So I have not had a chance to blog about our search for a church and reception site yet and decided it was about time after the horrible week I have had with the church we had decided on.
After we first got engaged we had no idea about what church we would get married in or what reception site we would use. The church we attend is currently building a new church and it will not be done till right before our wedding and I did not feel comfortable not seeing it until a couple weeks before the wedding, or worse the building being behind schedule and it not actually being done in time for our wedding! So using our church was not really an option so I decided to look for a reception site first then try to find a church nearby. I started getting ideas for the reception site by going to our local bridal fair and picking up information about various sites. We ended up deciding on a reception site after personally looking at 10-12 different sites. Before we booked the reception site we found a church that was close to the reception site and made sure they were both open on the same date. After confirming that they were I put down the deposits (this all happened about 2 weeks ago). At this point I was very excited and it seemed like everything was falling into place. Everything changed earlier this week when I went in for a meeting with the pastor of the church to discuss all the final details. When I first contacted her I asked the same 3 questions I asked every church: 1. Can non-members use the church?, 2. Can I bring in my own minister?, and 3. What is the capacity of the church?. She happily informed me I could use the church even though I was a non-member and told me I could bring in an outside minister as long as she met with him and approved of his teachings. She then told me the capacity was 275-300. I was VERY excited because all the answers were what I wanted to hear and it was within 5 minutes of the reception site we wanted to use. After hearing all of this my fiance, my mom, and I went and looked at the church and we all really liked it and decided it was going to be the place we got married! Well when I went back in this week for our meeting I was given some alarming news....the church sanctuary actually only "comfortably" seats 175! I was completely shocked and did not know what to do. I reminded her that they had originally told me it sat 275-300 and she just nonchalantly said that they could probably squeeze in over 200 and told me not to worry because even though my guest list is over 300 not everybody will show up. I was very frustrated and also felt stupid that I couldn't tell by looking at the sanctuary myself that it wouldn't fit 300, but I am not an expert at judging how many people can fit in a church and I tried to map it out and I thought maybe it wouldn't fit quite 300 but I had no idea it would only fit 175!
Now I have a reception site booked and no church to get married in! I am now starting my church search over and I am very frustrated. I have a couple ideas but I am worried they will not be available for the date I already have my reception site booked for.
Did you have similar struggles? Did you have any trouble with a church or reception site overestimating the capacity?
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We did! You probably read about our struggles already since I sent you the links, but it was a huge pain. You really will have a lot fewer people than you think, though. We invited about 360 and had just over 250 so I worried about it for nothing!
ReplyDeleteyes we had issues too! my parents added an extra 20 people to the guest list which took us over the edge, so now, if everyone shows up, we will have to put some people in the ballroom! oh, and our priest just got transfered! i guess that's the fun part of wedding planning - you just have to go with it!
ReplyDeleteUgh what a pain. Is it still early enough that you can cancel your reception place if the location isn't the best & get a full refund. I know my wedding venue gives full refunds if you cancel at least 4 months beforehand!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the encouragement! We are trying to set up a meeting with the pastor of my future mother-in-law's church for next week so hopefully that goes well and we have a church again! It isn't in the ideal location but I figure the people that care about us the most and want to share our reception with us won't mind driving an extra 15 minutes : ) And Shanna, I remember when I signed the contract it said absolutely no refunds, and I payed $750 for the deposit so I would hate to lose it!
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