First Four Venues

Venue #1: Nathan and I both think this venue is our number one choice for a ceremony. The church lets out their entire facility to become a non-denominational wedding/reception area. Their prices are about right for us, but the only bad thing I have to say is that their reception areas are rather small. Also the food room and the eating room are separated. It is a bit inconvenient for the flow of a party. However, we are at least considering getting married there. It is nice that we can rent either the chapel or the reception areas or even all of it for good prices. The pastor's wife is amazing. I would still like to meet her husband the pastor and his associate to see who would be conducting our ceremony, but other than that it is still a good option

Venue #2 was really expensive and had many restrictions as to catering. They only allow their caterers and boy were they expensive. If we were to go with them as our reception area it would cost our entire wedding budget. Not to mention the reception room designated for our guest list was a bit larger than we wanted.

Venue #3 was just stupid....the prices were too high for the quality of their place. They had a chapel that was not really nice. They also required that the guests go through a courtyard to even get into the chapel. I will say that their reception area was pretty good. It was about the right size, but the head-table could not be seen from every angle. You also could not just rent the reception area. It was either rent just the chapel or both chapel and reception. I will also add that if you wanted to bring in your caterer you had to pay an extra $1500 fee for that. This one s a definite, flat out; NO

Venue #4 When you arrive at this place, it's in a sketchy area. The outside of the building looks really bad. We almost didn't go in, but then once we did it was really nice. The reception area size was perfect for us. The dance floor was about the right size, too. There was good flow to the room and easy access to a buffet table and a good view of the head table. An added plus was that we could move the tables anywhere we wanted. The chapel was a bit shabby, but overall not so bad. However, I will say that I think it's a bit small for our size wedding. When you walk into it, it's really narrow. The other bad thing about this place is that we would have to use their catering. I really don't option, but it seems that most places are doing that. The price of this place was pretty good.

Ideal:

Ceremony

1. Marriage in a church is a must have
   
2. Church must have carpet and must be level for good walking
   
3. Must be large enough to hold guests and string quartet
4. Must be easy to commute to
   

Reception

1. Cannot be huge
   
2. Dance floor medium and not the focal point of the room
   
3. Clear view of head table
4. Good pricing
   
5. No bar
   
6. Freedom of caterer choice