I am trying to find a ceremony location, that preferably could also be a reception location. But the wedding is going to be very small-like 16 people, which includes 2 kids under 5 years old. At most it would be 30 people, but that is probably not likely because my family all lives in California and I live in Northern Virginia. My fiance's relatives mostly live a few hours away in-state. Plus he's an only child and his father was an only child, so he doesn't have that many relatives. I don't even really feel like inviting my dad's relatives, because we see them like once every one or two decades, and they probably wouldn't come anyway. My parents think we should have it on their patio in California, which wouldn't be a bad place, except that California doesn't have any real significance to me and my fiance, because my relatives only moved there recently. My fiance doesn't think any of his relatives would go if we had it anywhere but Virginia. So we've been looking at local places, but neither of us are religious, so we were kind of wanting somewhere outdoors. I've done some research on the web, but all the places that could also be reception locations (or rain locations) are for like over 100 people and it's too expensive. We could afford it, but I don't see the point in spending a lot of money on a small group that doesn't need all that space. Plus I don't want our small group to look out of place in a huge building. We probably would have an indoor reception. We thought of having the ceremony in our yard, but our yard needs some landscaping and might have traffic noise. We can't have a reception in our house because my aunt is allergic to cats. If we had a destination wedding, probably my immediate family (mom, dad, sister and 2 kids) would come, but then I'd feel like they were on our honeymoon with us. So I don't know what to do. Any advice?
One option is to call your local Parks and Recreation Dept. about renting a room in which they typically hold classes. My husband and I rented an outdoor courtyard for our wedding and a small room for our reception that even had kitchen access for a small amount of money. It was held in our Veteran's Memorial Center. The city uses this facility for classes. It was perfect and in the same building.
There are many of these available and as close as a phone call.
Good luck with your search! Rebecca Black, Etiquette Now
small wedding dilemma
