Church halls - the MN chicken of wedding venues?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Obviously lockdown has limited the number of weddings, and therefore the number of wedding threads, this year, but one topic that comes up again and again is the topic of evening-only invites. I’m not trying to start another debate on whether they’re a good or bad thing - let’s face it, it’s been well covered as a discussion point. But one answer that comes up time and again from the anti-evening faction is ‘Cut your cloth accordingly - if you can’t afford a fancy venue, what’s wrong with the church hall?’

Apart from the fact that more and more people aren’t getting married in church, where are these vast, aircraft hangar type church halls that can fit every man and his dog for a sit-down meal? I went past one earlier (which got me thinking on this topic) and it was no more than a hut. Similarly, where I grew up there was a local hall people used to hire for teenage parties. You could probably get 100 teens in with a few folding chairs to sit between rounds of the Saturday Night dance and the Macarena, but for a meal with proper tables? Maximum 50 - 60 I reckon.

So what I’m wondering is, why do so many MNers suggest a church hall as the perfect way to get space on a budget? The cheap bit is obvious - but where does the space come in? Brides saying their dream venue only holds 50 for the day reception are told they’re being precious and should hire the church hall to double their numbers. Which church hall?

I can only conclude that church halls are the venue equivalent of the magical MN chicken. Just as an MN chicken will feed a family of six for a week, rather than the two meals at most a normal one would, I think the MN church hall is made of a special elastic and expands to the size of Wembley Stadium if need be. What other explanation can there be?

Mine was in a (small) town hall. Large room sat 100 in rows and smaller room for mingling pre dinner had capacity of 80 standing but it was OK because people also mingled in the main room.

The village hall idea does limit guests, but if you're after cheap then this is no bad thing surely.

I can think of 3 local village halls that would be big enough for 100. We used to hold parties in them as sixth formers. Cheap and no bar/ID to worry about!

Our parish Church doesn't have a church hall at all (possibly as it's next to the school.) Our village hall certainly wouldn't seat 100 for a sit down meal but our sports and recreation club could and has done on many occasions.

@sweeneytoddsrazor

Been to plenty of parties in these type of places but none have been sit down meals. They have all been buff

Bit racy for a church hall

There's a huge variation between church halls.

You don't have to be marrying in the church to hire one.

You do need to check the facilities and size.

You wouldn't expect all hotels to be the same, no reason to expect all halls to be

The nicest wedding reception we’ve been to in ages was in a village hall a short walk from the church where the ceremony was.
Drinks first outside - a warm summer’s day - then a generous sit-down afternoon tea with wine thrown in, tables laid with very pretty mis-matched china, garden flowers in teapots. It was lovely.

I hired the town hall opposite the church we got married in for about £1000 including use of the kitchen, cutlery, crockery and corkage. Bar staff were also included.

We sorted caterers (who provided waiting staff) separately and spent rather more on that - our choice...

Full on wood panelling, grand portraits etc.

Other town/village halls would have been too small, but we could have had 150 people for the sit down meal, more if we'd been willing to move tables between meal and dance!

Tavistock and Arundel are good examples of nice town halls I've been to weddings at, and much nicer than the "function space" at much grander venues (Hurlingham Club springs to mind...)

We had ours in the church hall back in 1992 - inspired by photos of my parents' reception in 1958 - and my three sisters followed suit. Three of us had married in the church across the road, and one sister married in the register office and had food and speeches in the garden before going to the hall for the evening.

I think ours had 85 people, but there would have been room for more. It was buffet-served (to save on waiting costs and let people choose) but everyone sat down to eat. Then there was a ceilidh afterwards which didn't seem cramped. Quite a few people brought sleeping bags and stayed overnight (and discovered the unstarted bottles of wine...).

Where I live now has a 15-year-old Parish Hall which according to the website has a Main Hall maximum capacity of 174 if seated and a sprung floor for dancing. The whole place is £445 for the entire day (you could get it cheaper by adding a 4-hour session to a 5-hour evening).

I find the conversation goes:

Friend ‘ah I wish I could have a wedding on the same budget as you but there are no cheap venues under £5k near me ☹️ ‘
Me: ‘oh let me have a think- what about x rugby club? Y village hall? Z hotel?
Friend: ‘ oh no that doesn’t seat 150/have stunning views/ have the right aesthetic’ ☹️

Of course if you want an exclusive use, on trend ‘instagrammable’ aesthetic, wedding co-ordinator chef & associated staff, venue purpose built and run for weddings- you’ll have to pay for it!

@solittletime

Well if you can’t feed 100 people in a church hall with one chicken then it’s probably best you refrain from posting about your wedding arrangements.

😁😁

@GappyValley

Or ‘a room above a pub’ like there are masses of huge unused space which could seat customers but is instead kept mothballed in case a frugal MNer needs a wedding venue

Around me, you can’t find a church hall for a kids birthday party, let alone an adult function

They are either in back to back use for yoga classes, or long sold off and redeveloped

There wasn’t space for 100 but we had a family member’s wake in a room above a pub - they definitely do exist and are a good option for smaller weddings.

😂 I think it depends on where you are!

We looked at many village halls when we were planning our wedding their were some beautiful ones all of which could happily seat up to 150 people.

In Scotland most of the village halls outside bug cities are all a good size as they host ceilidhs and village events.
The largest in our area holds up to 300!

Church halls is dependent on the church I find! Methodist and baptist churches often have large halls as part of the building structure just because of when they were built.

We had ours in a village hall, sit down meal for 150. I looked at a lot of halls to find one big enough! We wanted a lot of people, free bar and plenty of food and we could only afford that in a cheaper venue. We hired marquee drapes for the inside and a caterer so still cost quite a bit but we were able to host how we wanted to for the numbers we wanted.

We have a fab family and friends who helped, especially when setting up.

What a weird post.

Church halls come in different shapes and sizes, but the majority are as large as most function rooms in my experience.

Just thinking of the Churches within our suburb - all of their halls could seat 100 without issue....Baptist, Methodist, CofE, Catholic.

Both my weddings (lol) have been in church hall type venues in Scotland. It did take a lot of looking to find ones big enough and non-ugly enough but they are out there!

Our church hall would hold 100+ people. Church halls are generally designed to hold the entire congregation, which I know may not be many these days but there are plenty with enough space for a wedding party.

I'd have been much better than the wedding we attended where we had two chairs between four of us for a sit-down meal.

If you’re lucky enough to live near a pretty one, good for you.

They look like school halls round me. No ta.

@solittletime

Well if you can’t feed 100 people in a church hall with one chicken then it’s probably best you refrain from posting about your wedding arrangements.

I do wonder if COVID will mean far smaller weddings in future - people are now sort of used to the idea that numbers are limited and a few people I know have said it’s great as it removed pressure to invite people they felt they had to. Of course that might mean more evening-only invites 😬

I think the people who suggest it must live in rural posh areas where the church or village halls are pretty and in nice areas. Come have a look at the ones around mine, you'll probably be accosted by a drug addict on the way in, but at least you can pick up the wedding buffet from the tesco express at the next door petrol station.

We had our reception in Our local hall it was big enough to cater for 80+ People. We are lucky though that ours is well looked after and actually did just need some bunting etc to make it look like a wedding venue 😂

I have been part of three churches with large halls over the years. To be fair they were all really recently rebuilt/refurbished so may not be representative and were nicer than most big standard hotels!

I thought 'church hall' was just shorthand for 'general purpose hall'. As pp have mentioned multipurpose halls, recreational venues, whatever.

The downside is that they won't be 'instagrammable' but you get what you pay for!

The church we married in didn't even have a hall...
We had our photos done in the playpark next door.

Luckily it was Yorkshire so we had a small hotel do the Reception for £25 a head for food. Which left a healthy budget for wine.

The nearest I've seen to a church hall wedding was a marquee outside the church. They paid a lot more per head than we did!

Loads of community centres/church halls/village halls around where I live!