Non-church ceremony

Depends on your area but look up gazebos or parks by the water front. Some reception venues have a place where you can hold the ceremony too.

Can you just do the ceremony at the same hall?

View Quoted Comment We are getting married at the end of November in Ohio, so unfortunately an outside ceremony is most likely out of the question for us..

View Quoted Comment Yes, but I also like the whole idea of walking into the reception with the DJ announcing us for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. I know it’s cheesy, but I do still want that part. I also have to take pictures into consideration. If we did the ceremony at the hall, we would probably have to do pictures before.

If there's a nice park where you'll want the ceremony and they're fine with you having your ceremony there, that would be a nice location! The natural beauty of the park would probably help in staying within your budget as you would save money on ceremony decorations. And if your ceremony is more casual and you don't have a bunch of guests, it could be a standing ceremony (no chairs; if your guests are ok with standing during it).
A similar idea could be that if you're having your wedding in a city by the coast, you could have the ceremony on the beach! Again, this would probably work more if it's a casual affair and during the summer/spring.

View Quoted Comment You could do the ceremony, leave for photos during cocktail hour, and still be introduced into the reception. Tons of people have their entire wedding in the same space.

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A little snow does not hurt lol. Where is your reception? Some hotels or venues allow all in one. Have you looked at the venues via this site?

I'm also having a winter wedding in Ohio so I understand the struggle haha. What area are you in? We're having our ceremony at a performance space on a college campus (Oberlin college, right outside of Cleveland). They call it a chapel, but it's no longer used for religious reasons. Other colleges might have something similar

Either the hall you rented, the courthouse, or even a special location that means a lot to the both of you

Have it at your reception space.

we are having ours at either the banquet hall/country club or Hotel ballroom, and they can set the space up for a ceremony and then do a room flip while you take your pictures.

There is usually a fee to have the ceremony so inquire w/ your reception space.

Hey
Won't you just do a 2 in 1 and have both there??? Me and my husband we aren't religious so were deciding for our renewal to do everything in one place to save time

Can u have it at the hall where ur reception is? I am hosting mine at the hotel where the reception will be.

View Quoted Comment Hi! Our problem with that is the hall we have just has the guests seated at their round tables for the ceremony just like they’d be at the reception. I don’t like that because I’d rather have chairs set up to make an aisle way with them facing forward.

View Quoted Comment I can understand that totally