Ceremony | 12k Wedding Blog

February 2, 2010 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Reception, Venue

So, of course you know by now (because you faithfully read every post), that we had our wedding reception at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History.

What you may not have known is that there was another wedding within arms reach that night at the Detroit Science Center.

I kind of knew from the start that I didn’t want our wedding to be at a banquet hall. But in the interest of leaving no stone unturned, I did place inquiry calls to a few halls. I found after talking to several banquet halls that they could’ve easily been called “wedding factories”.

Brides and grooms were ushered in one end of the machine. A little “we always do it this way” and a lot of “we have standard procedures for that” later and Voila!, you’ve got yourself a complete wedding and reception in a box.

No thanks. I’m all set – and you should be too.

I mean, if you really put effort into finding an alternative venue, and you don’t find a place that suits you, then go with the banquet hall, because in the end, yes, you will be married. And that is what matters above all else.

But trust me on this one, it’ll be well worth your time and effort if you find a different locale.

Hosting your wedding reception at location other than a banquet hall creates a unique environment for your guests. It could be a place that reflects your personality as a couple, honors your culture, or is a nod to your alma mater.

Los Angeles Country Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Cobblestone Farm in Ann Arbor, MI

Either way, finding a venue outside of a banquet hall will make your wedding unique and often give you more flexibility. It can be as casual or as formal as you’d like.

Consider one of these perhaps:

Library
Museum
Cultural Center
Barn
Art Gallery
Theatre
Botanical Garden
Loft
Yacht Club
Backyard
Historic Home
Historic Building
Rooftops
Building Atriums
Zoo
Neighborhood Block
Ski Lodge
Beach
Sports Venue
Boat
Bed and Breakfast
Bowling Alley
Arcade
Private Club
Park

All I’m suggesting is that you not box yourself in when deciding where to hold your reception.

The Quixotic World Theatre House

New York Public Library

If I missed anything, feel free to add it in the comments.

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Technorati Tags: Ceremony, Reception, Venue, Wedding

Change of Ceremony Venue

April 4, 2009 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Venue

So my pretties,

We’ve decided to change our ceremony venue.

Initially, we’d planned to hold the ceremony in the theatre at the Museum. It would mean we’d having everything under the same roof and the price was right too.

The problems with the theatre: It has stadium style seating which means lots of steps for our parents, grandparents and great grandparents whose knees have begun to give out on them. They’d be forced to sit in the back to avoid the steps and that’s the last thing we want. Also, the theater is split into three sets of seats, which means two stairways. Picture seats-aisle-seats-aisle-seats. Two stairways make for an awkward entrance if not coming down in twos. So the bridesmaids and groomsmen would probably look okay, but when my dad walks me down the aisle, more than half our guests will need binoculars to see me.

The new venue is the First Congregational Church of Detroit. It’s about 2 blocks away and has a beautiful sanctuary. It’s a beautiful historical building and guess what – only 1 aisle. There are also separate rooms for guys and girls to get ready. The downside is that it costs about $400 more than the theatre so we’ll have to make up for that cost somewhere else.

Logistics aside there’s something very spiritual and uplifting about being married in a church that I think we would’ve missed out on in the theatre. Because we don’t belong to a church and don’t attend regularly, this was definitely a big part of the reason we chose the theatre initially. It felt sort of hypocritical to be married in a church even though we don’t attend regularly. In the end though, this was the right decision for us as we are Christians and feel that the church is right for us. Their website sums it up just right: You may not belong to this church, but this church belongs to you.

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Technorati Tags: Ceremony, Church, Venue

Update: Venue Sneak Peek Revealed

December 7, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Reception, Venue

Hey guys,
I know I told you about my venue, but one of my readers, Suzanne, brought it to my attention that I was still keeping secrets. I completely forgot that I never revealed the venue from this sneak peek post.

Well, it is….. The Detroit Public Library. Obviously, we didn’t end up choosing it as our venue, but it definitely could work for someone else. I’ll give you the run down:

The room in the picture is Adam Strohm Hall. It’s a pretty big room and I would venture to say it could comfortably seat 250-300 with a dance floor.
There is also another room on the same floor that is available, Old Fine Arts. It’s smaller, and long rather than square like Adam Strohm, but still has lots of character.
Both Adam Strohm Hall and Old Fine Arts rent for $5000 each + fees for security staff.
The library is a bureaucracy and even though our contact there was very nice and helpful, she had to get approval from higher ups on everything we asked about.
Both rooms are on the third floor and there is no running water on the third floor. This means guests will have to go downstairs to use the restroom and the caterer can’t prepare any food on site.
No ceremonies can be held on site, whether religious or civil. They just don’t allow it.
Your event must start after the library closes to patrons, which is after 6pm on Saturday.
The library is not available for events on Sundays.
There is a parking lot available for guests which is normally only for staff during operating hours.

To see lots more pictures, photographer Anne Ruthmann, shot this wedding reception at the Detroit Public Library, held in the Old Fine Arts room. This is one of my favorites, because of the book backdrop.

That’s all I can think of for now. If I missed something let me know, or if you’d like my contact’s info, let me know.

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Technorati Tags: Detroit, library, Venue

It’s About Time! Our Ceremony and Reception Venue is the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History!

December 2, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Reception, Venue

Disclaimer: You know how you would read comics as a kid and all of the sentences would either end an exclamation point or a question mark? Well this post might feel a little like that.

——————————————————————

Well loyal readers, you can all release your collective breaths – we finally found a venue!

And we have a date!

We will be married August 22, 2009 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History!

I’d of course considered the museum right from the beginning because it’s in the Cultural District and it’s a beautiful building. I’d immediately ruled it out because the website states, “Absolutely no dancing is permitted in the Ford Freedom Rotunda.” Well, pffftt to that! There’s no way we’d have a wedding with no dancing!

Months later, we saw someone’s wedding pictures posted on Facebook with -get this – dancing in the Ford Freedom Rotunda! Imagine my surprise. So He called up one of the event coordinators to get the scoop. We could rent the space, it was available on our date and we were allowed to dance in the Ford Freedom Rotunda as long as we rent a dance floor. I was at work, so later that night I checked out the other details, like the catering situation. I was all amp’d at that point but He told me, “Let’s not get too excited and shout it from the rooftop just yet. I don’t want to you to get your hopes up again.” So…that’s why I haven’t mentioned it till now.

Anyway, all three event coordinators were on what seemed like a 2 week vacation. Their voicemail said they’d be back today so I stalked the woman He’d spoken to like a hawk. I called her at 9am when they opened and left a message. She didn’t call me back, so I called her again at 10:15. By 11am, we were signing our contract!

We will get married in the General Motors Theater and the reception will be where else, but the Ford Freedom Rotunda.

We do have to choose from one of their caterers but they all have menus and pricing online and at least 3 of the 4 are very reasonable.

One of the most expensive things we were up against is the bar. We really wanted to have an open bar and now we can. The Museum offers two different bar packages starting at a flat $15/person. There is no tax I believe because they are a non-profit organization.

One downside is that we may have to pay for valet parking for our guests. It’s still up in the air, but if we decide to, it’ll come to around $700 for a guest list of our size. Still not too bad. I’ve seen worse.

If you’d like my contact’s information at the Museum let me know. She was really helpful and willing to accommodate our needs.

So, now that I am a completely happy camper, I can move on to the other parts of the wedding planning process. I’m thinking about booking the photographer next. What do you guys think? What should I conquer next, while I’m still feeling invincible?

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Technorati Tags: Caterer, Ceremony, coordinator, Detroit, Ford Freedom Rotunda, General Motors Theater, Reception, Venue

Guest Count

November 11, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Ceremony, Reception

So.

It was brought to my attention a few days ago that I may not be clear as to how many guests we’re inviting. Right now we’re somewhere between 200 and 250. For some people this may seem like a lot. For others this may seem small. We’ve already made some cuts, and at this point neither of us wants to make any more cuts.

So that’s where we stand. Or rather, that’s how many guests we’ll need to seat.

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The DIA’s Money Woes and Event Policies

November 9, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Reception, Venue

So it looks like the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is in a bit of a conundrum. According to the Detroit Free Press, their money seems to be dwindling.

I looked at the DIA as a possible location. Although the beautiful grand entry hall would have been beautiful, they wanted an arm, a leg, and our first born child for it. They did have another room that could accommodate our guests and would have been very nice, but because we’d have to use their single approved caterer, the costs ended up being about 30k total for venue and food. And that’s just for the reception, because they don’t allow any sort of ceremonies on their premises.

I wonder if they should re-evaluate their cost structure and policy on ceremonies. Maybe they’d have a few more interested parties, including me.

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Technorati Tags: Budget, Ceremony, Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, DIA, Reception, Venue

DIY Jumping Broom

November 2, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, DIY

In African-American wedding tradition, it is customary for the bride and groom to jump over a broom after being married but before they head back down the aisle together.

So, my plan all along was to get a broom on clearance after Halloween. My quest started this morning at Michaels. When I walked in I noticed that there were some Halloween leftovers in the entryway. “Great”, I thought, “I should be able to find a broom without a problem.

Fast forward 3 stores later, I finally have my broom. Complete with harvest blessings. I also picked up a spool of ribbon and some straight pins to secure the ribbon.

Note: Normally, I’m not the type to maniacally scamper from store to store trying to hunt down anything, let alone a broom, but I knew if I didn’t move quickly, all the clearance stuff would be shipped out before I even had a chance. Already today, in all the stores I went to, the Christmas stuff has already completely overtaken the seasonal merchandise areas. I’d just like to point out that today is only November 2nd.

Anyway, while it was thoughtful of the cheery little lady to impart harvest blessings, it wasn’t quite the look I was going for. So off she came.

I used the ribbon to wrap the handle pretty simply. I started at the back and without pinning or gluing just wrapped all the way up the thicker part of the of the handle. I did use one of the straight pins at the very top of the wrap, on the back to secure the ribbon.

I then came back around the handle with more ribbon, crossing it in the front as I went.

I finished by tying a bow on the front and using a straight pin to make sure it doesn’t budge.

There you have it! Even if we don’t yet have a venue, at least we have a broom to jump over.

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Technorati Tags: Bow, Broom, custom, DIY, ribbon, Tradition

Guardian Building Update

October 13, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, Reception, Venue

So I emailed the woman at the Guardian Building to find out if we just had a misunderstanding about the date. Turns out we did.

Here’s the skinny on the fat:

Capacity of up to 250 people
Steep rental fee
Can use own caterer
Have to pay for insurance (?)
Have to rent tables and chairs (?)
Would have to bring own bartender or find a caterer with a liquor license

The above info is just for the 32nd floor ballroom. They also have an area, I believe on the first floor, called Rowland Cafe which is available to rent. Judging by the pictures, this is where that Guardian Building Wedding on a Budget took place. I don’t any details about this space yet, but I was given another persons contact info for more details.

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Technorati Tags: Caterer, Detroit, downtown, downtown detroit, guardian, guardian building, insurance, Reception, Venue

DIY hanging candle altar

June 13, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, DIY

So last time, I posted about the candlelit altar that I loved so much. Here’s how I plan to pull it off, let me know what you think. I found some directions from Nettleton Hollow that I hope to follow.

Votive holders, 4 for $1.29

Fine wire, $4.99 each

Tealight candles, 24 for $5.99

It’s possible I could attach the candles straight to the ceiling, but I’ll probably have some sort of large square hanging from the ceiling from which the candles will hang. I don’t know what that big square will be yet, but right now I’m thinking I could make it with a couple pieces of wood and wrap some leafy garland around it. Flowers would be nice (maybe some nice gardenias), but who know how much that would cost. Once I decide on the large square materials and construction, I’ll post an update.

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Technorati Tags: Ceremony, Cheap, Decor, DIY, Inexpensive

A Candlelit Altar

June 10, 2008 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Ceremony, DIY

I was watching Get Married this morning and they were showing a quick montage of wedding images set to music. Most of the pictures passed without any reaction from me but I loved the candlelit altar as soon as I saw it. There was no credit associated with it and I could only get a picture by doing a screenshot. It looks like it could be easily replicated, even with my limited diy skills.

I love it because it’s elegant, dramatic and romantic all at once. My one concern is that it will still be light outside and it probably won’t have the same effect, especially if we end up with a ceremony site that has a lot of windows. I also like how it seems to perfectly frame the bride, groom and officiant. We’ll just have to be sure that we keep th open flames far enough away from us to avoid any fires.

I never really liked the arches with the ivy or flowers winding through it. I’d always had it in the back of my head that I wanted a defined altar space, but I didn’t know what I wanted it to look like. I think this just might work.

In the next post, I’ll outline my diy plan of attack. We’ll see if it comes in both cheap and elegant. Fingers crossed – it will.

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