Separate Reception and Ceremony locations...

I did the ceremony and reception in the same place (golf course), it was more cost effective for me. It was just an additional fee added on to what I was paying for the reception. I am not getting a limo and al of the guest who come and are not familiar with the area shouldnt get lost "leaving the ceremony and going to the reception".

Hi Katie ~ Welcome to WW

Normally there is no problem with having it at two locations if everyone has a car. Do you fear that those flying in are not renting a car?

You could always do it all at the same location. Just get married on the dance floor and have everyone sit at the tables to watch the ceremony. Or get married in front of the head table. (depending on how the room is set up) If they have room, maybe they can set up chairs on the dance floor for the ceremony and then put the tables in place for dinner.

For mine, I had the chairs from the 4 tables around the dance floor be set up as my aisle. They were the VIP family tables. Everyone else just sat at their seats. You can ask the hall to angle the chairs so they are all facing the altar.

@ Hayley C. - Oh my God, I never thought of having the reception on the dancefloor with the tables around it....I LOVE this idea!

@ Katie - if everyone is coming in from out of town and you don't think that most of them will be renting cars, then it would probably be less of a headache for everyone - especially you and FH - to have the reception and ceremony at the same location...if you decide that you want the two at different locations, there are other options you can look at outside of limos...shuttle buses as well as school buses (I have one for the day for only $500!) are options to look into as well

Yea i don't even have 500 to spend... like maybe 150. (feel free to laugh) and stuffing everyone into cars just seems very difficult and stressful. I have my heart set on an outdoor ceremony and its hard to find a place with both that i can afford. So i figured i could just get married outside at a farm or park for cheap and then the reception somewhere separate but both FH and I are hesitant to do them separate for transportation, stress and budget reasons.

Just my opinion~i really dont like seperate ceremony and reception venues. Especially if you are dealing with OOT guests.

We did separate venues we got married in a church and then the reception was at a hotel about 15 mins depending on traffic...

My ceremony and reception are in two different locations. My ceremony location is free because its my church and the reception location is $425.00. I believe its just really where you are located and the cost of each thing. However, my reception and ceremony location is like 7 mins apart from each other. And all of my OOT guest will be driving. But come to think of it any wedding I go to the bride and groom don't provide transportation its every person for themselves just in case someone is ready to leave before time. Hope this advice helps.

I'm with Jasmine, where I'm from it's standard to have two separate locations. I did want to have one but the venue pricing was ridiculous. It depends on your budget & venue.

We thought about an outdoor wedding also & rental of chairs/tents & the preferred catering prices was well past our budget.

We are having our reception at our local zoo. We're not having the wedding there due to our ceremony count is higher than our reception. We had to cut some folk from the reception. There was no place big enough & convienient that could hold a large count within our budget. This way we get a real nice reception & we can still have some people at the wedding. We are also doing a mini reception (cake & punch) in the basement of our church for those we can't invite to the main reception.

Keep looking you will find what your looking for. Be open to maybe giving up some things to get some others.

We are doing both seperate. Our ceremony is going to be at the church and then we will have our reception about 10 minutes away from the ceremony but we have a 3 hour break between them. We will be having a bus for ourselves and bridal party to ride on and take pictures outside. Also, most of our OOT guests will be renting cars and if not then we have a shuttle running from the hotel to the reception not the ceremony though. Luckily we know the company and they are doing it for whatever gas they use and that's it.

Thanks! so other then the guests what are the two of you and your bridal party doing for transportation? is it rude to just tell my bridal party they have to drive themself.... like guests i can understand but it just seems wierd to just all get in separate cars and arrive at the reception.

We almost had to do that since we hard a really hard time finding a limo that we big enough for all 14 people...we finally found one about a week before the wedding. I think as long as you tell them a head of time it will be fine

Our ceremony was in a park on the same property as the reception, but still about a 5 min drive. The reception was about a 2 min drive from the the hotel. Since it was so close, we did not provide transport for the bridal party. We asked that our parents help carpool us and it worked out fine. Our wedding was a DW. We did not provide transport for our guests. Most people made a long weekend beach trip and knew they would need a car throughout the weekend. We made it clear that we would not be providing transport. Some of our friends and family joined together to share cars that were driven in or rented. It was not an issue for us.

We are doing seperate. The venue offer out door weddings with a tent cover but that's an exatra $400. Not to mention, I live in Wisconsin, so weather is very crazy. We choose to get married at a park lodger. It's an $165 and has heat just incase. Most of our guests are from out of town but I see it as I am on a budget and don't want to spend an extra $235 for a cold ceremony.