Why You Should Have Your Ceremony and Reception at the Same Venue!
You’ve made the decision to choose forever with the love of your life! Now, it’s time to get down to the details of wedding planning. If you’ve never planned out a large event, this can seem a little daunting from the onset. Who’s paying for what? What type of food should we have? Should we do a first-look photo shoot or use a more traditional approach? Traditional vows or hand-written?
Simply put, there’s a lot of questions to be answered! Before you let any stress settle in, let’s start with your first step that’ll help decide some of your other choices. With this, I’m talking about finalizing on a venue. Before touring any venues, you and your spouse-to-be will want to discuss whether you’d prefer to have the wedding ceremony and reception at the same place or separate locations. While all-in-one venues are certainly much easier for everyone, there is still plenty of couples that are intrigued by utilizing two different venues.
Having said all of this, I wanted to focus this week’s blog post on the dilemma between having your wedding and reception at the same place, in comparison to using two different locations. As some of you may already know, here at Madera Estates, we typically hold the ceremony outside in front of the Grand Fireplace, before having the reception in the Hacienda. The main reason behind this is wanting to create an easy and stress-free experience for our couples. However, this is just one of the many benefits to this approach!
Easier For Out-of-Town Guests
If you have any guests that are traveling from out-of-town, having both events at the same venue is going to make the lives of these individuals so much easier! They won’t have to worry about finding transportation for getting from point A to point B. Additionally, if there’s any sort of gap between the ceremony and reception, they won’t have to worry about finding some sort of entertainment to fill the down time.
While smartphones should ease most of these concerns, there are those “what if?” questions that will pop into your head. If there’s a wreck on the highway, will they be able to figure out an alternate route? We’ve all been there, when you’re in a new area and Siri struggles with finding the correct location. That’s yet another possibility to consider. To add to it, when this gap is actually occurring, you’ll be plenty busy with all of the post-ceremony pictures and certainly don’t need to worry about being the travel guide!
Bad Weather!
We hate to say it, but you can’t always control “mother nature.” Unfortunately, bad weather is just sometimes unavoidable. In the case of bad weather, it’s important to always have a backup plan. By planning on holding both the ceremony and the reception at the same place, you’re able to make this a reality. In short, most all-in-one wedding venues will allow you to do a flip, where you would hold the ceremony inside and then switch to the reception afterwards. Since the weather here in Conroe (or anywhere, for that matter!) can be tough to predict, we always ensure our couples that a plan B is available in case inclement weather were to strike! The Hacienda can be dual-purposed to also hold a ceremony! As an added bonus, you won’t have to worry about your guests getting back out in the bad weather to commute to the reception!
While it can be a bummer to have a little rain or drizzle, it can certainly create some amazing photos! Just look at these from a wedding we held at Madera Estates a couple of years ago!
Save Money!
Last week on the blog, we discussed budgeting for your dream wedding! This is a topic that doesn’t always get as much attention as it deserves, but it will always be important! As you go through the wedding planning process, you’ll want to carefully examine any ways you can save a few bucks on areas that aren’t necessarily as pressing items as others! With this said, one easy spot to save some money on is transportation and rental costs. So, as you might guess, holding both events at the same venue would save you from paying to transport a lot of people from one venue to the next!
One Location, One Venue Manager, One Call!
Over the course of your wedding planning process, you’ll likely have your fair share of meetings with vendors. From the photographers and videographers to the caterers and florists, you’ll have plenty of meetings. Most likely the first vendor that you’ll meet along the way is the venue manager! Well, if you’re considering the all-in-one approach, you’ll only need to make sure that one venue is open on the date you plan to get married. No back-and-forth calls to the ceremony venue and then to the reception venue. If your all-in-one venue is free, you’re good to go! This is one-stop shopping at it’s finest!
Shorter Commute = Better Attendance
If the ceremony and reception are being held at two different places, you’re instantly placing a dilemma on your guests. If they’re worried about getting from one to the other, they might consider just attending one of the two. More often than not, they’ll opt to only attend the reception. With just one location however, this shouldn’t be as big of a decision!
Easy Day-Of Schedule
One of the primary responsibilities of a wedding planner is to create a timeline and schedule for the actual wedding day. Depending on the wedding itself, this can be easier said than done. When couples opt to hold the ceremony and reception at different places, you’ll need to make sure to account for travel time, which as you might guess, also isn’t always easy to predict!
On the flip side, I’m sure any wedding planner would tell you that a “Day-Of” schedule is much easier when you don’t have to worry about getting everyone from one location to the other. Once the ceremony concludes, the cocktail hour starts and post-ceremony photos are held!
Smooth Transition to Cocktail Hour!
You might be starting to notice a trend throughout all of these points: it makes everyone’s life easier on the big day! This next one falls right in line. You don’t have that weird gap between the “I do’s” and everyone getting to cocktails and apps. While you’re taking all the wedding pictures, you can rest assured that your guests are all being taken care of! The whole process is seamless.
Why Madera?
As briefly discussed in the introduction, Madera Estates is an event and wedding venue in Conroe, TX. Our team takes pride in turning your dream wedding into a reality! We take into account every single detail and spend time with you to truly grasp your vision. At the same time though, we don’t want you to spend your time and energy stressing about the logistics and inner-workings of wedding planning. On the homepage of our website, it states this mission directly. “That’s why our team strives to give you a customized approach, while keeping the process as easy as possible.”
We would be honored if you were to consider working with us for your big day! Don’t hesitate to book a tour here and witness our luxury Conroe wedding venue in-person. Once booking, our sales manager, Stacie, will be in touch to start discussing your dream wedding day!