Today, there are more possibilities than ever when it comes to choosing a wedding venue. You might choose the traditional option and go for a church. You might pick an outdoorsy theme and go for a park, or your relative’s wide open property with the beautiful barn. Still, others might choose a beautiful mansion, estate or luxury hotel that hosts weddings. There’s an option out there that’s perfect for everyone, and the growing number of options means you have more freedom than ever when it comes to making your choice.
If you’ve sorted through all these options and nothing’s quite jumping out at you as the perfect venue, don’t despair. There’s one more option that you might not have thought of yet. We’re biased, of course, but we think it might be the perfect solution you’ve been looking for. Why not host your wedding at a golf club?
Golf club weddings are a growing trend that more and more couples are beginning to see the value in. By taking a moment to give it a little thought, we hope you too can see all the benefits of hosting your special day at your local golf club. And to help convince you, we’ve pulled together all the top reasons to host your wedding at a golf course.
Why are so many people these days hosting their wedding receptions on the sprawling grounds and beautiful facilities of golf clubs? It’s simple. More and more people are beginning to realize the incredible benefits that come from doing so. Here are a few of the most significant advantages you’ll experience when you choose to do the same with your big day.
When you think of golf clubs, what are some of the first adjectives that come to mind? You might immediately think of words like “exclusive,” “upscale,” “elite” and “high-class.” All of these words are excellent ways to describe the atmosphere at any golf clubs, and this is no accident. These clubs are designed to make users feel elegant and elite, as though they’re part of an exclusive club — which they typically are. Because of this elite atmosphere, golf clubs also double as the perfect location for a wedding.
In many ways, the atmosphere you’ll find at a golf club is similar to what you’ll encounter at a luxury hotel — another place many people might choose as a wedding venue. The difference is that golf clubs are usually smaller than hotels, which makes them feel more exclusive. Where hotels might have multiple ballrooms and might be hosting more than one wedding on the same night, golf clubs are typically more intimate. This means you can feel confident you’ll be the only wedding party on the grounds that day, giving you more freedom and space to use.
It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful and carefully cultivated outdoor setting than the ones you’ll find at golf clubs. These patches of nature are usually carved out of the middle of suburbs and cities, and thus are designed to be havens for nature. The club designers know that people come here to get away from the business and bustle of their daily lives to relax for the afternoon amidst the beauty of nature. As such, these designers put special work into creating golf clubs as miniature nature paradises, complete with stunning landscapes.
On any given golf club, you might encounter small pine and hardwood forests, ponds, rolling hills and gentle streams. While these are beautiful on any occasion, they become especially lovely when viewed through the lens of a wedding. Could you hold your ceremony outdoors under this spreading tree? Might you take wedding photos next to this stream? And might your guests not love wandering the gorgeous grounds while you’re off taking pictures or getting dressed before the ceremony? These are just a few of the ways you might take advantage of a beautiful outdoor setting.
Membership is something every golf club handles differently. Some golf clubs may require you to be members if you want to host your wedding onsite. For many other golf clubs, however, a membership is not needed. After all, golf clubs are eager to attract couples looking to host their weddings onsite. This means they’ll often go out of their way to help smooth the path and make their club the most convenient choice for you.
READ: What to Consider for an Outdoor Wedding
If you encounter a golf club that asks you to have a membership before hosting your wedding at their location, it may be worth it to try politely negotiating. If this proves unfruitful, learn more about the membership. Depending on your circumstances, it may be worth it to sign up for the membership. If this doesn’t look like the case, however, don’t be afraid to move on and search for other clubs that don’t have this requirement.
Golf clubs are designed to be a one-stop shop for everything members might need while on site. This means that most clubs hire fantastic chefs and bakers to work at the club in the kitchens to prepare mouth-watering treats. And since most golf clubs pride themselves on offering nothing but the best, you can feel confident that these chefs are more than capable of delivering delicious dishes on your wedding day.
How do you benefit from having these highly-trained chefs and workers on-site? The access to these chefs means you don’t have to go out of your way to hire additional caterers or workers to serve at your wedding. This takes an enormous load off your mind as you don’t have to worry about tracking down, sampling and hiring a catering service. Instead, this service comes along with the use of the golf club. Be sure to check whether food services are included in the price of the wedding, or if they’re an extra expense, so you keep your budget in order.
Golf clubs are designed to accommodate large groups of people. Between spacious indoor ballrooms and sprawling grounds, there’s plenty of room for all the guests you care to invite. Of course, every golf club has different capacity limits that you’ll need to consider, but overall, golf clubs tend to be large and accommodating.
Because golf clubs also offer indoor and outdoor space, you have many more options than you might have at alternative locations. Hotels, for example, are typically limited to indoor spaces, as are churches in urban spaces. With golf clubs, however, the main party can be inside while guests are free to wander outside for some air whenever they like. You might even have a smaller dance floor outside, or use this space for your cocktail hour or any other way that seems right for your day.
Right now, with your wedding approaching, it can be hard to even think about what comes next. But your wedding will inevitably come and go, and you’ll be left with golden memories and photographs to commemorate the day. That’s why it’s so important to capture every snapshot you can of your perfect day, as they’ll be the primary way you look back and remember. This means hiring an excellent photographer, but it also means searching out spots that will make for the most beautiful backdrops.
Golf courses offer these perfect spots. The natural beauty found in spades around the hills and fields of any golf course provides plenty of beautiful vistas that will create the ideal backgrounds for any photo. As you’re visiting potential wedding venues and trying to decide which one is right for you, don’t be afraid to stroll the grounds of any golf clubs you’re considering and scope out the best photo spots. Who knows? A golf course wedding venue may be the perfect place for you.
When it comes to planning your wedding, some of your most immediate concerns include the venue, the dress, the food and the flowers. One of the things that you probably haven’t thought a lot about and won’t until the day or so before the wedding is parking. It’s a small detail and not a very glamorous one, but it’s an important one all the same. If there’s no place to park, then there’s no way for your guests to get to the wedding without taking a hike first — an option that’s likely to leave your guests hot, tired and a little irritated.
Golf clubs solve this problem by providing plenty of parking for all your guests. Because these venues are used to accommodating large parties of people, they’re more than prepared to handle the volume of cars your wedding will generate. And while every venue is different and offers a unique set of services, you may even find a gold club that offers valet parking. Be sure to check with any golf club you’re considering and see what types of parking services they offer.
READ: Fall-Themed Wedding Ideas
Many weddings will choose to hold the ceremony at one location before moving everyone to a secondary setting for the reception. While there’s nothing wrong with this approach, as it may be the right choice for many couples, we think there’s an advantage to keeping things simple. After all, why make all your guests travel across town to get to the party when you could hold the reception and the ceremony both at the same location?
Golf courses and facilities provide this option. With multiple picturesque spots across the property, there are many different places to hold your events. For example, perhaps you might set the ceremony up outside before heading inside for the reception, or vice versa. Or perhaps you might host both indoors but in different sections of the facilities. However you choose to order your celebrations, you will certainly be able to enjoy the minimal stress of hosting them both at the same location.
When you book many venues for your weddings — such as churches or community halls — the only thing you’re getting is the venue. For additional services like catering, decorators, florists and photographers, you’ll need to track down and hire your own workers. These costs add up far more quickly than you may imagine, and before you know it, your entire budget is already maxed out.
One of the major benefits of golf club weddings is that these venues often come with services embedded. Clubs may have their own kitchen staff or even a staff photographer. Even if this isn’t the case, they’re also likely to have partnerships with services in the community, meaning they can connect you at a discount. Every club is different and has different policies, so you’ll want to speak with the club you’re looking into directly about these subjects. By choosing a golf club, however, the odds are good that you might save on these additional services. On top of this, renting the golf course might just cost less than larger venues.
Let’s be honest — there’s so much more to weddings than the wedding itself. There’s also the rehearsal dinner, bridal showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties and even engagement parties. This is a whole host of events that will all need their own venues. But when you choose golf clubs, you can keep things simple. Why not host all of these events at the same place?
Check with your local golf club. Every club will have its own rules, but yours may have a discount for couples who choose to host multiple events onsite. Even if this isn’t the case, keeping all your events in one place is worth checking out. This allows many of your guests to become familiar with the setting before the wedding, and you can take advantage of all the same great benefits at every single event you host.
With luxurious spaces, sprawling landscapes and plenty of great photo spots, it isn’t hard to see why so many people turn to golf clubs as the perfect places to host their weddings. Are you ready to join them and book a golf club for your special day? Here at Colonial Golf & Tennis Club, we invite you to check out our facilities and see if they might be just the place you’ve been looking for to host your wedding.
Located conveniently in the heart of Central Pennsylvania, Colonial Golf & Tennis Club represents the very best of golf clubs as wedding venues. We offer indoor and outdoor space that works whether you’re planning a small and intimate ceremony or a huge party, in-house catering and years of experience hosting weddings to back it all up.
Are you ready to take the leap and learn more about what your wedding could be like if you hosted it at our beautiful facilities? Contact us today to find out more and get started with your planning.