FAQ

1. Can I bring my own minister? Yes - we just need to know that you plan to bring your own minister.

2. Can we write our own vows? - Yes.

3. Can I bring my own photographer? - Yes. However, this must be approved in advance.

4. Is there a rehearsal? Our bridal director rehearses everything about the wedding day with the bride, on the telephone the week of the wedding. On the day of the wedding, our chaplain meets with the groom’s party (in the chapel office) and rehearses everything, and then he meets with the bride’s party (in the bride’s room) and goes over everything with them. Our staff will be with the bride and groom every step of the way to make sure that everything goes beautifully.

Package 4 & 5 weddings may have a separate rehearsal the week of the wedding.

5. How early do we arrive? Fifteen minutes for a simple “I Do” ceremony. Thirty minutes for a standard Package 1, 2, or 3 wedding. Fifty minutes for a Deluxe Package wedding. One hour for a Package 4 and 5 wedding.

6. Which side of the chapel does the bride’s family sit on? The parents are seated, bride’s parents on the left, groom’s parents on the right. Beyond that, we have open seating for the rest of the guests.

7. How long is the ceremony? The length of the ceremony will vary depending upon the officiant and the number of people in the bridal party. Generally, wedding services last from fifteen to thirty minutes.

8. What happens if I plan for outside and it rains? If your wedding is at the Wedding Chapel, the chapel will be ready for you for no additional fee, fully decorated and staffed. For weddings at the Burritt, when we reserve the gazebo, we always also reserve the historic chapel so it will be sitting there set up and ready in case of bad weather. At the Monte Sano Lodge, we can move the wedding inside and during the reception we can quickly reset the ceremony room so it will be ready in time for dancing.

9. Can I bring our own toasting glasses, personalized napkins, cakes, or favors? Yes

10. Can I bring deli trays? Yes. There is a simple $25. fee, whether you bring one or six, as that requires extra server time, extra plates, napkins, punch, etc.

11. Can I have a Package 2 wedding and a Package 1 reception? Or can I have a Package 2 wedding and a Package 3 reception? You must book wedding and reception packages that match. A Package 1 reception goes with a Package 1 wedding. A Package 2 reception goes with a Package 2 wedding. A Package 3 reception goes with a Package 3 wedding.

12. Why does a Package 3 ceremony cost more than a Package 2 and a Package 2 ceremony cost more than a Package 1? Is the difference just the number of guests? No. The bigger the wedding, the more the subtle complexities. A Package 3 wedding is more involved than a Package 2. A Package 3 requires more staff than a Package 1. And our staff members each are paid more for a Package 2 than for a Package 1, etc.

13. Do children count in the number of guests allowed? Yes.

14. Does the wedding party count as part of the guest count? No. The wedding party is the bride, groom, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girl, and ring bearer.

15. May our pets be in our wedding ceremony? The bride or groom’s seeing eye or service dog is welcome.

16. How much tax is added to the bill? Our prices are with taxes already included.

17. How do I pay? A 50% reservation fee is required to hold your reservation. That fee is nonrefundable so be sure that you want to get married. Mail your deposit to: The Wedding Chapel on the Mountain, P.O. Box 12101, Huntsville, AL 35815. Payment in full is required four weeks prior to the ceremony. If the balance is not received by four weeks before the wedding, we will assume that the wedding has been canceled.

18. How can you offer so much at such reasonable rates? We don’t do weddings on the side. Weddings are all we do. Weddings are not just our specialty, they are our passion! We are constantly seeking ways to make the next wedding better. We price shop, buy in quantity and do other things to try to make weddings more affordable. We do more weddings than most places and so we don’t have to make a lot of money on each wedding. Our profit margin is slim. We do know that the average cost of a wedding in Alabama is around $25,000. We’d like to see couples and families save most of their wedding money for other things. But the bottom line is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a beautiful wedding. We prove that every day!

19. Can I get black and white photos instead of or in addition to color prints? Any prints you get from us will be in color. But with your images on CD, you can take them to most any modern photo lab and they can produce either color or black and white photos from your CD.

20. Can I purchase additional prints or enlargements of our wedding pictures? We do something special here. When we do your photography, you also get your images on a disc that you can take wherever you’d like to get as many extra prints or enlargements made as you like.

21. We will be moving out of town after the wedding, could you mail our wedding pictures? Yes. There is a fee of $20. to mail your wedding album and CDs.