Weddings

This website is full of information regarding getting married at Cascade Christian Church, and will hopefully answer all of the questions you have. Here are the steps that you need to take to book our church for your wedding:

Call Jodi Schaefer, the church Wedding Coordinator, at (616)481-4888 to make sure there are not any pending wedding applications or other church events taking place on the day you are requesting.

Read the policies/guidelines regarding weddings and facility rental of Cascade Christian Church which the Wedding Coordinator will provide in the Wedding Packet.

Complete your application and mail it in, along with your $250 non-refundable deposit (if applicable), to reserve your spot. You will also need to meet with the business manager to sign the Building Use Agreement and provide proof of homeowners insurance with a minimum of $1,000,000 liability coverage. Once the deposit is collected and all necessary paperwork is completed, your spot is confirmed.

No. We open our church to members and non-members alike. We only allow one non-member wedding in any given month, if the schedule allows, to make sure there is availability to our members. If you are not a member when you initially begin to look at the church for a wedding, you will be charged based on your non-member status for our facility and cleaning fees.

No. You must be an active member or the child of an active member to get the member rates for weddings. All non-members, regardless of their past affiliation with the church, are charged the non-member rates.

Yes, you may use your own musician(s). The fees billed are based on what you need, so you will not be charged for a musician if you bring one in. The organ is played by Cascade Christian Church organists only. Talk to the pastor about the use of other musicians.

The Chapel seats 100 people comfortably.

The Sanctuary seats 280 people.

We do. We have a brass and a bluish patina set that holds 7 tapers each. We have white 15″ mechanical candles you may use (they burn a real flame).

Yes. If you are interested in playing a video during your ceremony, you will need to have the Wedding Coordinator schedule a multimedia screen technician (you are responsible to pay the technician). You will also need to prepare the video yourself and supply the technician with a copy. Contact the technician for the required video format prior to sending to them.

We will work with you in making sure you have all of the time you need to prepare for and enjoy your big day while you are at the church. Non-member weddings are limited to 4 hours on site the day of the wedding. Member weddings may exceed the 4-hour limit if special arrangements are made in advance. We limit our facilities to one wedding per weekend unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The Wedding Coordinator is the church coordinator and handles all weddings at the church. This position is a very helpful one to have on your wedding day. All members and non-members must use the Wedding Coordinator to handle all of the wedding day staff and facility details for your wedding and must pay them for their services.

The Wedding Coordinator can certainly recommend the best florist, photographers, videographers, etc., that she has worked with.

The set-up and cleaning responsibilities are ones that the custodian needs to do as he knows how to get everything back in place for church on Sunday morning. All weddings need to pay the custodial fee in addition to the fees for the extra COVID cleaning if needed.

Because we only allow one wedding per weekend, there is not a discount. If we were to offer a Friday wedding, we would not be able to hold a Saturday wedding because the church would be in use during the rehearsal time. So, there is not a discounted rate for getting married on Friday.

We have candelabras that you can use, and we also have a Unity Candle stand. Other than that, you may not decorate with candles. Candles used must be dripless.

There are property guidelines for using church facilities that our wedding coordinator will explain.

Yes, we do have a few off-limit dates due to the church calendar and the events that we offer as a church. The weekends that we do not hold weddings are:

• Easter weekend / Palm Sunday weekend

• The two weekends surrounding our VBS program (usually the end of July/beginning of August)

• Weekend after Labor Day

• Any weekend in December

Once the bride/groom are up at the altar, it is the preference of our pastor that there is no flash photography. Some pastors are okay with it, so you will need to check with the pastor officiating your ceremony if they are from another church.

All couples getting married by our pastor are invited to participate with her in premarital counseling and planning of the ceremony portion of their day. The number of sessions depends on the amount that needs to be discussed.

You are responsible for getting your own marriage license from the county clerk. When you come to the rehearsal, you can bring it with you then and the Wedding Coordinator will make sure it is signed, copied for you, and mailed in before it is due back to the county clerk’s office.

Only church members are able to have their reception at church. If your reception is held at the church, the Wedding Coordinator will be there during the reception. The Wedding Coordinator does not take care of arranging the food or supervising this portion of the reception. There will be an extra charge for the Wedding Coordinator’s time at the reception, plus additional fees for room use, custodial services (set-up and return to original), and the additional cleaning required.