Finding the Church

So since I have shared how we picked our reception location, I thought it might be helpful to tell the short story of how we chose our ceremony location. (And yes, we chose it second!)

Both Ryan and I have known for a long time that we planned to get married in a Catholic church. However both of us had stopped attending for some time since being raised Catholic. Our deal was that once we got engaged, we would put in the time to find a church we actually wanted to attend and we would get married there.

After determining it was time to begin our search, we used google maps to look at all of the Atlanta area Catholic churches in relation to my apartment. The Cathedral of Christ the King was the closest one. (My apartment is conveniently also in walking distance to Piedmont Park, if I haven't mentioned that before.)

I was uncertain about choosing a Cathedral for the wedding ceremony, let alone to attend on a regular basis. As I think might be apparent by now, I am a fairly casual person and the word "Cathedral" does not sound casual to me. However, as it was the closest we thought we would give it a try.

Sitting in the pew and looking around, I was immediately reminded of England (where I spent three years growing up when my Dad was stationed there). The stained glass and the feel were breathtaking and I felt a strong pull to attend this church. (Look, if you know me, you know that's huge.) Everyone we talked to was super friendly and helpful. It seemed like the perfect place to help us ease back into church attendance.

However, the selling point for getting married at the Cathedral? Ryan whispered during mass, "This aisle is so long! You are totally going to trip down it." Sold.

Unfortunately, it is not cheap to get married at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Not close to cheap. But in the words of my dad, "That is the cost of business." His thought was, if we loved it and wanted to be members of the church, we should get married there. I am very thankful that I am blessed with a family that can afford to do things like this for me.

So when January rolls around, I will be walking down a very long aisle (trying not to trip- but my dad promises to help!) in a very traditional Catholic Cathedral. I never imagined something like this for myself, but it strangely really works for us.

Anyone else have any very surprising wedding-related decisions?

First Things First: When and Where?

You all will have to forgive me for not posting yesterday and until the late hour tonight!  Class started back up last night and I have been playing catch up, getting used to being back into the swing of things.

To continue the catch up trend, I thought I would take you back to right after Ryan and I got engaged.  We celebrated with family and friends over Christmas, and set the date for sometime in January of 2009.  This would give me time to finish my Masters degree and still plan with some amount of sanity intact, and also hopefully allow us to get married in the small window before my brother went back to Iraq and Mary left for Australia (study abroad Spring 09).  So with this in mind, we set about deciding where to get married.

Other locations were suggested by different parties, but in the end having the wedding in Atlanta seemed like the best scenario.  We want to showcase our new home here with all of our friends and family.  So to begin our venue search, we knew we wanted a few things:

1. The ceremony would take place in a Catholic church.  Which one was totally up in the air, as neither of us was currently attending church.  However the religion question was easy as we were both raised Catholic and it is closest to what we both wish to practice.

2. The reception location had to hold between 100 - 150 guests, and be reasonably priced (definition of 'reasonably' to be determined at a later date).

3. If possible, the location would showcase Atlanta and the things we love about it.

4. It would not be in a hotel ballroom.

5. It would not be overtly "Southern" looking.  [This is not because I don't love this look- I moved to the South for a reason!  However, it is not us (yet, but I am trying!) and I wanted something to represent us as a couple.]

6. It would not be "stuffy" or "pretentious."  (aka I wanted to be somewhere that I could relax and enjoy myself and not feel like I had to be on my best behavior; formal locations would not be a good fit.)

7. If possible, it would be in walking distance to hotels and other nightlife in case we wanted to after-party and not add to possible drunk driving.

Phew!  Looking at my list, I realize why I had such a hard time!  Most all of the beautiful locations I found either looked way too Southern for my taste, were too formal, or were not in an ideal location.  The other concern I had was the expense, as beautiful wedding locations in the city of Atlanta seem to come with quite a price tag!

You may be thinking I drove myself crazy with these guidelines, but there is a relatively easy happy ending.  I already had a location in mind, but I went through the motions and did my research to give hard data to back up the place my heart was set on.

I spent a few minutes at work on my lunch break calling two locations and setting up appointments: the Piedmont Room at Park Tavern, and Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park.

images from www.piedmontroom.com

images from www.piedmontpark.org

I will let you know later how we chose which location was right for us, but before I do: What crazy requirements did you have in choosing your ceremony or reception venue?  Did you have your heart set on  a place long before you got engaged?