Weddingbee Blog

Early in our planning process, I took a survey from my wedding organizer called “Your Couple Style Questionnaire.” Of course, after I wrote down my answers, I had Mr. Parfait answer them, too.

If you’ve read my previous posts, you could probably guess that 99% of our answers matched! When asked what we envision for our wedding, we both chose “modern/contemporary” over “classic/traditional” and “somewhere in between.” With our modern/contemporary vision in mind, we set out to find a ceremony location!

Outdoor Parks: We would both love to get married outside, and nature isn’t even on the “traditional to modern” spectrum. Grass and flowers are timeless! But April brings mud, and the flowers and leaves may not be out until May.

Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton

Concert halls: The ones we looked in to are definitely modern. I’ve never seen a wedding on stage in person, so I liked how unique and grand it would feel! But a concert hall would be too big—our guests would be swallowed up in the space, and we’d be little ants on stage!

Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville

Churches: These are on the “classic/traditional” end of the spectrum, but honestly, we were running out of ideas. My mom and I visited a few churches in our area and saw exquisite stained glass, magnificent pipe organs, and ornate altars. The last church on our list happened to be my childhood church. When we walked in, I looked down at the humble tiled floors I used to run across and looked up at the wooden balcony that my friends and I used to sneak into and hide. I smiled. It felt familiar. Homey. Warm.

My childhood church (picture by me)

I hesitated when telling Adam about it, trying not to sound like I’d made a decision. I showed him pictures. I told him I knew it didn’t match our vision for the wedding. It’s not grand or special in any way, except that I spent every Sunday there in my formative years. He stopped me and said that he only meant the “modern/contemporary” description for our reception. He said if I wanted to get married in my childhood church, we should get married there.

Isn’t it funny how life moves in circles? I never expected to make my vows for the future in a place of my past. They’ve made renovations to this front area since this pic was taken almost 20 years ago—wooden steps replaced the carpet and the wood panel in the middle was simplified. But I still recognize it all.

Does your ceremony or reception site have personal significance to you?