Town Hall & Marquee or venue with everything??

[alexhay]

I need some serious advice please!! I am so torn between having a very intimate registry office wedding, and then a big marquee party after, or having everything held at a venue.

I am worried about the flow of the day if guests are driving to a town hall, then driving another half an hour to a marquee for the reception. Do i only invite parents, siblings and a couple of friends to the registry office and have the rest of the guests ( say 70+) waiting at the marquee for us to arrive? Is it odd if people are already at the marquee before us or is this normal?

Or we just have everything in the venue but we have to cut the number of guests and I'm finding it more expensive to host 80+ people for ceremony and reception. PLEASE HELP!!! Thank you!

I don’t think it would be odd to have guests waiting at the marquee, and on the other hand, lots of guests drive to a church and then on to another venue for the reception so I also don’t think that would be an issue (as long as parking isn’t a major faff).

The only thing I would flag with a marquee event is the potential extra infrastructure you may need depending on where it is - kitchen equipment, furniture, power, loos, water etc. These can really quickly add up depending on what it is that you want/need to have.

You could arrange to have a blessing of some sort at the marquee, after the official registry office wedding and just have immediate family etc at the registry office

Many registry offices are quite small anyway so immediate family there and everyone at the marquee sounds grand

I quite like a break in the day - people can go for a walk or a nap or just read a book and I don’t feel as comfortable doing that in a venue

I preferred one venue for us - less hidden costs, less faff, the venue had a lovely wedding planner who sorted everything. I think people underestimate the work and expense involved with marquee weddings.

We've gone for all in one place. We know the exact cost, no faffing around and people can park there cars and relax and not worry about leaving