by Karen S Musselman

Created on: September 20, 2009   Last Updated: September 23, 2009

Unless you're sticking with tradition or because of religious beliefs, it's not necessary to have your wedding ceremony in a church, there are many other alternatives or venues where you can have your ceremony in the same location as your reception.

If you're looking for low-budget ideas for wedding and reception venues for the spring or summer seasons, consider having your wedding and reception outside. There are a lot of ways to do this from renting a pavilion through your local parks and recreation department to having the event in your own backyard.

If you're having a smaller ceremony reception, many bed and breakfasts make great options for onsite ceremonies and receptions. Many offer very affordable packages for the special couple who is planning on a smaller guest list so they don't need the huge banquet hall after the ceremony.

My son and daughter-in-law had an absolutely beautiful October outdoor ceremony at a local bed and breakfast. The backyard grounds were an ideal setting for their ceremony. And the owners of the quaint inn helped decorate the lobby and dining areas for their event.

My husband and I had our small romantic November ceremony at a local bed and breakfast as well. We said our vows inside in front of a beautifully decorated fireplace that even allowed us to have a bagpiper for the ceremony!

Another popular and affordable option, depending on your location and the season, is your own backyard where you can make it as big or small as your imagination (or space) will allow and still keep it low cost. Backyard weddings are great if you're going for a more casual event.

Fire company banquet halls aren't just for the reception anymore. If it's not necessary or you don't want or need to have a religious ceremony, find a nice fire hall where you can have the whole wedding event at the same place. Now you're renting one site instead of two and fire halls tend to be very inexpensive!

And if you can find a hall that offers on-site catering including the bar, you'll wipe two more contacts off your To Do list by having everything catered on-site with liquor and beer choices already at the hall. The fire halls may even come in with a better quote than a local caterer.

There are a lot of other affordable options for reception venues to look into also so if you shop early you can find the best deal on rates and availability. Finding where to hold your perfect event even on a small budget isn't impossible. You just need to start and plan early.

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