<p>When we called to reserve the MIT chapel in August, we were told that we couldn’t reserve it until Nov 27, which is the day that all of MIT’s rentable spaces are able to be rented (generally by student groups).</p>
<p>Adam went over to get an ID for the system today (it’s all online) and was told that personal events are “different” and that the chapel has already been booked for our date at the time we wanted.</p>
<p>I am trying not to be upset, but darn it, we changed our date for the chapel, and now it’s November and we have no place to get married! I called the office responsible and explained our situation… we officially reserved the chapel for the morning (11 AM - 12:30), and the representative promised to email people who were allowed to book the chapel before the official opening to see if they still want the space.</p>
<p>I’m also looking at churches in Boston, but I’m not terribly optimistic that we’ll find one in the city that’s still open for a September Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>So options at this point:
Have the ceremony at the museum. I’m not sure what space is available for ceremonies.
Have the ceremony outside at MIT – ie in Killian Court. Beautiful, but I’m not sure how much I trust Boston weather…
Find another church. (I have a list of phone numbers to call tomorrow.)
Have the wedding at the chapel in the morning, let the guests have the afternoon to themselves, and have the reception at night. (Logistical nightmare?)</p>
<p>This might not be so bad. You could do worse than play in Boston for the afternoon. The only bad part is having to get in and out of party clothes. I was at a wedding recently where the early afternoon wedding was up at Columbia and the evening reception was at a downtown restaurant. They put the wedding party in a double decker bus and toured NYC for a couple of hours. But they had the advantage of not really needing to feed anyone lunch.</p>
<p>Late to the wedding party… I had to look at every link! I love the shoes. I love the reception site. I picked out photo 72 before I read everybody else’s opinions, and was very proud of myself. I like 73, too – the way he’s looking at you, and you’re looking at the camera - very sweet.</p>
<p>Most importantly, it sounds like you’re having fun. Best advice I ever received was that, no matter what happens during the planning, if at the end of the day, you end up married, it went just fine. Best wishes!</p>
<p>Maybe you could also ask the people at MIT and see what they suggest?</p>
<p>How many people are you inviting to the wedding? I might be able to come up with some other ideas (there is a beautiful chapel here in Sudbury, but it only holds 60 people or so…)</p>
<p>I really don’t think it would be that hard to find a church that is free for the weekend. The hard part may be finding a church that will allow you to do it without membership or marriage counseling. </p>
<p>If you are up to it or feel strongly about getting married in a church now, I’d start looking around for chruches both of you are comfortable attending regularly and go from there. Start visiting churches and see what you two like and don’t like and find the one who’s pastor/clergy you like the best. That way you can build a relationship with the clergy you’d like to marry you and know what you are getting into (i.e. marriage counseling requirements or church membership requirements).</p>
<p>All is not lost, I managed to book my place a few weeks back for a date in April of next year (then again my wedding is only going to be ~30 people).</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>Also, make sure the clergy will marry you if you live together before marriage. Many clergy are very strict on not living together before marriage (though it may vary since Boston is a liberal area).</p>
<p>mathmom, can you call my mother? She claims that it’s “not done” to have the wedding in the morning and the reception in the evening. (Lots of things are “not done” in her world.) I’m just concerned that it would be problematic to find a photographer who would be okay with being booked for the morning and the evening.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, binx. I’m pretty laid-back about social events in general, and I’m not too hung up on the details of the wedding. Marriage >>> wedding. :)</p>
<p>fendrock, Harvard-Epworth is definitely on my list – I’m a United Methodist, so my first preference is to get married in a UM church. I also put the Harvard University church on my list, since I’m a Harvard student now. Can’t get into MIT? Just go to Harvard, right? :D</p>
<p>The wedding will be right around 100 people, which unfortunately rules out a lot of the smaller chapels. </p>
<p>ophiolite, let’s keep hoping that the churches are free! I don’t think it’s unreasonable that I’ll find a church, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I didn’t find anything in the city either. Things book up pretty quickly in Boston. But we’re pretty flexible – we wouldn’t, for example, be opposed to a church that required pre-marital counseling. And a lot of the churches in the city explicitly state that they’re happy marrying people who aren’t members of the church. </p>
<p>And re: liberal churches – many of the churches in Boston will actually marry same-sex couples, so I think we’re okay. :)</p>
<p>too bad about MIT church! I love Memorial Church; Harvard -Epworth is also very nice. There are many other churches in the immediate vicinity of Harvard Square. One ought to be available.
I just attended a wedding at St Paul’s in Boston. The couple only got engaged last spring.</p>
<p>Believe me you can find a precedent for anything! One of my husband’s colleagues Chinese-American grad students got married two years ago. Not only was the wedding in the morning and the reception at night, but the reception incorporated just about every tradition (good and bad!) from both cultures.</p>
<p>Well, she certainly isn’t listening to me! No, she gets the Nostradamus prize for the day – when she was in town last week, she mentioned that she thought I should make some backup plans in case the chapel fell through. Arrr. Score one for Mom.</p>
<p>(Total aside: My mom came to Boston last week to see the chapel and the Museum room, and we went shopping at Downtown Crossing. Filene’s in Downtown Crossing is having a giant everything-must-go sale, and they had advertised mother of the bride dresses for $99. <em>Pause to note that my mother is short and very petite, and that she’s a fifth-grade teacher and is happiest in jumpers and cute sweaters with school buses on them.</em> We found this ridiculous slinky neon green/pink/orange sequined masterpiece, slit up to about here. I should have taken a picture of her trying it on. It was hysterical.)</p>
<p>momboys, I think that is a super idea (as do a bunch of MIT students who were sitting around when I read your post). I think I will ask the people who schedule MIT’s spaces – the worst they can do is say no, and I think they are feeling rather badly in my direction at this moment in time.</p>
<p>marite, my Harvard dig was for you. Do you happen to know (or could you estimate) how many people the Appleton Chapel of Memorial Church will hold?</p>
<p>I wonder if weddings are permitted at places like the Busch-Reisinger or Fogg museums?</p>
<p>They’d probably be pricey, though.</p>
<p>The Swedenborgian chapel (near the Busch-Reisinger) looks nice from the outside, although I’ve never been in it.</p>
<p>Someone at my dentist’s office was describing a wedding that took place in the lobby of a Best Western or similar. People were passing through in their bathing suits on the way to the pool.</p>
<p>I called the Harvard Memorial Church this morning, and lo and behold, they have a 4 PM slot open for our date.</p>
<p><em>commences dancing around the room</em></p>
<p>We’ll go up to Harvard sometime next week to check it out, but from what I can see from pictures, it looks absolutely beautiful and we will be very happy to be married there.</p>
<p>So I guess ophiolite was right and I didn’t have a reason to worry. :)</p>
<p>And now – off to the kitchen to bake an apple pie, then we are packing up the bunny and one of our groomsmen and heading off to my fiance’s parents’ home for Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>How wonderful! I like Memorial Church a lot! It’s pretty both inside and outside. You might get one of the Harvard a capella groups to sing if some of the members are in town. </p>
<p>Nowm about the reception: The Faculty Club, the Inn at Harvard. the Busch Reisinger Museum, the Fogg? Or, if you can ferry the guests there, the Museum of Science?</p>
<p>Oh, we’ve already booked the MoS. That’s part of the pickle we were in when we found out we couldn’t have the MIT chapel – we have a firm reception date and time, and there’s not much we can do about it.</p>
<p>I think we will get a trolley chartered to take the guests from the church to the museum. (Although I’m sure it would be amusing to make them take the T in their nice clothes. ;))</p>
<p>I’m hoping we’ll resolve the clergy issue within the next week or so. I would love for my childhood minister to come officiate, and my dad has been meaning to get in touch with him, but he hasn’t told me if he has done so yet. If he can’t come, we’ll start talking with the clergypeople (is that a word?) at Harvard.</p>
<p>The clergypeople at Harvard’s Memorial Church:</p>
<p>Rev. Peter Gomes, African-American; classical music-lover; Republican; gay; has a great sonorous voice. Officiated at the Bush1 Inaugural (I believe that was before he came out as gay). Stepped down a few years ago and has been replaced by
Rev. Dorothy Austin, Co-House Master of Lowell House with her partner, Prof. Diana Eck (I believe they got married when gay marriage was legalized in MA).
I’m not sure how many people the Church holds. I’d say a couple of hundreds at least, possibly more.</p>
<p>Some years ago, my H’s company had its Xmas party at the MoS. It was great! How about renting the trolley buses of some of the Duck Tours vehicles to ferry the guests to the MoS?</p>
<p>Okay, so wait, you’re Molliebatmit and you’re getting married in a church on a Saturday with a childhood pastor? LOL. Sorry, I’ve read a lot of your posts over on the MIT board and you sound like a wonderful person, and the dresses look great, and Adam looks swell, and I’m really happy for you, but I’m totally puzzled by this. I just assumed you were Jewish, a nice girl with a first name like Mollie and a last name like Bat Mit.</p>
No, she gets the Nostradamus prize for the day – when she was in town last week, she mentioned that she thought I should make some backup plans in case the chapel fell through. Arrr. Score one for Mom.</p>