Has anyone got married & had reception in same place?

We are looking at getting married on-site at the hotel and then having the reception at the same spot. We will either have a Registrar on-site (if the laws have changed) or bring our own non-religious celebrant (humanist perhaps) and have the ceremony in the function room, have photos & then come back to the same function room for dinner 2/3 hours later. I love this idea about keeping people together in the one venue all day (we only plan on having 80 max guests) but my htb is a bit dubious about the whole thing and is afraid that it won't 'work out', I'd like to hear from anyone that has done this before or more so from a guest at a wedding where this was the lay-out and how it went, reactions, etc. Many thanks in advance. Liz

We did But it was abroad so im not sure if i can help

there is a place in fermanagh , i think

we had the whole thing in the same place (a castle in England). The ceremony and reception were actually held in the same room, so after the ceremony the castle staff came in and changed the furniture around and laid the tables etc, and we didn't even notice them at all. It was really nice to not have to worry about getting from church to hotel and how the guests were going to get there etc, and we didn't need a wedding car so saved money there too! It meant that once everyone was there they could all relax because they were there for the whole day and night. Everyone commented that this was a good thing as well and loved the fact that it was all in the same place, especially the Irish guests, who would be used to going to a church then hotel for a wedding. And we didn't waste any of the day with travelling so had more time for chatting to our guests and generally having a great time. Hope this helps, I would definitely say go for it

My FSIL did this last year in Markree Castle in Sligo. She was marrying an american guy, and they live in the States, so they did the whole registry office bit there, then had a blessing by a Celtic priest in the chapel in Markree. It was FAB!! Mrs. Ted xx

My sister did this last year. It was a huge success, but the weather helped hugely - it was a fab sunny day. They had a humanist ceremony under a tree in the grounds of the hotel, and the string quartet continued playing in the garden after the ceremony. It was great for mingling, and all the photos were taken in the garden and the upside was that guests could take the "official" photos too, so she got lovely shots that she didn't end up having to pay for! There was none of that hiatus you usually get at weddings between the church and the venue, people going missing, sneaking off for pints in pubs en route, etc. Only for I'm having a church wedding myself, I would definitely consider doing the same (if I could cosmic-order good weather, that is!)