Hosting your ceremony and reception at different venues – pros and cons

Pros

The venue itself

Your ceremony venue may have more of a personal connection to you and your families.  Obviously a religious ceremony needs to take place under a certain roof, and it’s a beautifully spiritual feeling to marry in a place that is close to your hearts.  You can often fit more people in a building like a church, meaning more guests can take part in the most important moment of your life – and the space will need very little decoration to enhance what is already either a wonderfully spectacular or charmingly modest space.

Travel

It can give the day a feeling of journey and progression to have all your guests travel from the ceremony to the reception together.  It also gives them a chance to chat and bond in transit, and you can make a real impression on the roads if you wanted to!  It’s a good opportunity to be creative in terms of the transport you arrange – perhaps you could prompt your guests who are lucky enough to own fabulous sports cars to form a convoy, or decorate coaches to form mobile party warm-up venues.  If your wedding has a theme, Google can come to the rescue and suggest all sorts of unique vehicles that reflect your style and bring a little humour to proceedings.

Cost

Marrying in a registry office or religious building has the enormous perk of being far, far less expensive that hiring a registrar.  Quite often, you’ll end up paying in excess of £600 to have someone marry you in a separate building, and then pay room hire costs on top of that – whereas at a ceremony venue, you may get an all-in-one package that comes to half that price.  If you have plenty of budget to play with, you could marry somewhere that’s opulent and luxurious but way out of your price range for the entire reception – meaning that you’ve experienced the venue of your dreams for tying the knot, then can move onto a more realistic, down to earth venue for the (much more expensive) party.

Cons

The venue itself

If you’re marrying at the same venue as the reception, you can play around a lot more with décor, continuity and flow.  It’ll be easier for you, your helpers and the venue’s staff to decorate and customise the entire space, adding themes and personal touches in both your ceremony and reception areas.  It also allows you to relax a little more – your guests will be taken care of with nibbles and drinks while you head off to take your wedding pictures, and you won’t have to worry about time limits or making sure your guests stay rounded up.

Travel

It goes without saying that hosting your ceremony and reception at the same venue almost completely eliminates travel complications.  It also saves you the job of sourcing suitable bulk transport, or guiding lost guests through unfamiliar country lanes or bustling city centres.  Also, if you’ve found a venue that provides accommodation for your guests, they can car pool, park up, banish their keys to their pockets and get straight down to business….and by ‘business’, of course, we mean champagne.  There won’t be any faffing about with buckling up the children (always stressful, especially in black tie) after the ceremony, or the possibility of unfortunately-timed breakdowns of various crucial vehicles, and it allows your guests to relax a little more knowing that their cars are safe, sound, and not to be seen again until the cold light of day.

Cost

Budgeting for a wedding is so very difficult, especially if you’re trying to make big dreams a reality on a modest budget.  Packages that include a ceremony and a reception space are commonplace amongst larger venues, and if you time your wedding well (such as on a Sunday or generally out of season) you can get cracking deals on room hire, food, drink, entertainment, flowers, and all sorts of other wedding must-have’s.  Having only one point of contact such as your Events Manager or Venue Finding Company can also save you a princely sum, as you’re less likely to suffer miscommunications and the person you’re dealing with will be realistic and understanding of your vision and how it can fit in with your budget.   Deals can be negotiated, and you can plan your day from beginning to end in meticulous detail – thus being totally in control, knowing everything will be at the same place at the same time.

We at Function Fixers understand that your wedding has to be everything you dreamed it would – and we are expert in sourcing venues that suit the exact requirements of couples.  You can contact us free of charge to find out more about how we can help you, or in the meantime, simply have a browse of our wedding venues here!