Peppermint Papers...and other crafty things.: Where to Have a "Non-Church" Wedding in November

Since Gary and I have different religions backgrounds (I'm Protestant and he is Catholic) we knew right off the bat that we didn't want to get married in a traditional church setting. I guess you could say we wanted to get married on neutral ground. I didn't think it was fair to get married in a Protestant church just because I'm the bride...and I don't think the Catholic church would even LET us get married there if I wasn't planning on converting.

The problem with a non-church wedding in November is that pretty much all outdoor ceremony sites are immediately ruled out. (Remember this is Michigan people, it's not exactly warm here in November)

So now what? I didn't really want to have the ceremony in a banquet hall, that just seemed boring to me. And I also didn't really want to have to pay a ton of money for the actual ceremony site when we'd already be dishing out a lot of dough for the reception.

Last summer we visited Greenfield Village which has an adorable little chapel that would be absolutely perfect for a wedding. I was completely in love. Until I got engaged and checked on the rental price...$1,500 just to rent it for the afternoon? Ouch. That was a little more than we wanted to spend.

And then my brilliant fiance had an idea. What about the historic chapel at the Mill Race Village in Northville? It had the same exact look and feel as the Greenfield Village chapel, it was about a mile down the road from our condo, and the price was right where we wanted it to be. I love the idea that we will be married in the actual city we live in. The city where we have so many memories together. The city we moved into our first place together. The city we both love so much. So we booked! I'm so excited about it and I'm so grateful to Gary for coming up with the idea. He says he's finished contributing to the planning now...he's done his part.

Here are a few photos of the chapel. Ain't she cute??