Offbeat venues for cheap weddings

A hangar? A B-24? A jeep limo?

A few years back, when I was still doing cheap weddings, I helped a San Diego couple put together a 1940s theme wedding. The bride's and groom's grandparents had all been married during World War II, and they decided to do the "wartime bride" thing - a mix of nostalgia, honoring their grandparents, and just plain fun.

First we went looking for venues for the wedding and reception - the 40s idea just wasn't gonna fly in a typical hotel banquet room. We found a cool little simple church, actually 40s vintage and never modernized. We got the church pretty cheap - all day Saturday plus 2 hours Friday night for the rehearsal, complete with organist (perfect little old lady who did a mean wedding march) for I think $200. The couple had their own pastor to officiate (I just love that word - makes weddings sound like a contact sport) at the wedding.

Next we went looking for a reception venue. We really got lucky (when you're doing cheap weddings, it helps to get lucky). We found a local wing of the Confederate Air Force, a volunteer group all about restoring and flying WWII aircraft. At the time, their facility was less of a museum and more of a hangar, and they were hungry enough to accept a fairly small donation, I think it was $1,000, for the use of their hangar for the reception. Some of the members got all worked up about hosting a 40s/WWII theme party, and offered to help. On the day of the reception they rolled the polished-up planes out and put them on display outside the hangar. I think they even had a B-24 at the time. Some of them wore their vintage uniforms and offered the guests tours of the aircraft.

We transformed the hangar with lots of bunting and some vintage recruiting and movie posters, set up rented tables & chairs around a HUGE dance floor, set up a buffet & carving station (we called it a chow line), found a DJ with a great selection of 40s vintage music (perfect to dance to, for all ages), had copies of the grandparents' wedding photos on display - you get the idea.

The groom & wedding party all found their vintage wedding clothes in thrift shops - the bride wore her grandmother's dress. The couple asked guests to wear 40s vintage attire, and people showed up in everything from old uniforms to vintage suits & dresses - even some 40s aloha shirts. The couple were driven away from the church by a uniformed driver in a restored '41 military jeep, trailing a string of tin cans - courtesy of one of the Confederate Air Force guys. It was a great wedding, a fabulous reception, one that everybody will remember - everybody had huge fun. And it cost considerably less than they could have spent at a generic reception hall with in-house catering. As cheap weddings go, it was one of the best.

A vintage or theme wedding isn't for everybody. It worked for this couple, their family, their friends. The point is, even cheap weddings can be memorable and special. Again, it comes down to you deciding what is right for you , and then taking the time to plan everything thoroughly. Planning weddings - especially cheap weddings - takes a lot of time. The couple in this example started planning over a year before their wedding, and saved themselves thousands of dollars. Get started early, and use all the free and cheap wedding planning resources you can find. Good luck - now get going.

PS - If you have any offbeat venue ideas or experiences you'd like to share, hit the comment button. Thanks!

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