We had originally struggled to find a ceremony venue that had a sound system, seating, air conditioning, and separate rooms for the bridal party/groomsmen to get ready in. A church setting is perfect for this, but we didn't belong to any and aren't religious. Most alternative ceremony locations are either outside, or don't have chairs. Paying to rent chairs or worrying about rain wasn't something we wanted. We stumbled upon Holy Wisdom Monastery through a Google search. I cannot recommend this venue enough. We had our indoor ceremony on 5/5/18. Amanda (the event coordinator at the Monastery) was so helpful and organized, and she went above and beyond to make sure everything that day was perfect! The venue allows you to provide your own officiant, so we actually held a non-denominational/non-religious service. The space is beautiful, clean, and the grounds are fabulous for taking photos afterward. We hired a string quartet for ceremony music and the acoustics were beautiful. I received so many compliments about the space. Amanda even provided us with mirrors, fans, and an "emergency wedding day kit" with things such as a sewing kit, lint roller, scissors, tape, safety pins, hygiene items, etc. Amanda coordinated with our string quartet and officiant to make everything run smoothly. Also, they allow you to run a rehearsal in the actual space (we found in our research a lot of venues don't). This helped us feel much less anxiety the night before our big day. Thanks again to Amanda and Holy Wisdom Monastery!

We booked Holy Wisdom for our ceremony site and were over the moon with the experience. If you are looking for stunning wedding photos in a location that won't break the bank, this is your place. The indoor and outdoor options are beautiful. While we went with the indoor option to beat the August heat, we used the outdoor space for family photos which was absolutely gorgeous.

Amanda, our site coordinator, was lovely to work with too! She was great with accommodating the time we wanted our ceremony to happen, even though it straddled their morning and evening wedding blocks. We ended up being able to book the monastery for a 3:30 p.m. wedding, which was perfect. She was helpful with helping us search for a minister and again, when we decided to use a friend who was ordained. This is really a hidden gem for a ceremony site and I strongly encourage you to visit the site if you're hunting for the perfect no hassle place to say "I Do."

There is one downside if you are Roman Catholic though. It is very hard to near impossible to find a priest who will marry you at this location. The Monastery was upfront with us about this because that's our religion. We opted to use a friend instead and have our marriage blessed at a church later on though. It worked out fine.

HWM was a great place to have our wedding ceremony. We wanted an outdoor wedding but what sold us was the excellent indoor option as a back up. Most places we visited you would be put in a conference-looking-room or your reception area which we were not fans of. The day turned out beautiful and the outdoor ceremony went perfectly. Pre-coordination, rehearsal, and day-of all went smoothly. You do have to provide your own chairs (outdoor only) and music (indoor and outdoor) which were a couple extra hassles/expenses but the end result was well worth it. Plenty of parking and amazing photos wherever you go on the property! Would definitely recommend for hosting a ceremony.