Venue

Congratulations and Happy Holidays

 in Celebrant / Ceremony / Venue / Wedding Ceremony / Wedding planning / Weddings  tagged legal marriage / wedding / wedding celebrant / wedding planning by

Congratulations and Happy Holidays to everyone celebrating special events in the coming weeks. Hanukkah has begun, the winter solstice is tonight, Christmas and Kwanzaa are around the corner, and New Years can be celebrated by us all. And scattered amongst all these annual holidays many couples will formalize their engagements in the next few weeks, too. These winter holidays and Valentine’s Day in February are the most frequent times for couple’s to get engaged.

So, to all the newly engaged, I would like to extend my congratulations and best wishes for long and happy marriages. As you share your happy news with family and friends, often the first question you will be asked is, “Have you set a date yet?” You’ll only be able to answer that after you’ve selected your venue. It may be a local hotel or event center. Perhaps you’ll want an intimate backyard gathering. Or maybe you’ll select a destination wedding in a foreign country. Selecting your venue and learning their availability will likely determine your wedding date.

Once you have your date established, it will be time to lock down all your important vendors. This includes catering (if not provided by the venue), florist and photography, and many more. I encourage you to put securing the services of a professional celebrant high on your To Do list. We are the people who will make your marriage legal. No matter how intimate, elaborate, formal or casual your day will be, you will need to ensure that your marriage will be legally recognized when all is said and done.

Professional celebrants will work with you to craft the ceremony you want. We will also walk you through the process needed to obtain your legal marriage paperwork, and ensure it is returned to the issuing governmental offices. This last step is important. If your paperwork is not returned in compliance with state law, your marriage will not be legal.

Remember then, to include selecting your wedding celebrant as a key part of your planning process. Then you can relax, knowing that you’ll have the ceremony of your dreams, and all the details will be handled, too.

At this special time of year, I’d like to express my congratulations and happy holidays wishes to everyone. I’m looking forward to celebrating with some of you in the coming year.

Shh! It’s Noisy Out Here

 in Ceremony / Venue / Weddings  tagged minimizing noise / noisy weddings / wedding venues by

Shh! It’s noisy out here. Not what you want guests saying to each other as they try to hear the words of your wedding ceremony. But it can be an all too common experience at outdoor weddings. There are some things you can do to both avoid and to minimize the effect of external noises at your ceremony venue. They take attention to detail and some planning, though, to ensure that you get the idyllic experience you envision.

Noises can be natural or man-made. For example, if you’re standing in the beautiful lower gardens at the Plummer House, you might be fooled into thinking it’s a serene and quiet place. But if you close your eyes and listen, you’ll hear plenty of road noise from Hwy 52. If it’s a breezy day the sound of wind in the trees can be quite loud. And if the waterfall and/or fountains are turned on, it’s even louder. None of these can be controlled, so you’ll want to ensure that you have a sound system so speakers during your ceremony can be heard.

Plummer House Lower Gardens, with the pretty, if noisy, fountain

I once had the interesting experience of discovering, mid-ceremony, that there were train tracks immediately adjacent to the ceremony space at The Round Barn near Winona. There is no way to compete with the sound of a rumbling, whistling train only 20 yards away. In these kind of situations, knowing it’s possible that a train will be sharing your ceremony is all you can do. We stopped, waved to the train, and waited for it to pass before continuing.

With indoor ceremony venues, make sure to inquire about the location of the kitchen, the pool or other activity venues, and any major hallways or lobbies that could get loud. Enlist the site manager’s assistance in limiting noise during the ceremony when possible.

It’s important when visiting potential venues to stop, close your eyes and listen to see if noise is going to be an issue. You’ll also want to ask the site manager about any currently unheard noise that could be a factor on the day of the week and time of day that your wedding will occur. Even with all of your efforts, the unexpected may happen, as the bride in this article discovered when she learned of an impending cicada hatching.

To prevent your guests from saying, “Shh! It’s noisy out here”, you’ll want to prevent, minimize, account for, or acknowledge and respond to noises you can predict. But when the unexpected happens, it’s best to just smile, wave, and remember that the most important thing happening is your love and marriage, and all the rest can become background noise.

Planning for 2020 Weddings

 in Ceremony / Engagement / Personalization / Venue / Wedding traditions / Wedding Vows / Weddings  tagged engaged / engagement / personalized wedding / wedding ceremony / wedding planning / wedding traditions / weddings by

Planning for 2020 weddings, and beyond, has become a priority task for all the couples who are newly engaged following the recent holiday season. Congratulations again to all of you as you celebrate your engagements and begin the process of figuring out what will come next. No matter who you are, what you envision for your day, where you want it to be held, or who you will enlist to help you with the myriad tasks you will discover as you move forward, this is and will be an exciting time in your life.

The best advice I can offer as you begin planning for 2020 weddings (or any future date) is to decide what 3 to 5 things are really important to you. This will help you focus on where to spend your time, effort and money as you plan for the big day. That doesn’t mean you can ignore all the other aspects of your wedding day. But perhaps you will spend less of your wedding budget on those items, or will enlist the help of family or friends who have talents or experience in those areas.

As you begin your wedding planning process I encourage you to identify your wedding date as soon as possible. Venue availability or key vendor availability will help you select a date, and once you have the date and location there are many more tasks that you can work on.

Remember, too, that wedding traditions are based on hundreds of years of couples getting married. Some may not fit you, and it is more than OK to jettison those that don’t. Maybe you don’t want to be “given away” at your ceremony, call all the single women to the floor for a bouquet toss, or find the garter ritual embarrassing. None of those things have to be part of your wedding day.

Rather, you’ll want to fill your day with moments that reflect you. Perhaps your centerpieces will be board game or book themed because those reflect how you spend your time. Maybe you’ll look for ways to include your family members who have played important roles in your life to date. Or perhaps you’ll place a priority on writing your own vows so the highlight of your ceremony is the two of you making the promises most important to you, in a style that reflects you and your relationship.

It helps to keep all of the above in mind as you begin to define your wedding day. Planning for 2020 weddings (and beyond) will be a big part of your coming months, but remember to take time for the two of you as a couple. Focus on your love that brought you to this place, have fun together doing something NOT wedding related, and enjoy this time in your life.

Unexpected Ceremony Venues

 in Venue / Weddings  tagged creative venues / creative weddings / wedding / wedding venues by

Unexpected ceremony venues can give your wedding day an extra bit of sparkle and interest. Staging your day at a location that speaks to you as a couple is a great way to personalize the entire wedding experience. Looking outside the box when it comes to wedding venues takes a little creative thinking, but can really pay off.

Are you craft beer enthusiasts? Contact local craft breweries to see if they can host your wedding. Locally, Forager has a garden and private rooms that can accommodate smaller, intimate groups. Maybe wine is your thing. We have a number of wineries in southeastern Minnesota that host weddings, including Four Daughters in Spring Valley, Chankaska Ranch and Winery in Mankato, and Cannon River winery.

Winery Venue

Like being in the spotlight? Or maybe you’re an amateur thespian. Check out the rental options at Rochester Civic Theatre and you can be the star of your own show. This couple shared their first date at this very spot and love all things theater, so it was their perfect wedding venue.

Wedding at Rochester Civic Theatre

Campgrounds may be one of the most unexpected ceremony venues I’ve encountered, but it worked perfectly for this couple. They loved to camp, and knew of a picturesque state park where they could reserve a large campsite complete with cabins for their guests. Everyone was invited to stay overnight and keep the celebration going.

Campground venue

Other unexpected ceremony venues to consider are museums and libraries where your guests can be entertained before or after the ceremony. For example, a science museum wedding was the perfect venue for an couple of engineers and their guests. The opportunity to rent an entire B&B or small resort offers a private space and housing for your guests traveling in from out of town.

While traditional wedding venues offer many amenities and can help make your day go smoothly, consider unexpected wedding venues as a way to put a unique stamp on your wedding day.

Backup Ceremony Venue: An Important Part of Your Wedding Plans

 in Ceremony / Venue / Weddings  tagged bad weather venue / wedding ceremony / wedding venue / wedding venues by

Selecting a backup ceremony venue in case of bad weather is an important part of your wedding plans. No matter how meticulously you plan each aspect of your wedding day, the weather is out of your control. By selecting an appropriate backup venue you remove a significant unknown and reduce your stress.

If you are planning an outdoor ceremony, having a backup ceremony venue and plan is absolutely essential in Minnesota. Our weather is so variable that you can encounter snow in May, severe storms throughout the summer, and chill winds by September. But if you’ve identified a good backup ceremony venue you can approach your wedding day confident that you’ll have a beautiful, memorable day regardless of the weather.

So what are the characteristics of a good back up ceremony venue? Ideally, it will be in the same location as your outdoor ceremony venue. This allows your guests to arrive at the same location regardless of weather. If this is not possible, you’ll need to have a very detailed communication plan to let your guests know which venue to go to on the wedding day. Make sure that you have other people prepared to execute the communication plan as you and your wedding party will be busy with other activities before the ceremony.

Your backup ceremony venue also needs to be a place that you can envision using for your ceremony. Make sure you know where you will enter from, where the chairs will be set up, what the lighting is like, and if it is air conditioned or heated as needed. Consider accessibility for your guests, and think about what pictures will look like in this space.

With plans in place for your backup ceremony venue, a final consideration will be when you need to make the final decision on an inside or outside ceremony. Some venues require 24 or even 48 hours notice to prepare the ceremony venue, while others are more flexible. Remember, too, that you may need to notify all guests of the location change, so leave time to put your communication plan into effect. A last suggestion – once you make the call to move inside, don’t second guess yourself. Embrace the idea, knowing you selected an indoor venue you can be happy with, and move forward to enjoy your wedding day to the fullest. You’re marrying the love of your life, and everything else is less important.