Where to get married is probably the first question you need to decide upon when you start wedding planning.
Do you want to be traditional and have a church wedding, or would you prefer a licensed venue that could potentially offer you more flexibility with facilities and location with a registrar.
Why didn’t we get married in a church?
I always thought I would marry in a church but Ian and I married in a licensed venue instead, which at the time was more appropriate because we had not long moved to a new area and we couldn’t find a new church to associate ourselves with.
When I moved in with Ian a few years before, the village we lived in had a gorgeous church and it was a real focal point in the area. If we were still living there, that’s where we would have got married without a doubt.
I think church weddings are beautiful and there is nothing more powerful than a religious space filled with hymns, music and prayer to begin married life and congregate all your loved ones together.
Also I’m not sure why you would get married in a church if it’s just for aesthetics? If you’re not religious or intend on attending services, albeit only on important dates in the Christian calendar thereafter, why are you marrying in a church?
My most favourite wedding ceremony I have been to was a Catholic one in Ireland. While it was long and formal, the couple knew the Priest well so the service was very personal to them.
The couple had hired singers for the hymns so we could just lose ourselves in the beauty of this huge space being filled with the most pure of voices. Religious or not, you couldn’t not be totally moved by it all.
Licensed venue
One of the risks of hiring a registrar to conduct your ceremony (in a licensed venue) is that you don’t meet and engage with each other until the morning of your big day. While you will have had a meeting a few weeks prior (probably over the phone) to discuss things, you otherwise don’t know each other.
That being said, in a licensed venue, the couple can control how their ceremony is conducted and the registrar is there almost purely to authorise proceedings. While there is of course formal elements, you can select how formal and which vows and other readings and things can be included.
Ian and I got married in Windsor Guildhall, and although it wasn’t a church it is still a venue of historical importance in a place we were becoming more and more acquainted with. It’s wonderful to walk past it regularly and be reminded about our wedding.
What would you choose –a church, or a licensed venue?
Until next time x
