Wedding Blog
When I pictured my wedding with Mr. Monkey I never imagined something posh, but I did picture us getting married somewhere pretty. When it came to picking our venue, both of our parents agreed that it made sense to have the wedding and reception at my dad’s church, where he’s a pastor. As a PK (”pastor’s kid”), I kinda had no choice about the venue or the guest list (400+ people).
Now, I love my church and all but I never imagined my wedding reception taking place in the church basement. Everytime I read wedding magazines and saw pics of gorgeous venues, I felt kinda sad. Mr. Monkey, being the super positive person he is, saw it as an opportunity to be creative & have fun with the space…so, we did a few small things that helped brighten the space. *A lot of this stuff has been done before, but I just wanted to share a little bit of what we did to spruce up our venue.
We started off by buying a whole mess of paper lanterns at Asian Ideas (great service and delivered really quickly!), ribbon at Michael’s, and fishing line. With the help of Mr. Monkey, my mom, and a rickety ladder, we hung all the lanterns on the week of the wedding.
(Here’s a picture with people at the reception)
Then, we went a little crazy with ordering our favorite candies, bouncy balls, plastic army men, and set up a candy table with help from our friends.
For wine, we went with three-buck Charles Shaw Chardonnay… thank you Trader Joe’s!
Finally, we used the tables at our church. Our Korean caterer (Kum Kang San in Flushing, NY–absolutely recommended!) brought tablecloths and chair covers.
In the end, it was really quite special getting married at our church and even having a reception in the basement. A lot of people chipped in preparing the church beforehand–cleaning windows, painting old doors/walls, assembling flowers for the centerpieces, and cleaning up afterwards.
It may not have been our first pick as a wedding location… but looking back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
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Share this post: A Little Goes A Long Way
I feel the same way about my reception venue, which is the Fil-Am Community Center building my grandfather is caretaker for. I grew up around the place, though, so I grew to feel good that it’s included in this special way. I really loved your lanterns, and it sounds as if you had a perfect day! 
my fiance is also a PK and his parents were expecting a suburb church basement wedding with a guestlist that consits of 400 people from their congregation. the difference between your case and mine, is that none of my family, friends nor I are not from that church (or even that city), and my fiance only attended that church for a total of a year in the last ten years, I thought it was completely unfair to ask that of us. it was a long frustrating battle, finally agreeing to have two receptions: an intimate pretty wedding and a huge church basement one.
after reading your post about making the church pretty, I am a bit more encouraged about my latter reception… and you did an amazing job at transforming your venue.
You had a beautiful wedding!
Thank you so much for this post! So many people think they “need” the huge reception hall with all the fanciest stuff. Yes, that is all pretty, but it’s fine to use the church basement too! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Any plans for what to do with the paper laterns after the wedding?!
I’d be interested in them if you’re looking to sell at a discounted rate
you wouldn’t have ever known it was a church basement from your earlier pictures. you guys did a great job decorating the place.
Mrs. Monkey,
I loved what you did with your venue. The lantern made a drastic difference in the ambience of the room. The all white makes the place look very chic. Love it!
..me, too…Let me know if you’re going to be selling your lantern. I’m getting married in a tent so I’m looking to buy “a whole mess of lanterns,” too! I’d love to buy them off of you. {email adddress: nle314@gmail.com}
I love how you set up the candy table. I like how it looks like a candy “cake”! And I recognize your dogs from the sign…(I think I actually found Weddingbee through your husband’s Xanga…and I randomly found his…I’m not a stalker, I promise!)
Too cute!
thanks for all your sweet comments!
heyyyy, as a fellow PK…. I get it. We did banquet hall b/c it was cheaper than the church basement (no renting tables, linens, any of that, and my dad got a great rate at a close by banquet b/c he’s done weddings there), but we had the wedding at our church, and the “church reception” was in the chapel of the church. We did a “church reception” for everyone at the church (it was open invite), and then a “family reception” at the banquet hall for family, faraway friends, the bridal party, and people who really are like family. So. We did BOTH, and yours looks amazing. Pastors aren’t known for their mass amounts of money, and it looks like you guys pulled off a beautiful church wedding and reception!!!! congrats!!!
Would you be re-selling your paper lanterns at a discount?
What a lovely reception! I had been a bit concerned about fixing up our reception venue but now find myself inspired after reading your post.
thank u for ur post! im too planning a ceremony at a church and perhaps a cocktail hour for all the guests..then having a smaller intimate reception thanks for the ideas it really helped! God bless
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Mrs. Monkey, New York
Age and Occupation: 27, Internet
Wedding Date: September 2007
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