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Planning Ames Wedding

cloneteach

cloneteach

Well-Known Member
Nov 19, 2009
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Recently engaged. Both ISU grads. Want an Ames wedding. Any pointers for those that have planned. Where? Cost? Hotels? How soon to book stuff?

Also tossed around the idea of a Friday night wedding before a home football game.

Thanks for the help.
 
See if Jp will let you do it in the north end zone after the first quarter.

Hickory pack has the old country bar, I forget the name of it then, just south of them for receptions.
 
When are you shooting for your wedding? It's good to give yourself about a year. Some of the online sites (TheKnot.com - Wedding Planning - Wedding Ideas- Wedding Dresses, for example), will give you timelines for when things should be done.

We got married at Moore Memorial Park, but there are tons of cool venues. Lots of great churches, if that's the direction you're going to go. There are also interesting venues, like the Octagon (we almost went there, but it was booked our weekend). Our reception was at Hickory Hall, but there are again a lot of great options. You will likely want to scout out reception and ceremony venues before totally deciding on your date, as availability will dictate a lot.

We got some rental stuff at that Party Time joint (the blue building a few blocks west of Panera), and some at the rental store up in Somerset. Hobby Lobby has really expanded their bridal selection, if you're looking for pew bows and the like.

Photographers used to be pretty much just the traditional studios, but it's a really wide-open field now with so many private photographers. May not hurt to put up an ad for bids on Craigslist or something.

We blocked off rooms at a couple of places in different price ranges, but again, what weekend you choose will matter - if you choose a home game weekend (not recommended!), it will be harder to book.

Good luck, and congrats!
 
Been to a reception at Hickory Hall, it's cheap, but it also limits photos, decorations, etc with its staging.
Been to a reception at Scheman, it was nice, but also had a lot of concrete that would show up on photos. Table layout can be tough.
Best place in town so far that I've been to is the Alumni building in the Hilton parking lot.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. Actually e-mailed JP about a few things and he responded within 3 minutes. Wow.
 
I had asked my husband if he wanted to see if we could get married on the practice field, but he didn't think it was a good idea.
 
I had my wedding in Ames.

Using the Gateway or ISU facilities for a reception will be ridiculously expensive, just a heads up on that. Gateway was really nice for a hotel to block out for guests and their suites for you and the bride to be are also top notch.

Dutch Oven Bakery did our cake and they did an awesome job. They even made us another (smaller) cake on our 1 year anniversary at no extra charge.

We used Craig Carrol photography and he was very nice and helpful and got some really good shots of us around campus.

I haven't been to Prairie Moon for a wedding, but I go there for there Sunday music in the summer and the reception area is very nice. Would be a great location I think.
 
Just attended a wedding reception this weekend in Ames. It was held at a place called The Plex located on the north side of Ames across from the Ames Country Club. Very nice venue for a reception IMHO.
 
The Alumni Center has hosted 2 wedding I've been stuck going to and is awesome for them. Also went to a wedding that was on Central Campus with the reception in the MU and guests had the option to stay in the MU hotel. There's also a room for rent in the old dining center out at Towers that worked pretty slick...only downfall was a small dance floor.
 
We got married at Reiman Gardens on Labor Day weekend. Wedding outside in the garden with reception inside the hall plus a live band. It was perfect. I can provide other details if you like. I believe Dutch Oven Bakery may have made our cake/cakes as well.
 
We had our reception at Scheman and loved it. There were ~280 guests. Food was great and staff was helpful. We blocked rooms at the Holiday Inn and they tried their best to rip everyone off.
 
Teach, you must be the bride, because the grooms that tried to help plan weddings that I know found out it was a losing cause quickly.

Go luck in the future and hope it goes well.
 
I'm sure the other suggestions are probably more up your alley, but when I took summer classes several years ago, I saw some people rehearsing/setting up to do the ceremony in Lago - looked really pretty and is a neat idea if it's a smaller ceremony and you REALLY love campus.
 
Got married on a Friday in Boone. Original plan was to have the wedding at Ledges State Park, but decided a few days before to have it in the church (2008 floods). Reception was at Seven Oaks. A few notes:

-Friday weddings are actually alright, IMO. Some people may not want to take time off of work, but if you have it later (say 6pm ish) most people who live nearby won't have to take a lot of time off. Lots cheaper on a Friday. We also took everyone out on the Boone Scenic Railroad on Saturday, and had a party at Whiskey River that night (used to bartend there)
-Having it in Ames will be much more expensive, especially during the fall. We looked into having it on campus, but it costs a ton. Instead, we just got our pictures taken there (free).
-Seven Oaks did a good job with the reception. They let us run the ski lift for an extra fee, which was cool to see the view of the river valley.
 
isukendall said:
Got married on a Friday in Boone. Original plan was to have the wedding at Ledges State Park, but decided a few days before to have it in the church (2008 floods). Reception was at Seven Oaks. A few notes:

-Friday weddings are actually alright, IMO. Some people may not want to take time off of work, but if you have it later (say 6pm ish) most people who live nearby won't have to take a lot of time off. Lots cheaper on a Friday. We also took everyone out on the Boone Scenic Railroad on Saturday, and had a party at Whiskey River that night (used to bartend there)
-Having it in Ames will be much more expensive, especially during the fall. We looked into having it on campus, but it costs a ton. Instead, we just got our pictures taken there (free).
-Seven Oaks did a good job with the reception. They let us run the ski lift for an extra fee, which was cool to see the view of the river valley.
Click to expand...
It'd have to be a really close friend or family member I didn't hate for me to consider going to a wedding on a Friday after working all day/week.
 
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