Setting the Date and Finding our Church

So not even 30 minutes after Jeff proposed, I was getting the question already. My mom was the first to ask, "So when is the wedding?"

Okay, Mom...yeah, like we have a date in mind already...

I love my mom and I'm so glad she was excited for our engagement. (She screamed when I told her over the phone...I think she's going to be a screamer at any and all big news I'll ever have to tell her). But it's been 30 minutes since we got engaged, not time to have a date in mind. It took a couple days for us to actually talk about what time of year we were looking at for our wedding. I've always dreamed of a outdoorsy, autumnal wedding. Like this one:

Image courtesy: Wedshare.com

Jeff had a summer wedding more in mind. Since New Zealand summers are incredibly mild, I didn't really have a problem with that idea. We started looking at calendars, considered overseas travelers, and finances before deciding to find a venue that could host a Tuesday wedding at the end of February or early March. Now to find a reasonably priced venue... We planned on a Saturday to go around and look at places I had found online. I called a friend and had her tag along to discuss possibilities. There are literally hundreds of places to get married around Nelson. So many churches, vineyards, resorts, etc. I had decided I wanted to get married in an old church and finances dictated that vineyards were out. So here are some places we looked at...

I have loved this church since the first time I saw it...Jeff has some ancestors buried here and it's out in the country. Very peaceful and gorgeous. No place for a reception there though...so we'd have to find a second location, which means more money.

I still can see myself getting married here.

We weren't able to go inside this church, but again, it's just beautiful and out in the country. It's a Catholic Church, so we wouldn't be able to use it anyway.

This is a Lutheran church in Upper Moutere. Beautiful building, but I found it weird with the two aisles...

All of these were possibilities, but didn't quite fit the bill. The first one was really expensive to rent for a wedding. And all three would require a separate reception location. And then we decided to visit the last place on my list. Founder's Park is a local heritage park in Nelson that is open to the public year-round. I had heard people had gotten married here before, but I was hesitant about it myself. It was in town, it's busy there in the summer, I still wanted to get married in a church, but at the prices they were quoting online for using the facilities, I couldn't pass it up. I hadn't been in the church they have onsite before, so I was going into this blind.

Wow, I had found it. We had a winner. The church was old like I wanted but not claustrophobic like other old churches I have been in.

No weird aisles to deal with, organs that cannot be moved (seriously, one church had a huge organ that wasn't allowed to be moved). And it's an intimate space for the small wedding we were wanting.

And just down the "road" is the reception room that we're going to use. It's a small hall seating 80, has a full kitchen for our bbq buffet, and a great wrap-around porch for enjoying the Nelson summer evening.

I was in love with it and had to check the dates for availability. Our first date was available! Yay! Jeff was happy, too. We would be able to have our wedding and reception in the same place, no worries about transportation, and our deposit has been put down. $285 dollars for the chapel and hall for the rehearsal on Monday and all day Tuesday for set-up and the wedding. You can't do much better for that price. Next up is my inspiration for the wedding and deciding what feel we are going for in our DIY wedding...

What do you think? Did you struggle to find a location that met all your criteria for a perfect wedding?

All images, unless noted, are personal pictures.