Pros and cons for wedding at church

Depending on the type of church alochol may or may not be allowed. Some churches even do grape juice instead of wine because they're against alochol during communion. Sometimes it's more of liability concerns..other thing to keep in mind it availability. Some churches don't have weddings during Lent. Sometimes church services or regular or special events may lead to scheduling conflicts of days or times. I've heard other times that some people were limited in what songs could be played.

View Quoted Comment Ok that is something I need to forsure keep in mind. I already told the pastor of our date I am just curious how things will go for the reception.

I’ve come across church has a lot of restrictions for the reception. I would suggest ceremony at church reception elsewhere

We are solely doing the ceremony at the church. Our reception venue is across the street. We can set up however we want to, as long as it’s taken down before Sunday service

Depending on the church, you might only be allowed to do the ceremony there. My cousin had a catholic wedding in July 2014, and it was about 60-90 minutes long. They weren't allowed to decorate at all because there were 2/3 weddings after it. They got married in a cathedral so they didn't need to add décor anyway, but if you are going for a certain look, you might not be able to attain that for the ceremony. I would speak with someone from the church directly.

This depends dramatically on the tradition you're in, and each church individually. We're getting married in the Episcopal church that I attend. It's a gorgeous historic church with a nice parish Hall for the reception.

The rules for the ceremony are pretty strict, we have to use the approved ceremony and vows. The only customization is choicing which readings we want to do out of a list of like 10 choices, and whether or not we wanted a Eucharist service. We can bring in a photographer but they must stay in the back of the church and cannot use flash during the ceremony.

My church has been really lenient with what we can do for the reception though. I'm bringing in a DJ and a bartender, the only rules for that was that they needed to be licensed and we can't serve liquor.
I am using the caterer through the church, but it would have been a relatively small additional fee had I decided to bring in an outside one.

They recommended some florists that regularly work with the church (because of particular restrictions on ceremony flowers: only allowed alter flowers and pew bows, the alter flowers can't be taller than the Cross on the alter, etc., but said we could choose any florist, but then it was our responsibility to communicate the restrictions.

I am bringing in my own linens, some decorations, and of course things like card box/guest book and setting up the reception the evening before, which is a God sent for me with having a noon wedding! We have to have our decorations and linens removed by later that night so that everything can go back to its normal function for Sundays.

Ugh, I meant choosing*** I hate that we can't edit comments anymore.

I got married the first time in a church, VFW reception as we could not serve alcohol at the church plus it would not fit 125 people.

Pros: economical, lots of space for getting ready.

Cons: very limited with how you could decorate. I was not that into decorating the church so it was not a biggie to me. Only could have non secular music - that one bugged me the most. It was not like I wanted some hard core rap song, I wanted a few bars from a popular Broadway show......but nope.

Hi Alyssa! I would definitely inform the pastor of all your plans to see what they will allow! I hope you're able to get some clarity! Good luck!