Ceremony

There’s something about getting married in a warehouse.
And there’s certainly something about having your guests in one space for the day!

If you are having your ceremony at The Cheney Place, here’s some information that will help as you begin your planning.  Or let us know if you’re still considering your options and might want to have your ceremony here.

CAPACITY

Our ceremony capacity is 225 guests.  While we are able to host receptions larger than that, we need to host the ceremony in a portion of the first floor which we’ve found can comfortably seat 225 people.

START TIME

We ask that ceremonies are not scheduled to begin prior to 4:30 p.m. Your service providers need to be fully set prior to the start of your ceremony and this ensures they have the time they need.

That said, we usually recommend starting around 5:00 p.m. (especially if you’re doing pictures prior to the ceremony) as this keeps guests from waiting too long before dinner is served. This also works best with 5 hours of bar service. And for Summer/Fall weddings, it also helps with your schedule as it’s generally best to have dancing starting around sunset/dusk. Starting the ceremony too early can have a trickle effect, causing dinner to end early, which in turn gets dancing started earlier while the sun is still is bright.

A/V EQUIPMENT

You will want to coordinate with your DJ or make other arrangements for any sound system or music needs.  While some ceremonies do choose to not use a sound system, it is nice to make sure your guests can hear the officiant, special readings and your vows.  Two speakers plus at least one microphone, plus any equipment for playing music is sufficient.

LAYOUTS

Here are the layouts for our primary ceremony setups.

Base Ceremony Package

“Stylized” Ceremony Package

If you have booked the ‘Stylized’ package for your ceremony, you have the option of using our collection of pews, vintage seating for your family (seating for up to 6 on each side), chandeliers down the aisle, and an arch we have available for you to get married in front of. We’ll generally get your wedding colors and VIP numbers of ahead of time so we can pick out great options for you!

FAMILY PICTURES

We encourage you to have you family pictures immediately following the ceremony.  This works great because your family is all dressed and ready with big smiles then.  It’s great having some down time immediately prior to the ceremony instead of having to rush through pictures before guests start arriving, and while final preparations are being made for the ceremony.

If you choose to do your family pictures in the ceremony space in front of the white ruffled curtains, we will need this to begin as soon as possible and be finished within 25 minutes so that we have the time we need to prepare that portion of the room for your reception.  Other location considerations for family pictures would include the third floor (urban loft space) noting that as there is no HVAC on our third floor, it can be cold in the winter or hot in the summer.

RECEIVING LINE

If you wish to do a receiving line, we ask that you do this on the second floor as we will need to make sure we have enough time to flip the ceremony space to prepare for your reception.  In order to protect this time, we encourage you to consider visiting tables during dinner.

COCKTAIL HOUR

Following the ceremony, guests will be encouraged to go to the second floor for cocktail hour.  We will have staff to assist with the elevator for guests who are not able to walk up the stairs.  Please note that if you are hoping to take pictures on the second floor, you will need to do this prior to the ceremony or sometime after the cocktail hour (if there is still enough light) as guests will be filling that space.

RAIN PLAN

If you are hoping to have an outside ceremony, but you’re worried about rain… never fear… we have a rain plan option for you (for guests counts of 225 or under only).  If you would like to schedule The Cheney Place as your “Plan B” in case of bad weather, we ask for $250 down to hold that option for you (at least 1 month in advance so we can schedule our staff and setups accordingly), and then we’d just need to know by 10:00 a.m. on the morning of your event if you’d like to have your ceremony in our space.  The remaining balance of our base ceremony package ($250 balance) would be due that day.  Please note we are unable to provide the “stylized” ceremony package as a rain plan option given the additional staffing required to setup and remove the pews and furniture. Please contact us if you’d like to schedule us as your backup ceremony rain plan.

REHEARSAL

You are definitely welcome to have your wedding rehearsal at The Cheney Place (no extra cost) any time that is available during our regular hours (up to 45 minutes). As a venue space that generally holds weddings every Friday – Sunday and often time corporate events on Thursdays, I’m sure you can understand how this limits our options for ceremony rehearsals. While we’d love to offer you a complimentary time to rehearse in the space, rehearsals are never guaranteed, they are always a tentative booking based on our event schedule. Often this means the only time that might work is a day of run through. Our team will go ahead and get your ceremony processional order ahead of time so we can get everyone lined up and qued off as needed.

Please contact us to discuss scheduling options if you would like to have your rehearsal at The Cheney Place.