wedding.

Another popular place to get married in is the bride's own home, especially if it is large. Having a home wedding takes a lot of rearranging, especially if it is indoors but can be well worth it.

Right now, the hottest new trend in a wedding ceremony venue is a destination wedding. Couples, along with their wedding parties and family members, travel to beautiful vacation spots for the wedding of their dreams. To many, this is cost-prohibitive, but if you can afford it, bon voyage!

Use your imagination and come up with an original wedding ceremony venue. Look around your town or city. Sometimes you can find some great ideas. Just be sure and check with the city to see if you need reservations, permits, etc.

For instance, in San Antonio, many couples get married downtown on our city's beautiful Riverwalk. It is especially magical around Christmas when thousands of lights are hung in the trees above the river.

Cheap Vegas Wedding

by Tina
(El Paso, TX)

Last summer, my fiance and I decided we did not want to be bothered having a big wedding so we had a cheap Vegas wedding. It was actually very nice. Our parents, siblings, and a few close friends flew up as well. We got married at the Little Chapel of the Flowers for $395.We actually got married in the Victorian Chapel at the Little Chapel of Flowers. They provide non-denominational Christian ministers and you can choose to have a Christian wedding or just a non-religious one. Of course, we chose a Christian wedding, complete with wedding Bible verses that I got off your site!

A driver picked us up. No one is allowed to take photos except for their own photographers so we did spend extra money for wedding photos.

They offer some outside weddings as well. They have a lot of packages and we chose the traditional one. They have a menu of services that range from $199 up to the ridiculous price of $10,000!

It was very nice. I wore a white wedding gown. New hubby wore a tux and it was great. We went back to our off the strip hotel and had a family dinner with small wedding cake. Then we stayed a few days and honeymooned there. We did not gamble but we did see some shows and ate some wonderful food. Our families went home the next day but we were too busy to take them to the airport. Our cheap Vegas wedding was actually pretty great. No, there were no Elvis look-alikes at the place we got married but we did not want one so it was cool.

For our cheap Vegas wedding, we had to travel several blocks to get our marriage license for $60 the day before our wedding.

If you are on a budget, like most of us, you are looking for some cheap wedding locations where you can get married in style without spending a fortune.

The most obvious is your own local church where most congregation members can get married for free or for a nominal fee. Use the church fellowship hall for your reception. This saves you a lot of money and you have a great excuse for not serving any alcohol which saves you even more money.

If you want an outdoor wedding and your church sits on a beautiful piece of property, ask permission of your church board to have the wedding outside. Or maybe get married in the sanctuary and hold your reception outside in the church yard.

Second choice would be the home of your parents or another relative who has a fairly large home and/or backyard. This is the perfect and free solution. Just assure them that you and your wedding party will take care of set up and clean up and then be sure that you do. You can borrow chairs from a local church or rent them from a hall or rental facility for a nominal fee. You may want to rent or borrow 6 foot long tables to serve food as well. This will be much cheaper than renting a ballroom or other hall.

Go to your town hall about using a park near where you live. You may have to buy a permit, but do not just go to a park and attempt to set up for a wedding without one or you may have your wedding interrupted by local authorities.

You can rent a pavilion in many city parks and in some state and national parks where the scenery is just breathtaking. You can hold the reception as well as the wedding ceremony right there in the pavilion.

If someone you know lives near a lake, a river, or an ocean beach, see if you can have your wedding there, next to the water. I have always thought a beach wedding would be perfect. If you decide on getting married on a beach and it is not private property that you have permission to use, make sure that you obtain the proper city permit.

One of many great cheap wedding locations is a mall, especially an outdoor mall. Speak with the management and find out how you can obtain permission to use it for your wedding ceremony.

The country club wedding is usually a lavish affair in beautiful surroundings. It is also very expensive.

A relative had one about three years ago and her wedding cost about as much as I make in one year.

If you and your family can afford this and not go into debt, then that is fine. But do not go into debt trying to impress your friends and relatives. With the average American wedding costing about $27,000, a lot of people are either going into debt or tapping into their retirement funds to pay for a party for their adult child that will last just a few short hours. To me, that is crazy. Do not forfeit your future to keep up with the Joneses. It is just not worth it!

Getting back to the topic at hand, the ceremony and reception, complete with catering, band, ice sculptures and alcoholic beverages were provided for a set fee. All in all, a beautiful affair but......

I am sure that if you or your parents are members of a country club, they will most likely give you a discounted rate, but you will still spend a fortune on a party.

If I have that kind of money when my daughter gets engaged, I will encourage her to choose a simpler wedding and take the bulk of the wedding money and use it as a down payment on a house.

Remember, a wedding and reception last for just a few hours at most, but you will need a home to live in for years to come.

There are some definite advantages to having a country club wedding. The country club employees will do everything for you, which takes a huge load of stress and worry off of your shoulders.

There will be plenty of space for your guests and you will not have to worry about them being comfortable. The employees will see to that. There will be valet parking and plenty of it if you are having a large wedding.

Restrooms will be clean and attended to. Messes and spills will be cleaned up right away. Service will be at its highest. The food will be excellent and served on beautiful china. Your family will not have to worry about helping with clean up.

Your guests will not have to travel first to a church and then to a reception hall. Everything is conveniently located and most of them will love being at the country club.