Community Center Wedding

Decor can completely change the style and make it more elegant. Can you do ceiling draping? Up lighting? Chair covers? What does it look like? I've seen some very basic and some very upscale community centers.

We cant hang anything from the walls or the ceiling. Free standing only and no latex balloons. It does have a stage and I did think about using uplighting but considering we didnt want an expensive wedding we haven't priced uplighting . We haven't decided on one as of yet but have seen a few and they have been updated in recent years.

You can have the guest already seated at their tables during the ceremony, have the ceremony on the stage. I'm not trying to be funny but the dollar tree (idk where you are located) but they have very nice vases, you can buy some and their flowers are decent too. If alll the extra "commercial" stuff is not in your budget DO NOT sweat it must dear! Matter of fact my wedding is in march, I'm having the rustic theme wedding, you pay for shopping and I'll send you my centerpieces for free :-) I'm having birdcage cages with sunflower garland.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your help. SpringBride16 I'm close to Raleigh and wouldn't mind any extra decor I can get. It wasnt until I had a conversation with a co-worker that it donned on me how close we are to the new year and I hadn't done anything. This was 2 weeks ago.

Winter Wonderland bride jus curious how you would diy the up lighting. I really want to do it for our venue but knew going through a vendor would be out of my budget.

We were going to have our wedding at a city building, but changed our minds. We'd be responsible for all set up and clean up, including setting up tables and chairs. That's more work than we want to do on our wedding weekend. Just something for you to think about.

Some venues will also include tables & chairs -- some won't. You'll need to do some research.

I second the uplighting notion! I've been to a handful of community center weddings and good uplighting can make ALL the difference in my opinion. If done well it can kind of disguise it. Also, I would look into nice chairs too (like chiavari chairs, though those can get kind of pricey), or see what kind of chairs the venue provides. Chairs can make a big difference in the feel too.

Decorations are key-- a friend got married in a community center, but there were no decorations and I swear-- it felt like a gym of multipurpose room in an elementary school. She was on a VERY tight budget (we all hummed 'Here Comes the Bride" when she walked down the aisle) and they're just as married.... but you wanted my opinion.

Be prepared to clean up after the previous person. Went to a birthday party a few weeks ago and the lady was complaining that the previous people had left all their decorations up, food still in the fridge, and worse because there must have been alot of kids there were sticky spots where drinks had been spilled and not clean up. It took her an extra 3 hours to clean before she could set becuase she had to contact the director and the director to come and take notes so any damage wouldn't be her responsibility.

I thought we would never consider a community center but we ended up looking at one as a favor to a friend. I agree with everyone else on here, with a bit of uplighting and the right centerpieces they can look really nice. I think it all depends on what the community center looks like and what they include with the price.

Because everyone gets an idea in their head about what a community center is supposed to look like, I'll leave these here. These are "community centers" in Tampa.

http://www.experiencetheregent.com/

http://www.tampagov.net/parks-and-recreation/programs/files/seminole-garden-center

@ButSrsly- OMG those are beautiful. Yeah, not the community center I'm thinking of!

Thanks for the tips everyone. I definitely do not want it to look like "just a community center" when it's said and done. I figured at the least the potential to have to rent chairs was there. One can only assume that people would clean up after themselves and their party but apparently not. I do not want to have to pay for extra time just to clean someone else's mess.

No additional advice, but welcome to the WeddingWire Community @Rebecca!

I'm looking into community centers too! I have seen lots of lighting and table decorations that make the space look amazing! I think anything you do, as long as its perfect for you will be awesome!