The Venue

One of the earliest decisions we made was to have the wedding (ceremony and reception) at my childhood church: Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Catholic Church in Ankeny. Our church was an obvious choice because of the price and because of its ability to accommodate up to 300 guests (we're hoping to end up with around 250 guests, but we'll be inviting over 300). I thought some pictures would help illustrate our plans a little bit. Our sanctuary just underwent a major renovation. It's definitely more now and less nineties, but I do miss the sunlight that's now blocked out by shutters they added to the skylight. People were complaining, apparently. Anyway, it's a large church and lacks some traditional elements, namely an aisle. When I was young, I always thought of the lack of aisle as a deal-breaker. I'd never get married in our church! But it turns out, getting married in a familiar church which holds so many positive memories means a lot more to me than walking down an aisle at my wedding. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the changes:

Mom says pictures aren't allowed in the new chapel (above), which is too bad because it's extremely pretty. It's also the only place in our church with stained glass windows. Fortunately, pictures are allowed from the outside, and, as you can see, it's also attractive!

The social hall has the same pretty wooden ceiling as the sanctuary, and, with the banquet room, holds 300. We've got plans to set up a photo booth in the hallway, a bar in the banquet room. The cake table, cookie bar, and a dance floor will be set up in the main area of the social hall. Instead of the usual head table off to the side with the bridal party facing the guests, we're putting the head table smack in the middle of the action, with guests' tables all around. We're seating people on both sides of the table so the wedding party's dates can sit with us as well. Here's the only picture I could find of the social hall: clearly, a fabulous event is taking place in this photo!

The one thing that's making me a little anxious about my venue choice (and I know how silly and trivial this is) are the ugly brown plastic chairs we'll have to use. Ugh, they're not pretty! And there's no way we're spending the money to cover 250 chairs. I'll work through it! Anyway, you can get a feel for how bright, airy, and roomy the place is from this picture.

That's all for today!