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This will be short and sweet because the venue was relatively easy to decide on! We chose to have our reception in our parish hall. This is always good idea for a tight budget because parishioners usually get a discount, people usually have an emotional tie to their parish, AND you should be contributing funds to your parish anyway! Win, win, win.
A lot of people are worried about their parish halls because they either aren't aesthetically pleasing or they don't have room for their 500 person reception. I get that.
We got lucky. Our parish hall is a wonderful space and my mom dreamed up the most perfect French Provençal decor to add to the charm (more on decor later. It can make or break your hall! I highly recommend all the string lights!) The hall could also fit up to 275 people, so that was our limit. I think we ended up with about 250, and with the setup of the hall it still felt intimate. It was so fun to have all of our loved ones together!
We had some yard games and drinks and snacks outside for the littles to play- there were a lot of kids at our wedding which we loved!
A bit about the dancing: We had an open dance floor that was surrounded by tables. We also decided not turn off all the lights when the dancing started for several reasons. 1) we didn't want to overwhelm young children/ new babies. 2) anyone who wasn't dancing (the elderly, new mamas, etc) felt comfortable staying at the tables and having conversations. We also didn't completely blast music for this reason. I was so nervous about this idea but people still danced their hearts out! This was just a personal decision that created the atmosphere we wanted.
Photography: Calley Watters Photography