Reception and ceremony at the same place

Hi Sheila, my fiancé a I went through the same process of deciding whether or not to have the ceremony and reception in the same place. Both wanted to go that route so that the guest don't have to worry about going to two different locations and reduce costs. However, my mom was insistent on a church ceremony and shred to cover the costs. We went this decision but I do recommend going with what works for you! I would reccomend going with ceremony and reception in one place!

We are having our ceremony and reception in the same location. I would prefer if my guests are drinking , that they not drive. And if they have to travel to your location, between locations and then back home/a hotel… it’s just a lot of extra expense for your guests, or they will drive and then someone has to be DD and that's just not as much fun for that person. You can still have time between your ceremony and reception for pictures, it’s called cocktail hour!

Also, for out of town guests that aren’t familiar with the area, there’s no worry of them getting lost and trying to contact me or FH when we are busy busy! PLUS I saved money only having to rent the limo to drive our wedding party (and us) to the ceremony/reception location… no need for a longer package where they wait until the ceremony is over to drive the group for pictures/to the reception.

It’s definitely personal preference, but a BIG factor for our decision was that we are not having a religious ceremony, so no church needed.

Hi Sheila Welcome to the community!!

I know it can be hard to decide on a venue.... It determines for so much afterwards!

I think having your ceremony and reception in the same location can definitely make it a lot easier for everything else.

But your choice also relies on many factors! It depends for instance on how big you want your wedding, your budget, your style, if you're having a religious or civil ceremony... all these are to take into consideration.

To make it more easy, I created this test in the community:

Test: Find out the perfect venue for your wedding

You can start with the first question and follow the links until you get to the last and I'll give you some suggestions of venue types.

I also made this post that you could find useful:

4 key questions to find the perfect venue

What type of venues have you been looking at so far? Will your ceremony be religious or civil?

Your welcome, I am always happy to help! Congratulations to you as well!

Hi Chelsea,

Thank you so much for your response. I happy to have read your points about the benefits of holding it in two locations. My main consideration for this is that I'm worried that I will have two locations that I really like and can't choose between so I'll want to incorporate both! I'm concerned about rides between places as I'm not sure how far away the locations I might pick will be. I guess I'll have to think about it more once I have an idea where the locations will be but it's nice to read about someone who is doing 2 different locations and is happy with it. Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

We are doing ours at 2 different places. One we are doing the ceremony in a Church because that is important to us and then the reception will be at a banquet hall. Also we like that in between the time of the ceremony and reception, while we get photos done, people can go home if they live in town, check into their hotels or go get coffee or something. If you do the ceremony at the same place as the reception, usually the guests don't have anywhere to go (if you guys are out doing photos) and the venue might need tables moved and things set up and usually the guests will want appetizers or something to munch on. That is just how we want things! Every bride is different. If you have everything at one place it might be cheaper and then you don't have travel time in between! So it is mainly about what you guys want