Weddings are one of the happiest times in a couple’s lives. But they can also be one of the most stressful. Planning a wedding and a subsequent wedding reception involves organizing hundreds of details, from food and activities to invitations and decorations.
The stress and wedding planning associated with it is only amplified if you’re planning on hosting a large wedding. It can be fun to have every aunt, uncle and cousin there to celebrate your special day, but it can be a challenge to keep everything in order for a guest list that may number more than 100 people.
For as fun and memorable as weddings are, the costs that accompany them seem to go up every year too. It’s easy these days to get overwhelmed while you are window shopping online as there are scores of color schemes, themes and food options available for couples to choose from. The average cost of a wedding reception was $13,106 in 2012 and the average cost for just a wedding ceremony and reception is around $28,835.
One option for your nuptials, is a country club wedding. Whether a bride and groom are golf enthusiasts or not, country club weddings have lots of benefits and have a lot to offer.
- Exclusivity: While you don’t necessarily need to be a member of your local country club to have a wedding there, country club weddings have a certain aura about them. Having a wedding at a country club can make you and your guests feel like you’re part of something exclusive. Plus, a lot of country clubs have several rooms to choose from for your wedding and reception, so you definitely won’t be short on options.
- Scenery: If you’re looking to have a ceremony in a scenic place, country club weddings held on golf courses offer plenty of natural beauty. Golf courses are built with an eye toward golf, but also with a certain design in mind for golfers to enjoy the beauty of nature out on the course. With luscious grass, beautiful wooded areas and plenty of flowers, golf courses are bursting with natural beauty and country club weddings are the perfect way to enjoy it.
- Food: If you’re not planning on catering, a country club often has its own chefs on site who can prepare whatever kind of meal your looking for. If you book a room at a country club for your wedding, chances are good that meal service can be tacked on as part of a package rather than having to hire a catering company separately.
- Parking: It may down a ways on your list of things to check off as you wedding plan, but having enough parking to accommodate guests is important. If you plan on inviting a large number of people to your wedding, you need to make sure the venue can handle that many people and a large number of vehicles. Country clubs can usually offer just that with plenty of parking and some of them even offer valet parking.
- Package deals: Trying to plan a wedding can be stressful, but it can be even more stressful if you’ve booked multiple vendors for things such as food, venue and entertainment. Country club weddings can remove all that stress as golf courses offer package deals that include wedding planners, catering and staff to help plan and set things up. Some courses have partnerships with local bakers or florists, so the golf course essentially acts as a one-stop shop.
- More than weddings: Just because you’re having a country club wedding doesn’t mean you have to limit your enjoyment to just the ceremony and reception. Since you’re on a golf course, maybe you want to plan a family golf outing the day before or the day after the ceremony. Maybe you want to hold a rehearsal dinner there or a morning-after brunch.
Your wedding day and wedding reception should be one of the happiest and most memorable times of your life. Country club weddings offer plenty of options, plenty of beautiful scenery and lots of opportunity to take all the stress out of wedding planning.
